We haven’t been this excited about a New Year since last year

Written By Brooke Anthony

Happy New Year! By almost all measures, 2023 was a tough year for the climate and for venture capital. Venture funding dropped significantly along with deal count and average deal size. We focused our company support (particularly at the beginning of the year) on healthy revenue pipelines, extending cash runway and reducing expenses in order to decrease the reliance on follow-on financings given the foreseen dip in investing activity. Though, we didn’t foresee a banking crisis with SVB that would shock the entire sector.

Happily, most of our companies continued to grow and several countered the fundraising slump with successful up-rounds, adding new investors. Fund I companies have grown revenue an average of 11X since our initial investment, Fund II companies grew revenue 12X in the past year, and seven companies closed financings at increased valuations with only one down round. We also bucked the downward VC fundraising trend by launching Fund III in April and announcing the initial close with $70M committed in October. 

Climate change doesn’t care if markets are down or if it’s a tough economic environment for raising capital. In 2023 the whole world felt climate change—heat, fires, drought, floods—the urgency of deploying every viable climate tech solution was more acute than ever. So in addition to our annual round-up of our fund’s activities below, we’ve also included a selection of ‘holy shit’ moments in climate AND some important progress. Just as many of our companies and our fund showed meaningful momentum in the face of a stark reality, there was real, collective climate progress that we hope will motivate you like it does us.

January 

  • Fund II investment #13 in Dispatch Goods  

  • 55% of the continental US is experiencing a drought

February 

  • Launched our Earth Month Challenge with Genus Wealth Management, Spring, Pace Zero, Fulmer & Company and SVX

  • Antarctic sea ice shrank to a record low with only 66% the amount usually detected

March 

  • ChopValue Series A 

  • Run on Silicon Valley Bank triggers a cash emergency for multiple portfolio companies that Active jumps in to help, no companies suffered any permanent losses

April 

  • Hosted our first in-person AGM and Founder Summit featuring Bill McKibben as a guest speaker

  • Earth Month Challenge collectively raised $22K for the Nature Conservancy of Canada

  • Canadian GHG Disclosure Standard comes into effect that requires government procurement to be in line with the Paris Agreement

May 

  • Fund II investment #15 in Othersphere

  • Metafold follow-on investment 

  • IEA reports that for every $1 invested in fossil fuels, ~$0.017is now going to clean energy

June 

  • Released our 2nd Climate Impact Report 

  • Future follow-on investment 

  • Jaza follow-on investment 

  • Clean Crop follow-on investment

  • Canada passes the Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Health Canada Act, enshrining the right to a healthy environment for the first time

July 

  • Fund II investment #16 in Relyion

  • Sustain.Life follow-on investment

  • Hottest month ever recorded! 

August 

  • Carbon America follow-on investment

  • Optiwatt follow-on investment 

  • One year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act that catalyzed 265 clean energy and manufacturing projects worth $100B+ in investment and 170,000 clean energy jobs

September 

  • Encycle acquired by Instone Capital Partners

  • Lahaina wildfire is the deadliest wildfire in US history

  • 6765 fires have burned 128.5M hectares across Canada–the worst wildfire season ever recorded

October

  • Fund III initial close with over $70M committed toward the $120M goal

  • SWTCH follow-on investment 

  • IEA reports that 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity was added in the first half of the year accounting for 25% of all US electricity–a new record

  • California, the world’s 5th largest economy, mandates that companies make public disclosures of their scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions–Sustain.Life and Manifest Climate quickly feel the benefit from increased demand

November 

  • Fund I exit #3 (still confidential)

  • National Automobile Dealer Association announces 1M EVs were sold in the US in 2023, up 50% over 2022. 1 in 5 cars sold is now an EV

December

  • Fund II investment #17 in JulesAI (our final company to be added to the Fund II portfolio)

  • COP28 agreed to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels for the first time

 
Brooke Anthony
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