Investible was an early investor in Canva, and they’ve now turned their venture-capital eye to climate-tech with the announcement of a $100 million fund.
It will target entrepreneurs building early-stage businesses focussed on six key sectors identified by the UN Environment Programme: energy; transport; industry; buildings and cities; food and agriculture; and forests and land use.
The focus will be on local talent, but they’ll have flexibility for a 30% allocation to offshore opportunities. It’ll target seed-rounds, aiming to allocate from $500k to $1M, with a portion of the capital being ear-marked for later raises.
They’re aiming to make first-close this year, with announcements of initial investments to come before the end of the year.
The fund will be led by new hire, Tom Kline, who’s worked across renewable energy and investment management in both Sydney and New York, and he was the CEO of New Energy Solar when the company launched in 2016.
“It’s about helping them go from startup to scale, and so some of that will be additional research to improve their technology or engaging corporates to understand what exactly they are looking for and also finding their next customers,” Tom says.
“In terms of investors we’re talking to a number of institutions and superannuation funds, also the family office space, wealth managers and high-net-worth individuals. There’s a lack of options to invest in this space at the moment so we’re offering it widely.”
“We also think, now is absolutely the right time to be getting into this space, given all the tail-winds, the government spending, the corporate focus. There’s a lot of capital coming in at later stages, we’ve seen multiple billion dollar plus funds that focus on later stage VC or infrastructure, but we’re focused at that earlier stage, it’s so vital to develop these technologies.” Tom explained.
Tom will be accompanied by Patrick Sieb as investment director, a well-known angel investor in climate-tech, with more than 22 years of infrastructure and technology investment banking experience.
Greenhouse
Investible is taking its commitment to climate-tech to the next level with plans for a physical space that will be aptly-called The Greenhouse.
The co-working space will take up residence in the yet to be completed ‘Salesforce Tower’ at Circular Quay. With the support of City of Sydney, it will take up three-levels of the building, bringing together entrepreneurs and investors.
Investible will manage the space for its initial stages, with co-founder Creel Price operating as Greenhouse CEO.