It’s pretty much impossible these days for any sane person to argue against the science behind climate change: decarbonisation is inevitable, and net negative has got to be humanity’s goal.
And while we’re fully on board with the many crucial efforts to reduce and phase out emissions of greenhouse gases (kudos to all you companies actively doing this), as a species we still need to seriously supersize our efforts to safely remove and store the carbon that’s already in our atmosphere. Frankly, if we’re needing to suck one trillion tonnes of C02 out of the air by 2100, there is a hellava lot of work to do. And it’s going to require the fundamental transformation of every major sector of society. If that’s not a rallying cry to the wilful, we don’t know what is.
However, within this gargantuan challenge lie a multitude of opportunities for some serious value creation. Doggedly determined entrepreneurs are leveraging advances in computing power, synthetic biology, and AI/ML to rewrite everything from conventional energy storage, transportation, industrial materials, food and dairy production, to advances and breakthroughs in nuclear fusion, direct air capture, hydrogen and solar, all with the attendant societal benefits to support a just transition. The potential impact of gigaton-scale carbon reduction and removal on the planet from these burgeoning businesses is profound: and we are loving it.
Unsurprisingly, this bounty of opportunity is something that has not been lost on an increasing number of venture capital investors. Whether we’re talking giants such as Breakthrough Energy or smaller, yet equally determined outfits like Demeter Partners, the growing sense of relentless energy is palatable: ‘Our world can’t wait’ roars the inimitable Unreasonable Group’s community of entrepreneurs, investors and institutions.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be digging into some of the big bets in innovative sustainable technology, and who is stepping up to take them. But for now, we’re zeroing in on four VCs that we particularly like for their ambitious, go-getting – hell, dare we say it, wilful – attitude.
First up, step forward Lowercarbon Capital. If we’re talking about finding and backing sector-spanning, audacious climate solutions, they are a clear front-runner. With a ‘we eat macro problems for breakfast’ attitude, there’s nothing ambiguous about these folks, who ‘back kickass companies that make real money slashing C02 emissions, sucking carbon out of the sky, and buying us time to unf**k the planet’. How? By combining ‘hard science with some bonkers ambition’ – and $800 million. Bets don’t come much bigger than their $250 million nuclear fusion fund, or $350 million fund for carbon removal. Ambitious, energetic, and wilful? Hell yeah. In the words of co-founder and former ‘Shark Tank’ judge, Chris Sacca: ‘let’s f’ing go’.
We’re also liking the spirit behind Stefano Bernardi, formerly of Atomico, who has recently launched Unruly Capital. Unruly is a new venture fund that will back ‘weird stuff’ and, as he says in his launch manifesto, is focused at the frontier ‘to find what is unruly and crazy today, and will become normal tomorrow’. After all, who wouldn’t want to bet on unruly founders with the kind of restless energy who will ‘rally people to follow them on their crazy journey, and figure out how the 8 billion of us can coexist peacefully and sustainably on this planet’? We can completely get behind that.
And with a ‘passion for improving the future’, hands up who else wants to hear more about the newly launched, female-led Pact, a fund focussed on seed stage “mission-driven” green technology startups in the “ABC” categories: Access (economic inclusion), Betterment (personal and professional well-being) and Climate – which also counts actress Anne Hathaway among its limited partners, no less.
And finally, anyone who knows us will tell you we get very aggrieved at the lack of attention the world’s oceans receive as super-effective carbon sinks. As the unsung rock stars of carbon sequestration, they now seem at last to be getting the recognition they deserve; but their sequestering capacity relies on them remaining healthy. And who on earth doesn’t want healthy oceans? So, we are all onboard with funds that directly focus on ocean health, such as SWEN Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean Fund, which is backing start-ups focussing on supporting ocean health regeneration.
Whether we’re talking ocean restoration, reimagining the global dairy market, or nailing nuclear fusion, these aren’t exactly small, easy problems to crack. There is no denying the challenges inherent in financing the development, deployment, and meaningful scale of innovative technologies to bring down their cost, or in navigating inexhaustible policy, market, and infrastructure roadblocks. But with the human imprint on our natural ecosystems now so profound, these are challenges we need to jump into with both feet.
