Former Lyft, Airtable & Patreon Investors Launch Climactic VC: A $65M Fund to Back Software-First Climate Tech Startups Decarbonizing Enterprise and Mobility

• Veteran leadership team includes Josh Felser and Raj Kapoor (both serial VCs, founders and operators), Paul Hawken (best-selling author and climate activist) and advisor Van Jones (CNN host and former special advisor to President Obama)

• The team brings 40+ years of entrepreneurial and investment experience to software-first climate startups helping enterprise and mobility sectors decarbonize

• To date, Climactic has invested in 13 select companies including Lightship, Climate.ai, Weavegrid, and The Arrive Platform

San Francisco, Calif. (December 14, 2023) – Today a group of seasoned founders, CEOs, operators and venture capitalists announced the launch of Climactic, a $65M inaugural fund dedicated to accelerating the growth of software-first climate tech startups. The new fund intends to focus on early-stage companies helping enterprise and mobility sectors become more sustainable, with seed investments ranging from $1-3M in capital. Climactic recognizes that businesses are the key to solving our climate crisis as over 8,000 companies have pledged net zero which is now over 90% of worldwide GDP.

Notable LPs in the fund include Reid Hoffman, Chris Sacca, Ev Williams, Mike Schroepfer, Chris Larsen, Alison Pincus, Mark Pincus, Logan Green, Stephen Simon, Jeff Clavier, John Zimmer as well as institutional investors StepStone, HG Ventures, Brown Advisory, MIO Partners, Knollwood, NfX, and Mayfield.

40+ Years Founding, Funding and Scaling Unicorns

Collectively spanning more than four decades in general tech, Climactic’s leadership team has founded and scaled companies with multiple high profile exits under its belt, bringing significant breadth of experience in general tech to climate tech startups.

Raj Kapoor, Climactic co-founder and managing partner, co-founded Snapfish (acquired by HP for $300M) before co-founding Fitmob, a fitness marketplace acquired by Classpass and subsequently, Mindbody, the world’s leading B2B and B2C fitness technology company. During his seven-year tenure at Mayfield Fund, Kapoor was the first VC investor in Lyft, marking a personal shift toward fighting climate change. He later joined Lyft as a Chief Strategy Officer, driving the company’s transition to an electric, self-driving fleet.

Josh Felser, Co-founder and managing partner of Climactic, played a vital role in the digitization of everything as the founder of one of the first internet music companies, Spinner.com (acquired by AOL for $320M). He later founded Crackle, a digital video platform acquired by Sony for $65 million. Felser then founded Freestyle, an early-stage tech venture capital firm, facilitating investments in unicorn companies Airtable, Patreon, Betterup, Intercom and more.

Best-selling author and climate activist Paul Hawken joins the team as Strategic Partner. Hawken is the author of the reference books on climate change, “Drawdown” and “Regeneration,” which have shaped the discourse around climate solutions. Hawken is also the lead sustainability advisor to corporations like Walmart and Nestle. Van Jones, CNN host and former special advisor to President Obama addressing climate change and social justice, joins the firm as Strategic Advisor, offering expertise in government, policy, and climate justice.

“We’ve built Climactic to be an extension of our founders’ management teams when they need it most, at the early stage of their companies’ lives. Having been founders ourselves, we understand the rollercoaster that comes with scaling a company because we’ve walked in those well-worn shoes. We have worked with over 100 founders over the last two decades, allowing us to build a community of our peers and provide the advice and resources that our founders need to scale. Our founders count on us to be direct, empathic and a trusted consigliere knowing we’re not just investors, but advocates on a shared journey to achieve financial scale and impact our world for good,“ said Josh Felser, co-founder and managing partner.

”We’re embracing a generational opportunity to drive change by investing in software-first ventures that tackle the toughest challenges in climate tech. We believe the next wave of significant opportunity is with decarbonization, which was a key focus area at Lyft. As the first VC into Lyft and repeat founder, I helped guide them through battling giants to navigate public policy intricacies. It’s not just about creating a marketplace; it’s about enduring the entire process, from startup to public company. Climactic embodies that same spirit, and my goal is to impart the lessons learned on the next generation of founders,” said Raj Kapoor, co-founder and managing partner.

“Our fund is not just an investment opportunity; it’s a call to action in the face of the greatest challenge of our time—climate change. Similar to my work with Project Drawdown, I am committed to advancing effective, science-based climate solutions and strategies. We’re not just shifting the conversation about climate change; we’re accelerating the adoption of climate solutions worldwide,” said Paul Hawken, Strategic Partner.

Speed, Entrepreneurial Experience & Talent Network

The founding team’s approach to company building – having invested in and helped scale multiple unicorn companies like Lyft, Airtable, Patreon, and BetterUp – has a unique advantage:

• Talent network - We believe being hands-on connectors gives a distinct advantage to our founders. At the intersection of impact and returns, we offer a meaningful bridge between the best general tech talent and your climate tech team with hooks into corporate worlds to accelerate growth potential.

• Entrepreneurial experience - We are founders first with deep entrepreneurial roots having multiple successful exits under our belts. We are able to leverage our experience at the earliest stages of company building and provide the right framework to help guide founders through all the highs and lows they face.

• Operational speed - We are seasoned operators at large enterprises in strategy, sales, marketing, product and business development. For today’s early stage companies to challenge incumbents, speed and agility is key. We are committed to helping founders navigate through increasingly complex market conditions, accelerating the process when right decisions need to be made.

“Raj, Josh and the rest of the Climactic team have been integral to our success and impact so far. They have a holistic understanding of our business and were able to help us at every inflection point, from our early hires, to scaling a product market fit; they’ve been a true extension of our team,” said Rachelle Snyder, Arrive CEO and co-founder.

To date, Climactic has invested in leading edge software-first companies with a core focus on enterprise and mobility. The fund’s earliest investments include Arrive Recommerce, Climate AI, Lightship, Mootral, Muonspace, NCX, Nori, Populus, Renoster, Rubi, Sinai, and Weavegrid.

For more information about partnering with Climactic, please visit Climactic.vc

About Climactic:

Climactic offers a powerful bridge to bring the global reach, scale and impact of general tech to climate tech startups. The founding team boasts over four decades worth of experience as founders, operators and GPs. With offices in San Francisco and New York City, Climactic is not just an investor; it is a strategic partner committed to facilitating transformative change for a sustainable future for startups committed to decarbonizing enterprise and mobility.

For more information see Climactic.vc

Contact Information

Media Contact

Eric Gonzalez

VSC on behalf of Climactic

climactic@vsc.co