Investible’s head of climate tech Tom Kline
Investible, a seed investment group in Australia, today announced the launch of a new US$72 million climate tech fund.
This comes close on the heels of the first close of Investible’s second US$38.8-million sector-agnostic fund in June.
The new climate tech fund will back seed-stage global startups, with the cheque sizes ranging from US$500,000 to US$800,000.
Half of the fund will be used to participate in follow-on rounds.
The fund’s six sectors of interest are energy, transportation, industry, buildings and cities, food and agriculture, and forest and land use. These are selected by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) as the most important for achieving a low-carbon, more resilient future.
According to a press statement, while the fund will primarily focus on Australian businesses, it will earmark up to 30 per cent of its capital for other international markets.
Launched in 2014 by entrepreneurs-turned-angel investors Creel Price and Trevor Folsom, Investible combines instinct and insights to back the next generation of game-changers. The firm has de-risked portfolios by distilling the complexities of early-stage investing into a thorough and consistent process.
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Its prominent portfolio startups are graphic design platform Canva, online beauty site Ipsy, Singaporean Parcel Perform, and Indonesia’s Eden Farm.
“The numbers show a large and diverse portfolio approach is key to generating stronger returns. Over the last decade, Investible has built a proven screening and investment methodology to both sources high-quality deal flow and offer a compelling proposition to highly sought-after early-stage companies,” said CEO Rod Bristow.
Investible has built a climate-focused investment team managed by Tom Kline, CEO of New Energy Solar, and Patrick Sieb, who has 22-year experience in infrastructure and technology investment banking.
Climate emergency and global regulatory tailwinds in the sector have provided a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity for technology investors. Investible is said to double down on its efforts to expedite that growth.
“The size and urgency of the problem mean that businesses that help solve it will be precious,” said Kline. “The scale of climate action required is so significant that it will require a transformation across almost every industry and country.”
Kline believes that climate techs provide an unparalleled opportunity for entrepreneurs as they develop profitable firms while addressing one of humanity’s most pressing issues.
UNEP’s emissions gap report echoed this viewpoint. It underlined that faster adoption of technologies plays a critical role in allowing large-scale improvements in global emission to achieve the 1.5°C temperature goal by 2030 as stated in the Paris Agreement.
In August, with funding from the City of Sydney, Investible launched Greenhouse, a growth hub dedicated to enabling climate tech startups to scale in the late of next year.
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Image Credit: Investible
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