Climate VC is a UK-based EIS fund investing in early-stage UK-based climate startups.
Usually between £25k - £350k
Pre-seed or seed
Climate VC is a specialist venture capital fund investing in pre-seed and seed-stage climate startups aiming to decarbonise every aspect of daily life and the economy. The fund supports bold founding teams developing solutions in areas like food, energy, mobility, and manufacturing, with the goal of achieving large-scale impact in the fight against the climate crisis.
Climate VC’s mission is to fund early-stage startups that can achieve gigatonne-scale impact by decarbonising every aspect of the economy and daily life, transforming areas such as food, transport, energy, and construction. Their goals include backing 100–120 high-potential UK climate startups and enabling at least 10 to become major successes, each removing 10 megatonnes of CO₂e annually over ten years, contributing to a collective gigatonne of avoided emissions by the mid-2030s. The fund’s values center on prioritising climate impact equal to commercial returns, supporting bold and visionary founders, fostering innovative solutions, and accelerating the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon future.
Climate VC was founded in 2021 by a team of experienced entrepreneurs and investors passionate about addressing the climate crisis through bold innovation. The founding team consisted of Peet Denny (Founding Partner), Simrun Basuita (Founding Associate) and Andrea Emanuelli (investor on the founding team). Doug Scott is also on the founding team, as co-founder and an investor.
With diverse backgrounds in technology, entrepreneurship, and impact investing, the founder team set out to address every aspect of daily life and industry, from food systems to energy, mobility, and manufacturing, by nurturing bold ideas with the potential for large-scale carbon reduction. Their goal was to create a platform that could ignite early-stage climate innovation and help drive meaningful progress against the climate crisis.
To follow their professional journeys on LinkedIn click on their links: Peet Denny, Simrun Basuita, Andrea Emanuelli and Doug Scott.
Climate VC focuses on investing in high-impact, early-stage startups that are working to decarbonise the global economy. The fund primarily targets pre-seed and seed ventures developing innovative solutions across sectors where emissions can be reduced, such as clean energy, food production, transportation, manufacturing, and nature restoration. Their investment approach prioritises ambitious founders with scalable ideas capable of achieving significant carbon reductions, supporting technologies ranging from carbon removals and battery materials to green fintech and sustainable building materials.
Climate VC is headquartered in Surrey, United Kingdom, and maintains a truly global investment footprint, deploying capital at the pre-seed and seed stages across both developed and emerging markets. Its portfolio spans from Latin America to ventures in Africa and Asia. This broad geographic reach underscores Climate VC’s commitment to catalysing decarbonisation solutions wherever they can deliver gigatonne-scale impact.
Climate VC targets a broad spectrum of sectors that are pivotal to decarbonising the economy and everyday life. Their investment focus includes:
Climate VC invests in pre-seed and seed-stage startups that aim to decarbonise the economy at gigaton-scale, prioritising companies with the potential to reduce at least 10 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year. The firm supports startups with both capital and a robust network of operators and advisors.
Climate VC evaluates investments by focusing on early-stage startups with strong climate performance potential (CPP), emphasising measurable and scalable greenhouse gas reduction impact aligned with global climate goals. Their assessment integrates climate impact criteria across all investment stages, from origination and screening through due diligence, investment decision, and ongoing monitoring, ensuring startups meet defined carbon reduction benchmarks and demonstrate potential for transformative climate solutions.
Here are a few of Climate VCs most notable portfolios:
CUR8 (Carbon Removals): builds high-quality carbon removal portfolios to help companies reduce CO₂ emissions and achieve net zero. They provide expert tools and services to design and manage effective carbon removal strategies, supporting a wide range of removal technologies and helping scale up solutions to meet global climate goals. Visit CUR8
Climate Aligned (Climate Finance Data): An AI-powered platform providing custom, regularly updated environmental impact data, analytics, and research to support sustainable finance, especially in the debt capital markets. The platform uses machine learning to gather and analyze data on climate and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors, making the climate credentials of bonds and issuers transparent and comparable through a single access point. Visit Climate Aligned
Kita (Carbon Insurance): a carbon insurance specialist offering tailored insurance and risk advisory services for carbon and natural capital assets. Their products protect against risks such as delivery failure, counterparty issues, and buffer depletion, and claims can be paid out in cash or replacement carbon credits for flexibility. By reducing investment risk, Kita supports the growth of high-quality carbon projects and enables greater confidence and capital flow in the carbon markets. Visit Kita
Offgrid Finance (Green Finance): Offgrid Finance is a fintech company providing fast, collateral-free inventory financing to solar and agritech companies in East Africa. Founded in 2020, it helps clean-tech firms buy inventory at bulk prices, boosting sales and accelerating project delivery, it also offers advisory services to support the clean energy sector’s growth. Visit Offgrid Finance
Climate VC is funded primarily through its SEIS/EIS investment funds, which target pre-seed and seed-stage climate startups. The EIS fund, now fully deployed, enabled investments into early-stage ventures aiming to decarbonise the economy. These funds operate under the UK government's Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), providing tax incentives to private investors who back qualifying startups. The core funding source is therefore private investors participating in these SEIS/EIS vehicles, catalysed by the firm’s founding and advisory team, which includes experienced operators and angel investors.
Investment Stage: invests at the pre-seed and seed stages of climate startups, providing early support to innovative teams developing solutions for decarbonisation.
Equity & Funds: Their investments are made through equity financing, using UK government-backed SEIS and EIS funds designed to encourage private investment into high-potential, early-stage companies
Climate VC fosters a vibrant community by investing in elite founding teams at the pre-seed and seed stages, supporting bold entrepreneurs who are developing innovative solutions to decarbonise all aspects of daily life and the economy. This community focuses on diverse sectors such as carbon removals, climate finance data, energy, built environment, and food systems, bringing together visionary founders, investors, and advisors dedicated to creating a gigatonne-scale climate impact. Through their portfolio and collaborative approach, Climate VC ignites early-stage climate innovation with a shared mission to address the climate crisis as both a profound threat and opportunity for civilisation.
The core team at Climate VC is led by Founding Partner Peet Denny, a serial entrepreneur and AI specialist with a background as CTO in fintech and a postgrad certificate from Stanford, alongside James Knight, an engineer and natural capital expert focused on carbon removals and climate finance, and Doug Scott, a seasoned founder and angel investor with over 400 investments and a track record building high-growth technology companies. Their advisory board brings together experienced leaders, ensuring deep expertise across nature, finance, and technology.
Learn more about the team on the Climate VC Page.
1. What is the mission and main goal of Climate VC?
The mission of Climate VC is to fund early-stage startups capable of achieving gigatonne-scale carbon impact by decarbonising the economy and daily life. The goal is to support 100–120 high-potential UK climate startups and enable at least 10 to become major successes, each targeting annual removal of 10 megatonnes of CO₂e over ten years, aiming for a collective gigatonne of avoided emissions by the mid-2030s.
2. What values guide Climate VC’s investments?
Climate VC prioritises climate impact on par with commercial returns, champions bold and visionary founders, fosters innovation, and actively accelerates the shift to a low-carbon, sustainable future.
3. Who founded Climate VC and what is their background?
Founded in 2021, Climate VC’s founding team includes Peet Denny (Founding Partner), Simrun Basuita (Founding Associate), Andrea Emanuelli (founding investor), and Doug Scott (co-founder and investor). The team brings diverse expertise in technology, entrepreneurship, and impact investing, united by a commitment to address the climate crisis through bold innovation.
4. Where does Climate VC invest geographically?
While headquartered in Surrey, UK, Climate VC has a global investment reach, supporting pre-seed and seed ventures across both developed and emerging markets, including Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The fund seeks to catalyse decarbonisation solutions wherever large-scale impact is possible.
5. What type of companies does Climate VC invest in?
The fund backs pre-seed and seed-stage startups focused on decarbonising the global economy with innovative, scalable, and high-impact solutions in key emissions-reducing sectors such as clean energy, food, transport, manufacturing, and nature restoration.
6. What are the investment criteria for Climate VC?
Climate VC seeks startups with the potential for large-scale, gigatonne-level carbon reduction, strong climate performance potential, and the ability to deliver measurable CO₂e savings in alignment with global climate targets.
7. How is Climate VC funded?
The fund raises capital primarily through SEIS/EIS investment vehicles, benefiting from UK government schemes that provide tax incentives to private investors who back early-stage, high-impact startups. Its EIS fund is now fully deployed.
Are you an innovative climatetech founder seeking funding? Discover how Climate VC can support your journey by visiting: Climate VC Website.
Stay updated with the latest news and opportunities by following Climate VC on LinkedIn: Climate VC LinkedIn.
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