Counteract, a climate tech investor, has closed its first £15m for a fund to support the carbon removal industry.
First reported by Sifted, The Counteract carbon removal fund has a goal value of £35m to go towards startups offering innovative solutions to reducing the amount of excess CO2 in the atmosphere.
Counteract has set clear criteria for companies looking to receive support for the fund. All companies must prove they are capable of removing a minimum of 500m tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050.
The London-based VC has already added a dozen companies to its portfolio, including Bristol’s Adaptavate, Dundee’s Agricarbon, and London’s Parallel Carbon. Counteract also has companies based in the US, Australia, Asia, and beyond.
“It might sound like we have a very narrow investment focus because we only invest in carbon removal within climate investing; so we’re a specialist fund within a specialism,” said Counteract managing partner Andrew Shebbeare.
“But at the same time, we’re also broad in that we invest in all carbon removal pathways.”
Methods of removing carbon range from natural strategies such as tree restoration and soil management to engineered, tech-based solutions like carbon capture and enhanced mineralisation.
Couteract’s fund criteria will accept any form of carbon removal, provided it has an acceptable capacity for scaling.
Earlier this week, fellow London-based climate tech investor Ocean 14 Capital, which targets startups supporting bodies of water, added £26.6m to its impact fund.
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