Top 10: Venture Capital Funds Investing in Renewable Energy

The global push for decarbonisation has unlocked what many now consider the single largest investment opportunity in history. 

With Bloomberg reporting that global investments in the energy transition hit a record US$2.1tn in 2024, it is clear that private capital is flowing into renewable energy at a rapid pace.

These investments could represent a potential goldmine for investors as meeting global net zero targets is going to depend heavily on scaling technologies that aren't yet widely available or affordable.

Some venture capital (VC) funds are betting big on this, driven by data showing climate investments can outperform the broader market. In fact, experts like Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, believe that the next 1,000 unicorns could be climate-tech companies. 

Innovations in green bonds, corporate PPAs and hybrid generation and storage projects have potential to reshape the financial and physical infrastructure of the energy system.

Energy Digital explores 10 of the VC funds that are leading the way in climate investments.

10. World Fund

Leader: Danijel Višević (General Partner & Co-Founder)    
HQ: Berlin, Germany    
Founded: 2021

World Fund is Europe’s leading climate-focused venture capital firm, having closed the continent's largest-ever first fund at US$347m. 

Its investment thesis is rigorously scientific, backing only European entrepreneurs whose technology has the potential to save at least 100 million tonnes of CO₂e per year. 

The fund is looking at the largest sources of emissions, from energy and manufacturing to food and agriculture. Investments like battery recycling start-up cylib speak to the fund's focus on deep-tech solutions for a circular, regenerative economy.   

9. Pale Blue Dot

Leader: Heidi Lindvall (General Partner & Co-Founder)    
HQ: Malmö, Sweden    
Founded: 2020 

Pale Blue Dot is one of Sweden's first dedicated climate investors and it operates with an early-stage, thesis-driven approach, investing from pre-seed and seed. 

The firm has more than US$208m in assets under management across two funds and backs projects across both Europe and the US. 

Its investment strategy is built on three pillars:

• Optimise - decarbonising existing systems
• Adapt - building climate resilience
• Pioneer - funding breakthrough innovations

The strategy aims to fund scalable, future-first technologies.   

8. 2150

Leader: Christian Hernandez (Partner & Co-Founder)    
HQ: London, UK
Founded: ​​​​​​​2019

Specialist VC fund 2150 is targeting one of the world's largest and hardest-to-abate sectors: the 'Urban Stack'. 

This thesis covers every element of the built environment, from design and construction materials to the way cities are powered and cooled. 

The team at 2150 is always on the hunt for 'Gigacorns', technologies with the potential to lower gigatons of emissions. 

Its investment in CarbonCure, which embeds captured CO₂ into concrete, exemplifies its strategy of funding scalable, high-impact technologies to decarbonise cities.   

The firm has invested in companies that facilitate the use and implementation of renewable energy, such as Hometree, which helps homeowners adopt heat pumps and renewable energy, and OpenSolar, which helps catalyse solar deployment.

7. SOSV

Leader: Sean O'Sullivan (Managing General Partner)    
HQ: Princeton, New Jersey    
Founded: ​​​​​​​1995

SOSV is a pre-seed deep-tech specialist with US$1.5bn in assets under management. Its climate thesis is executed through two world-renowned start-up development programmes: HAX for hard tech and IndieBio for life sciences.

This model provides the "first cheque" (up to US$550k) and hands-on technical support to de-risk revolutionary ideas, like the ammonia-fuelled power systems of Amogy or the hydrogen storage technology of Ayrton.

Pitchbook consistently ranks SOSV as the most active investor in climate tech, building a vast portfolio including food-tech unicorns like Upside Foods.

6. Congruent Ventures

Leaders: Abe Yokell & Joshua Posamentier (Managing Partners & Co-Founders)
HQ: San Francisco, California
Founded: 2017

As one of the largest pure-play, early-stage climate firms, Congruent Ventures now manages more than US$1bn in assets. 

The firm focuses on seed and Series A investments in North America, supporting entrepreneurs building transformative solutions across hardware, software and novel business models. 

Its portfolio includes geothermal pioneer Fervo Energy and electric-RV maker Lightship. Congruent says that its thesis is built on decades of climate-investing experience, weathering the cycles to back enduring companies.   

5. Prelude Ventures

Leaders: Gabriel Kra & Tim Woodward (Managing Directors)    
HQ: San Francisco, California    
Founded: ​​​​​​​2009

With around US$2bn under management, Prelude Ventures has been a long-term, committed investor in climate tech since 2009. 

The firm says that it invests in early-stage start-ups with the greatest potential to mitigate climate change, screening for both venture-level returns and deep impact. 

Its portfolio spans the entire climate-tech spectrum, from energy and manufacturing to food and compute. 

It has backed of breakthrough companies like long-duration storage innovator Form Energy and geothermal developer Fervo Energy.

4. Energy Impact Partners (EIP)

Leader: Hans Kobler (Founder & Managing Partner)    
HQ: New York, New York    
Founded: ​​​​​​​2015

Energy Impact Partners (EIP) manages more than US$4.5bn in partnership with a coalition of global utilities and industrial companies and says it views teamwork as integral to climate action.

This kind of strategy provides its portfolio companies with unparalleled market access and has helped the group to generate more than US$3bn in revenue bookings.

EIP's approach to investments is all about decarbonising the entire energy system, all the way from generation to use.

The firm invests across venture, growth and credit with the aim to accelerate innovations in areas ranging from enterprise software to deep decarbonisation.

3. Khosla Ventures

Leader: Vinod Khosla (Founder)
HQ: Menlo Park, California
Founded: ​​​​​​​2004

Khosla Ventures is a Silicon Valley giant, managing approximately US$13.6bn with a focus on "bold, early, impactful" technology. 

Its sustainability thesis eschews subsidised "clean tech" for revolutionary "main tech", innovations so disruptive they can win on unsubsidised economics alone. 

This philosophy has led the firm to back some of the most ambitious 'moonshots' in energy, including nuclear fusion (Helion Energy), solid-state batteries (QuantumScape) and low-carbon cement (Fortera). 

Khosla's "Instigator Thesis" argues a few bold entrepreneurs can solve the climate crisis, and the firm aims to fund them.   

2. Lowercarbon Capital

Leader: Chris Sacca (Managing Partner & Co-Founder)    
HQ: Jackson, Wyoming    
Founded: ​​​​​​​2018

Founded by tech investors Chris and Crystal Sacca, Lowercarbon Capital manages more than US$2bn in capital. 

Its investment thesis is blunt and effective: "slash, suck and buy time". 

This sees the firm fund start-ups that:

• Slash CO₂ emissions
• Suck carbon out of the sky 
• Buy time by cooling the planet.

This thesis has built an unparalleled portfolio of "kickass companies", including fusion (Commonwealth Fusion Systems), carbon-negative chemicals (Solugen) and emissions-slashing compute (Crusoe).   

1. Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV)

Leader: Rodi Guidero (Executive Director & Managing Partner)    
HQ: Boston, Massachusetts
Founded: ​​​​​​​2015

Founded by Bill Gates in 2015, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) is one of the world's most influential climate-tech funds, managing more than US$2bn in capital.

Its investment mandate is a stringent one, only backing science-driven companies with the potential to reduce annual global greenhouse gas emissions by at least half a gigaton (1% of global emissions). 

BEV has an investment strategy it calls the "five grand challenges", each representing an arena in which it hopes to turn the tide. These are:

• Electricity
• Manufacturing
• Agriculture
• Transportation
• Buildings

This thesis has guided BEV to fund some of the most critical, high-risk, high-reward technologies. Its portfolio includes companies in fusion (Commonwealth Fusion Systems), energy storage (Antora Energy) and zero carbon cement (Sublime Systems).