Clean Energy Ventures Closes Oversubscribed Fund II

Clean Energy Ventures (CEV), an investor in early-stage climate technologies, has held an oversubscribed closing of its second fund, Clean Energy Venture Fund II LP, with total capital commitments of $305 million.

In addition to investing in North America, the firm’s new fund allows it to invest in climate technology opportunities across Europe. In tandem with the close of Fund II, CEV has opened an office in London.

“With climate tech funding soaring tenfold across Europe in recent years, today it is the continent’s fastest growing sector,” said Daniel Goldman, a CEV co-founder and managing partner. “Tapping into the region’s thriving innovation ecosystems, we are primed to bridge the funding gap for promising early-stage companies and bring our expertise and network to accelerate European companies’ path to market.”

The closing of Fund II follows CEV’s deployment of its first fund which closed in October 2019 with $110 million of capital.

Fund I was invested in 20 climate tech companies that operated in mobility, renewable energy, carbon capture utilization and storage, energy storage, and critical minerals.

A unique investment requirement of CEV is that the firm values quantitative climate impact alongside financial performance and requires that each investment that it makes be capable of mitigating at least 2.5 gigatons of CO2 emissions cumulatively between the initial investment and 2050.

Fund II has already closed on investments in Noon Energy, a California-based long-duration energy storage company; Evari, a New Hampshire-based developer of next- generation compressor technology; Nitrofix, an Israel-based green ammonia company; and OXCCU, a UK-based sustainable aviation fuel company.

Limited partners in the CEV funds include Carbon Equity, The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, Builders Vision, and New Summit Investments.

“Demand for climate investment opportunities is rising from all corners of the globe, and we are grateful for the amount of interest from our new and existing limited partners,” said Temple Fennell, a CEV co-founder and managing partner. “As we look to scale decarbonization technologies globally, we’re doubling down on our thesis to invest in novel hardware-oriented climate-saving technologies with the potential to bring outsized emissions reductions and top-tier financial returns.”

“As we catalyze the innovators building the decarbonized economy with new climate tech solutions, CEV’s combined ability to pinpoint the most impactful companies and technologies and then shepherd them into commercialization has been a crucial force for us and the global climate tech ecosystem,” said Scott Gerdes, the director of  private investments for Builders Asset Management, a limited partner in CEV’s new fund.

“We know our hands-on guidance goes well beyond standard venture capital, through dedicated leadership coaching, strategic marketing, IP development, engineering support, and active board participation,” said David Miller, a CEV co-founder and managing partner. “We are eager to seize this next chapter in our firm’s growth with our second fund and support more early-stage companies with deeply technical, game-changing approaches to decarbonization.”

CEV was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Boston.