Climentum Capital is launching a €150m (£128.45m) fund to invest in 25 startups across Europe that are developing technologies that “drastically” cut CO2 emissions.
The newly launched venture capital firm plans to make investments ranging between €1m to €5m in return for equity of between 10% to 25%. It will reserve half of the capital for follow-on investments.
Climentum will make the late-seed stage to Series A investments with other climate tech investors and generalist VCs.
The VC firm has offices in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Berlin. While it’s primary focus will be European startups, it will “occasionally consider opportunities in Northern America and Israel”.
Climentum confirmed to UKTN that it will be investing in UK startups. The new fund will be welcomed by UK energy and climate tech startups, which have historically struggled to scale due to a lack of investment beyond the seed stage.
Climentum plans to primarily invest in deeptech hardware solving problems associated with the climate crisis in areas such as manufacturing, architecture, agriculture and transport.
The VC firm said it will “conduct a scientific climate impact assessment” when carrying out due diligence to ensure startups are focused on addressing climate problems.
Capital for the fund has been provided by a combination of banks, industrial conglomerates and corporate investors.
While Climentum is targeting a €150 fund, it has not disclosed how much of that target it has raised so far.
“I dream of a world where humanity has overcome its growing pains as a species and healed its troubled relationship with nature. And it’s going to require lots of capital,” said Yoann Berno, general partner, Climentum.
Two out of the five founding Climentum partners are women, bucking the trend of a male-dominated industry.
“Society needs more mission-driven companies that act in the interests of all stakeholders and our environment. I want to drive change through investing in green ventures,” said Dörte Hirschberg, investment partner, Climentum.
The post Climentum launces £128m fund to back startups slashing carbon emissions appeared first on UKTN | UK Tech News.
