climate fund -

One of Canada’s biggest climate-tech backers pulls back • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 2, 2022Posted in Business Development Bank of Canada, Canada, Climate, climate fund, VentureNo Comments

A prolific investor in climate-tech companies in Canada is back with a second fund for “low-carbon technologies” — only this time the firm plans to pump less money into the scene, over a longer period of time. The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) came out with a new, $400 million climate-tech fund on Wednesday, which it called a “renewed commitment” to help build “world-class Canadian cleantech” companies. The BDC is owned by the state and was set up to drive economic development in Canada. Its recent venture deals include joining Samsung in a round for VueReal, which makes tiny, low-energy displays. And earlier this year, BDC chipped in with Toyota to fund e-Zinc, which builds zinc-air batteries that could help utilities store renewable energy for when the sun is not shining. The BDC debuted its first climate fund in 2018, with $600 million that it invested locally over four years. The investment corporation plans to make its second, smaller fund last five years, even as climate change accelerates. Asked about the pullback, fund managing partner Susan Rohac told ZebethMedia that the firm is “sizing the offer to a more robust market with many more partners that we can work with.” According to Rohac, BDC’s first fund was as large as it was because it was made to “address the lack of risk capital” for climate and clean-tech startups in Canada. Since then, “for every $1 that [BDC] committed, $6 has been raised in additional funding from the private sector by our portfolio companies, concurrently or after we invested,” Rohac said. In other words, the firm argues its supersized first fund created “more private sector appetite,” which will apparently make up for the BDC Cleantech Practice‘s downsized second act. To date, BDC says it has funded 50 climate- and clean-tech companies via the fund, which puts it in the same camp as other busy investors in the scene, including Active Impact Investments and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (which is also backed by the Canadian government).

Third Nature targets $35M fund • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 31, 2022Posted in Climate, climate fund, decarbonization, ocean tech, Third Nature, VentureNo Comments

With a glitzy vision of tackling some of “the biggest planetary challenges,” Third Nature is out to raise $35 million for its first VC fund, ZebethMedia has learned. Third Nature has secured at least $2.8 million so far, per a regulatory filing. It joins a wave of relatively new, environmentally-focused funds that are driving the current climate-tech boom. While introducing Third Nature earlier this year, founder Jason Ingle argued that “simply decarbonizing our economy won’t restore planetary health.” In a blog, he laid out his take on something broader, which he called “earth systems investing” in an apparent nod to earth system science. Ingle did not respond to a request for comment on his plans, however the firm’s website indicates it will back businesses that focus on the climate crisis and other interrelated threats to life as we know it, such as ocean acidification and biodiversity loss. Third Nature participated in AlgiKnit’s $13 million series A earlier this year, alongside fast-fashion giant H&M and Collaborative Fund. AlgiKnit makes yarn with giant kelp; the startup aims to help shrink the textile industry’s carbon footprint. Third Nature may have an especially broad raison d’etre, but its scope overlaps with plenty of other climate-minded investors, including Boston’s Propeller and Paris-based Satgana. But unlike Propeller, which is working with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and climate scientist Dr. Julie Pullen, Third Nature hasn’t announced any noteworthy partnerships or advisors to date. Before Third Nature, Ingle co-founded Closed Loop Capital, which backed firms like Beyond Meat and farm software developer Conservis. Ingle is based in Philadelphia, according to LinkedIn.