Climate

The Gates Foundation’s climate venture fund raised $1.25bn for its second vintage in 2021 and $1bn for its first vintage in 2019 from billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Richard Branson and George Soros.

Energize Capital, a climate software venture firm, has raised $300m for its second growth fund, bringing its total assets under management to $1.2bn.

The climate-focused impact investor’s portfolio is already made up of almost 33% underrepresented founders, and it wants to double that with its sophomore effort.

Using Michael Sonnenfeldt's TIGER 21 network, the New York-based VC firm is introducing start-ups to additional investors and strategic industry contacts who can support their go-to-market efforts.

Sharp declines in funding for transportation, energy and food and land use sectors drove overall weakness in later-stage funding for climate tech in the first six months of 2023.

The New York firm said its debut fund is anchored by an unnamed Ivy League endowment and its other LPs include Collaborative Fund and former Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer.

The corporate venture arm of TDK Corporation will target North American and European energy transition start-ups.

Meketa presented climate scenario risks, allocations shifted towards sustainable private markets and a color-coded climate classification was adopted.

Matthew Goldstein, who co-founded M12, Microsoft's venture capital fund, has joined Systemiq Capital, an early-stage investor in climate tech, as a general partner.