Contrarian Ventures, founded by ex-London bankers Rokas Peciulaitis and Tomas Kemtys, has launched a €100m (£84m) fund to invest in climate tech startups and establish a UK presence.
The VC is looking to close the funding gap for climate tech startups and will make investments at the seed level.
“Climate tech is going to be one of the most lucrative and important investment opportunities for the next 30 years but entrepreneurs in Europe are still heavily underfunded and underrepresented at seed stage,” said Contrarian Ventures co-founder Rokas Peciulaitis.
“That’s why we’re launching today’s fund with the aim of closing this funding gap for future climate-tech founders and mobilising the resources needed for climate action while continuing to build a firm that becomes the top choice for climate tech entrepreneurs.”
Currently based in Lithuania, Contrarian Ventures has also announced plans to open the company’s new main office in London. The VC cited the maturity of the city’s tech sector, the fund’s limited partners being based in the capital and the majority of its portfolio being British as the reasons for the move.
Contributing LPs to Contrarian’s second fund include Korys Investments, Molten Ventures, and the Grantham Foundation.
“With a direct focus on the climate sector at the seed stage, coupled with its impressive team in an exciting territory, Contrarian enjoys a unique perspective on the market and its opportunities,” said Mohadeseh Abdullahi, an investor at Molten Ventures.
“It has built a strong reputation in this space and has developed a brilliant and deep-knitted network of technical experts and advisors. We are delighted to welcome Contrarian to our Fund of Funds programme.”
The environmental tech sector has seen a major boost in venture interest in 2022, birthing a number of high-value funds.
Kiko Ventures in June launched a £375m environmental tech fund, while July saw a £128m climate fund from Climentum, and a £59m fund from Systemiq Capital.
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