Investible on track for the launch of $100 million climate tech venture capital fund.
The fund will seek to invest in companies that assist in reducing emissions across the six sectors identified by the United Nations Environment Programme.
energy; transport; industry; buildings and cities; food and agriculture; and forests and land use.
“We are strong believers that decarbonisation will come from a broad suite of solutions addressing all parts of the economy – not one or a few ‘silver bullets’,” said CEO of Investible Rod Bristow
The People
The fund will be run by Tom Kline, the former CEO of New Energy Solar, and Patrick Sieb, a climate tech angel investor with more than 22 years of infrastructure and technology investment banking experience.
Topaz Conway and Katerina Kimmorley are on the fund’s investment committee.
Topaz Conway is Professor of Practice at UNSW and Non-Executive Director at Cicada Innovations, Neuraura Inc, Omni Tanker Technologies, AgScent Technologies and UTS Foundation. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a founder, scale-up CEO, and angel investor.
Katherine Kimmorley was a founding member a $1 billion Clean Tech VC Innovation fund at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and was the Founder of Pollinate Energy.
Unprecedented opportunity
Tom Kline says climate tech was an unprecedented opportunity for investors while also combating a major challenge for humanity.
“This is a critical time for us all to take climate action before it’s too late and one of the biggest investment opportunities in our lifetime. There are numerous tailwinds converging toward this once-in-history moment,” he said.
“We need to be tackling climate change from all angles – that means all sectors and stages of business. It’s going to require a transformation of almost every industry and creates opportunities for both founders and investors.
Investors need to back climate tech companies early on in their journey so that more founders can reach those later stages of growth and deliver climate solutions at scale.”
Kline said that they are seeing amazing founders with game-changing technologies and equally important, more investors and corporates who know they need to take action.
“The size and urgency of the problem means that businesses that help solve it will be highly valuable.”
Government Support
The City of Sydney announced plans for new innovation hub focused on tackling climate change in the 56-storey Salesforce Tower at Circular Quay.
Named ‘Greenhouse’, the hub spans 3,800sqm on first three floors at 180 George Street and is due to open in late 2022.
It will offer affordable office space for climate tech startups and scale-ups, to be run by a subsidiary of Investible for the next 10 years. Investible co-founder Creel Price will be Greenhouse CEO.
Tom Kline said Australia has all of the ingredients needed to be a leader in climate tech.
“It’s about creating an ecosystem to deliver outcomes for all stakeholders investors, Australia and the Planet.