The UK-based investor said money committed so far was being invested in 19 startups, including six in Germany, where it has established a hub in Berlin.
Carbon13, a venture capital (VC) and private equity firm based in Cambridge, UK, has announced the first close of a climate fund with a target fund size of €30m.
The amount raised so far by the fund is to be invested in 19 startups, including the VC investor’s first six investments in German-based firms developed via Carbon13’s Berlin-based Venture Builder programme. These German startups are each receiving €120,000 in investment.
Carbon13 said it now has a total portfolio of 64 startups, which, if they all realised their potential, could mitigate more than 500 million tonnes a year of CO2e, equivalent to around 1% of current annual global emissions.
“Our sights are set on making sure this potential is maximised and expanding it significantly through more programmes, startups and enhancing the acceleration process,” said Michael Langguth, Carbon13’s co-founder.
The six German ventures receiving investment are VoltVogel, an EV charging service powered by sustainable batteries; Climalyst, which is developing low-energy CO2 capture and storage solutions; Point2Hectare, which is working in soil and fertilizer improvement; Hoop Solar, a provider of solar energy for plastic greenhouses; Mardeca, which carries out energy saving retrofits for maritime vessels; and Fungtional.bio, which seeks to boost the use of mushrooms in organic farming.
Langguth said Germany was developing into a hotspot for the investor, as its Berlin operation gets into gear.
“This current group is made up of incredibly strong personnel with a high level of diversity. All teams have at least one female co-founder and come from 10 different nationalities; a sign of things to come,” he said.
Carbon13 invests in ventures formed or built via their two programmes, the Venture Builder Cambridge and Berlin and the Venture Launchpad.
The Venture Builder programme has brought together 80 founders to form co-founding teams to develop ventures each deemed capable of reducing CO2e emissions by 10m tonnes per year (t/y) when scaled up. The Venture Launchpad is an accelerator, which supports early-stage teams in maximising their carbon impact, also using the 10m t/y target.
The company said it has invested over £7m (€8.2m) in UK-based startups since 2021, when it was founded by Langguth and co-founder Nicky Dee. These include Kita, Infyos, Nium, Biozeroc and Materials Nexus.
