New Summit Investments is raising a new $100 million impact fund, according to documents filed with the SEC.
This is the firm’s fifth fund and marks a sizable jump from the $40 million its previous fund, which closed back in 2022.
New Summit has supported marginalized fund managers by launching initiatives like its partnership with investment firm Gratitude Railroad to source and underwrite underrepresented fund managers.
New Summit Investments’ was founded in 2016 as an impact investment firm focusing on climate, health, and economic opportunities.
New Summit Investments’ first fund closed for $20 million in 2016, followed by $36 million in 2018, according to Pitchbook.
Vibrant Planet looks to be one of those solutions.
The startup digitizes land mapping and uses AI to help its users — fire departments and government bureaus — better manage land and also better prepare for potential climate incidents like wildfires.
“[It’s] very collaborative with spatially overlapped plans.”Moving the mapping online also allows organizations to work together on land management solutions that work for everyone.
“Vibrant Planet is a science and technology platform that is creating what we call a common operating picture for wildfire resilience and nature resilience,” Wolff said.
And we’re using it in the natural resource management and wildfire resilience building space, because we have to, it’s very urgent.”
If you’re looking for comparisons, Norrsken VC is a $130 million impact VC that covers climate, while Demeter Partners last raised a €250 million fund focused on climate.
World Fund is also backed by pension funds including the UK Environment Agency Pension Fund, Wiltshire Pension Fund, and Croatia’s Erste Plavi.
World Fund has completed its raise during a war in Europe, interest rate rises, and jittery LPs.
In 2023 there was over $20 billion raised by European climate tech startups, almost matching the previous year, and bucking declining trends in other sectors, according to Dealroom.
The U.K., Sweden and Germany led for total climate tech VC in 2023 but Iceland, Lithuania and Bulgaria showed notable growth.
Silence wants to shake things up when it comes to climate tech investment.
This new angel-style VC firm has already raised $35 million and plans to make dozens of small investments in climate startups to help them apply the tech startup playbook.
He also founded Merlin, an hourly jobs marketplace in the U.S.With Silence, Borja wants to apply his experience to climate investment.
A silent partnerSince the first close of the fund in June 2022, Silence has already invested in 22 different companies.
So we told them ‘we’ll be your lead,’” Borja said.
Plenty of major corporations have announced net-zero emissions targets.
Those are the companies Greenly has targeted.
It takes that information and, coupled with its own data and algorithms, calculates carbon emissions by category and scope for customers.
It came into the round with an advantage: it’s applying SaaS to climate tech, and SaaS a business model that’s well understood.
But it does suggest that venture investors are warming to climate tech more broadly, proving that there’s a market for businesses focused on sustainability.
One path, which is particularly well trodden, is to start a venture fund.
Instead of launching a VC fund, they’re starting with an incubator called Montauk Climate, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.
Montauk Climate is one of the latter.
Montauk Climate will remain shareholders in its spinout companies and have seats on their boards.
As the number of incubated companies expands, Montauk Climate expects to raise its own venture fund to help support them.
The SEC voted on Wednesday to require public companies to report a portion of their greenhouse gas emissions and their exposure to risks from climate change.
While the new rules do not apply to privately held companies like startups, they do create opportunities for those focused on the carbon tracking, accounting, and management space.
Some, like Amazon, Vanguard, Ralph Lauren, and Chevron, supported Scope 3 disclosures; already, many public and private companies voluntarily track those emissions.
In recent years, a number of startups have turned to AI to automate and improve Scope 3 estimates.
In adopting the new rules, the SEC is playing catch-up with other large economies, including China and the EU, which both have greenhouse gas reporting requirements.
The bid would help inform investors about any climate- or energy transition-related risks publicly traded companies face.
And depending on how far the SEC takes the proposed climate disclosure rule, many of these startups stand to benefit.
Scope 3 emissions are the broadest category, and if the SEC would require their reporting, the effects would ripple far beyond just publicly traded companies.
Look for it to be one of the first climate tech companies to list publicly when the IPO window opens.
Enter Bend, a corporate spend startup that focuses not just on tracking expenses, but also carbon emissions.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is pumping $3.5 million into C16 Biosciences, the Y Combinator-backed company fermenting alternatives to the environmentally destructive palm oil business.
While the industry’s given itself something of a makeover lately, deforestation linked to palm oil production is once again on the rise.
Using yeast and agriculturally derived feedstocks, C16 already brews an alternative to the seed oil for use in beauty products, under the name Palmless.
A 2020 study found that climate pollution from palm oil plantations alone equate to about half that of the whole aviation industry.
In addition to the Gates Foundation and Elemental, C16’s previous investors include Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy and DCVC.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is pumping $3.5 million into C16 Biosciences, the Y Combinator-backed company fermenting alternatives to the environmentally destructive palm oil business.
While the industry’s given itself something of a makeover lately, deforestation linked to palm oil production is once again on the rise.
Using yeast and agriculturally derived feedstocks, C16 already brews an alternative to the seed oil for use in beauty products, under the name Palmless.
A 2020 study found that climate pollution from palm oil plantations alone equate to about half that of the whole aviation industry.
In addition to the Gates Foundation and Elemental, C16’s previous investors include Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy and DCVC.
