If you want to solve climate change, there are few better places to start than in cities.
“This city is like a beautiful vampire squid sucking up all the resources,” Jacob Bro, co-founder and partner at 2150, told TechCrunch. “They basically aggregate all the prosperity in the world, 80% of GDP, but also 70% of emissions and all other resources, all waste, and all the negative aspects of the good life.”
In recent years, many investors have raised large sums of money to tackle climate change, and many are measuring success by profits and carbon reductions. 2150 is similar, but starts by looking specifically at urban issues and opportunities to find fertile ground for investment.
“If we look at all the things we consume, all the things we need to build to operate and thrive on the platform of urban prosperity, we can identify the technology and the bottlenecks,” Bro said.
He said the climate change perspective helps give the fund an edge. “Sustainability, when done well, is better business, right? It's cheaper, faster, and more independent from geopolitics.”
This dual focus has enabled 2150 to raise a new €210 million second fund from a variety of institutional investors and family funds. Augustinus Fabrikker, Church Pension Group, Danish sovereign wealth fund EIFO, Fund of Funds Carbon Equity, Novo Holdings, Islandbridge Capital, Security Trading Oy, Viessmann Generations Group. The new fund will bring the European company's assets under management to €500 million.
2150 co-founder and partner Christian Hernandez said the new fund has a total of 34 limited partners, adding: “It's a pretty solid check.”
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So far, 2150 has invested in seven companies from the new fund. This includes AtmosZero, which makes industrial heat pumps. GetMobil, an e-waste recycling startup. Metycle, scrap and recyclable metals market. MissionZero is a direct air capture startup. The remaining three have not yet been announced.
2150 is looking to invest in a total of 20 companies in its second fund. Hernandez said most of the startups the company issues checks to will raise Series A rounds, with the total value of the checks being around 5 million euros to 6 million euros. Half of the fund is set aside for the following investments:
The partners said they will continue to look for a variety of startups. But specifically, we're excited about the data center and automation opportunities, both of which are being fueled by the recent surge in AI. But for them, AI is more than an opportunity to invest in energy companies.
“The effects are more social than climate-related,” Hernandez said. “Europe is expected to lose 100 million people between now and 2040. It's just that people are getting older. In the Netherlands, already 50% of the population is over 50 years old. So what role does industrial automation play in not only increasing the productivity of these people, but also generating GDP and funding their pensions?” he said.
Bro said the focus on industrial applications may have been obvious in hindsight. “At the end of the day, cities are fed by all sorts of industries, big and small,” he says.
It seems like his concentration is paying off. Hernandez said 2150's portfolio companies reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 1 megaton last year. “The fact that a small venture capital fund can already reach megaton levels of scale in just four years, that level of impact and commercial traction, makes us feel like we're doing the right thing.”