In collaboration with Climate Capital
Embark on a transformative journey in climate tech investing
Become a leader in the climate tech revolution with our comprehensive 6-week program designed to equip you with the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to excel in climate angel investing.
Harness your capital for good and drive impactful change in the fight against climate change.
Application
Apply to secure one of the limited spots in the second cohort of Climate Angels. We’re looking for founders, executives, and others who are early in their climate tech angel investing career and who could not only most benefit from our program, but also contribute to the Climate Angels community by collaborating with other cohort members and bringing a “positive sum” attitude to the program.
We are accepting applications on a rolling basis for our next cohort.
Program Details
Dates:
May 2 - June 6, 2024
Timing:
90-minute sessions Thursdays, 9 AM PT
(Contact us if you are interested
but the time doesn’t work.)
Community Fee:
Special price of $3k for
our second cohort
(Standard price: $4k)
In partnership with:
Format
Each week we’ll have a 90-minute session comprising of:
Educational Segment
​
-
​Teaching Session: Delve into the week’s topic with insight, case studies, and practical advice.
​
-
Open Forum: Q&A, encouraging real-time interaction and discussion following the teaching segment.
Guest Insight
​
-
Expert Talks: We are inviting specialists to share their expertise and unique experiences in the realm of climate investing.
​
-
Interactive Q&A: A space for participants to probe deeper into the guest’s insights, fostering a comprehensive understanding of practical scenarios in climate investing.
In addition, each week there will be a homework assignment designed to help you through the curriculum; while everything is optional, completing the homework will help you maximize program value.
You’ll be invited into the Climate Capital Slack where you’ll be able to ask the Climate Capital team questions, as well as network with other program participants.
Finally, we’ll deal share; we’ll group you up with 3-4 other participants during the program with which to build a deal share relationship, which will include someone from the Climate Capital team. If you’re looking for more deal flow in a particular week, we’ll share some opportunities we’re looking at so we can collaborate on diligence.
Instructors
Successful angel investors, exited founders, and senior members of the Climate Angels team who bring a rich tapestry of experience, success stories, and dedicated climate-focused investment knowledge to your journey.
Jennifer Turliuk
Angel investor, entrepreneur (acquired), board member,
mentor/advisor, author,
keynote speaker. Investments include RewindAI and 2 exits (via SPVs).
Sundeep Ahuja
Founder and GP at Climate Capital, angel investor since 2010
Michael Luciani
Leads Climate Capital's Bio fund (CCB), former founder (acquired) and Obama White House Alumni
Nishant Mani
CBO at Terra.do, Partner
at Climate Capital, serial CMO/operator
Vijay Rajendran
Angel investor, limited partner in emerging
fund managers, and has led portfolio support at 500 Global
"Climate tech investments have the potential to deliver outsized returns while making a lasting impact on our environment."
– Sundeep Ahuja, GP of Climate Capital
Speakers
We are excited to have experts in the climate tech investing field join us as guest speakers for the Climate Angels program. More to be announced soon.
Shawn Xu
Shawn is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, and aims to be the first believer in audacious founders who are building bold solutions to the climate crisis.
​
Shawn has built an accomplished track record as an investor at the early stage. Immediately prior to Lowercarbon, Shawn was a Partner at On Deck’s venture fund and accelerator, where he backed companies in 20+ countries and earned a founder NPS of 100. Before this, he was on the investing teams at Floodgate and First Round Capital’s Dorm Room Fund, and was ranked in the Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital. Shawn has personally partnered with ~50 companies to date and brings with him a wealth of knowledge on helping founders go zero to one, from ideation to product-market fit.
Before he was an investor, Shawn was a startup executive who led international expansion for companies such as Square. Shawn is also involved in political activism, and previously served as a tech policy advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
​
Shawn holds an MBA/MA in International Affairs from Wharton and the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed his undergraduate studies at UC San Diego. Shawn is a Silicon Valley native and is based in San Francisco (although his colleagues would argue he’s more often based out of a plane). When he’s not hustling on behalf of the entrepreneurs we’ve partnered with, you can find him lost on travel adventures (ask him about his North Korea story), organizing happy hours and dinner parties, or nerding out about comic books.
Tommy Leep
Tommy Leep invests in pre-seed climate tech startups via Jetstream, a $10M fund. In 2019 he woke up to the climate crisis and dedicated his work to moving more funding into climate tech. He previously worked with early-stage investors Floodgate, Haystack, AngelList, and Congruent Ventures. His climate tech investments include SINAI Technologies, Albedo, Pachama, Windborne Systems, and David Energy.
David Miller
An engineer by training, and currently a sought-after investor and advisor for companies at the intersection of technology and climate impact, David Miller brings over twenty-five years of technology startup management experience and over twenty years of early stage investing experience to Clean Energy Ventures as a founding partner. Previously, David was the founder and Executive Managing Director of the Clean Energy Venture Group. Prior to that, he was a Director in the New Ventures Group at Lucent Technologies, and founder and CEO of Quantum Telecom Solutions. David has been on the board of directors of several clean energy companies, including CEV portfolio companies Boston Materials, Pearl Certification, Volexion, Noon Energy, prior portfolio companies Pika Energy, and MyEnergy, and has advised and mentored many others. He is an Advisory Board Member of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, where he also has an appointment as Research Affiliate, and previously taught electrical engineering at Rutgers University. He completed his doctorate at MIT where he developed the CleanStart clean energy startup simulator,and runs workshops utilizing CleanStart as well as the En-ROADS climate change solutions simulator. He developed the methodology behind CEV’s Simple Emissions Reduction Calculator (SERC) in order to most quickly and effectively screen which startup companies have the most potential to reduce GHG emissions at scale and supports industry efforts to standardize emission reduction assessments.
%20(1)%20(1).jpg)
Kirsti Chou
As a mission-driven angel investor, Kirsti directs her focus towards supporting technology companies that have a positive impact on climate and the environment. She holds a strong belief in equity and values products and services created by a diverse range of founders and teams. She is convinced that these inclusive approaches will yield not only higher returns, but also contribute to creating a better world.
She has worked in supply chain management at Nokia, and led sales teams (first in Europe and then in the Americas) at Vungle (joined early, co-acquired by Blackstone in 2019).
Speakers from our last cohort:
Sophie Purdom
Sophie Purdom invests in and supports early-stage climate tech founders and their companies with Planeteer Capital. Planeteer leads investments at the Pre-Seed and Seed stage into hardware-enabled software for climate. Sophie has backed breakout companies like Remora, WeaveGrid, Amogy and Patch - often as the earliest, climate-first investor. Planeteer is anchored by an Ivy League endowment and Meta's former CTO.
Sophie also writes CTVC, a newsletter & strategic data platform with 60,000+ subscribers featured in Financial Times, NY Times, Bloomberg and other major outlets as climate tech's source of record. Prior, Sophie launched an ESG fund at a major endowment, published a book on sustainable investing, worked at Bain & Co., and helped found and raise $65m at Kula Bio to develop carbon-negative fertilizer. Sophie lives in New York, where she and her partner host dinner parties, play NYC handball, and foster many happy pups.
Cody Simms
Mitch Rubin
Leo Banchik
Leo Banchik is a Director at Voyager Ventures where he focuses on early-stage climate tech investments. He was previously a Partner at Global Founders Capital (GFC) where he led their global climate tech practice. Leo has nearly two decades of climate tech experience spanning across consulting, startups, government, and engineering research. Leo was formerly in McKinsey’s sustainability practice where he worked on sustainable investing, GTM and M&A, and decarbonization for organizations in climate tech, the future of mobility, and ESG. Prior to McKinsey, he led product innovation at an advanced desalination startup, Sandymount. Leo started his sustainability career as a scientist at two National Labs (Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge) and as a policy researcher at the Department of Energy's office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Shawn Xu
Shawn is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, and aims to be the first believer in audacious founders who are building bold solutions to the climate crisis.
​
Shawn has built an accomplished track record as an investor at the early stage. Immediately prior to Lowercarbon, Shawn was a Partner at On Deck’s venture fund and accelerator, where he backed companies in 20+ countries and earned a founder NPS of 100. Before this, he was on the investing teams at Floodgate and First Round Capital’s Dorm Room Fund, and was ranked in the Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital. Shawn has personally partnered with ~50 companies to date and brings with him a wealth of knowledge on helping founders go zero to one, from ideation to product-market fit.
Before he was an investor, Shawn was a startup executive who led international expansion for companies such as Square. Shawn is also involved in political activism, and previously served as a tech policy advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
​
Shawn holds an MBA/MA in International Affairs from Wharton and the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed his undergraduate studies at UC San Diego. Shawn is a Silicon Valley native and is based in San Francisco (although his colleagues would argue he’s more often based out of a plane). When he’s not hustling on behalf of the entrepreneurs we’ve partnered with, you can find him lost on travel adventures (ask him about his North Korea story), organizing happy hours and dinner parties, or nerding out about comic books.
.jpg)
Max Frenkel
Max has always been an avid tech-enthusiast, fascinated by its novel creations and how they can improve our world. After graduating from Dartmouth with a degree in Cognitive Science (Computer Science meets Psychology), Max founded an e-commerce startup focusing on medical supplies and subsequently started angel investing.
After learning about Gaingels and falling in love with our mission, he joined to oversee our Nexus business unit which he currently runs as a partner. Max’s areas of focus include: - Overseeing our relationships with Angellist Partners, Republic, Ourcrowd, Proof, Cornice, and more - Assuring that our deals running with these partners run smoothly and close on time Sourcing early-stage deals with a slight focus on FinTech, Web3, & DTC. - Working with our portfolio team to ensure we are supporting our portfolio companies and furthering Gaingels mission to the best of our ability.Max resides in Miami and is an avid Scuba diver.
Kirsti Chou
Mentors
Our mentors will be sharing their climate investing expertise with Climate Angels participants.
​
Mentors from our last cohort:
Matt Logan
Matt Logan is a partner with Earthshot Ventures, an early stage climate tech venture capital firm, where he has led the firm's investments in companies like KoBold Metals and Pattern Ag. Before Earthshot he helped develop Elemental Excelerator's partnership program, sharing curated dealflow with corporations including ENGIE and NextEra. Matt has spent his entire career in climate tech, and also helped Advanced Microgrid Solutions raise a $34M Series B and $200M of project finance and worked in corporate venture capital.
Peter Sun
Peter Sun is Founding Associate at Climactic. Previously, he was an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company (Private Equity Group, New York Green Team, BGLAD Network). He is Ex-President and advisor at Duke Venture Community, and Co-founding Partner at Duke Impact Investing Group (Duke's first student-founded impact angel fund). He holds a BS in Financial Economics and a BA in Architecture History from Duke. Peter is also a tea connoisseur, urban explorer, and competitive swimmer
%20Camilla%20Rizzi_s.jpg)
Camilla Rizzi
Camilla Rizzi is an Early Stage Investor in Climate Tech & Sustainability at Plug and Play. With an MSc in Innovation and Technology Management, she strongly believes in Innovation as a tool for improvement and positive changes. Camilla has experience in the Automotive and tech Consulting fields. She she herself as an Entrepreneur to combine Innovation with sustainable and energy projects and is at the forefront against climate change for a better and cleaner environment.
What You'll Get
Learning:
Access Climate Angels’ strategies and learnings. We share the approaches we've learned and resources we've developed from investing in hundreds of climate
tech startups and experiencing exits
Community:
Engage for a year with our vibrant Slack community and our exclusive Climate Capital email network which is received by 100+ climate investors
Access:
Get unique access to opportunities that the Climate Capital team & our network, as well as your fellow cohort members, are seeing.
Swag:
Climate Angels Swag 🙂
Curriculum
Unlock your potential as a climate tech investor. Our six-week program delivers actionable insights, backed by real-world case studies, guest speakers, and hands-on exercises.
Thesis: Crafting Your Investment
Strategy for a Sustainable Future
In the first week, we dive deep into developing a robust investment thesis. If chosen for the program, you will gain an understanding of the evolving landscape of climate tech, identify emerging trends, and define your unique investment focus.
Learn to align your investment goals with the pressing needs of the planet and establish a
strong foundation for successful investing.
Sourcing: Identifying the Most
Promising Climate Tech Startups
Learn how to uncover some of the brightest stars in the climate tech universe. Discover different methods for sourcing high-potential startups, leveraging market research, networking techniques, and partnerships.
Learn how to identify entrepreneurs with bold visions and scalable solutions to tackle the climate crisis.
Selection: Evaluating and Selecting Winning Investments
In the third week, we delve into the art of investment selection. Understand the due diligence process specific to climate tech startups, assessing key metrics, team dynamics, market potential, and sustainability impact.
Develop an eye for identifying startups poised for growth and significant positive environmental impact.
Syndication: Building Successful Investment Syndicates
Learn the art of syndication and collaboration in angel investing. Gain insights into forming strategic alliances with other investors, pooling resources, and leveraging collective expertise to support portfolio companies.
​
Discover the power of a strong network and how it can amplify your investment returns and impact.
Supporting: Nurturing Portfolio Companies for Success
Once your investments are made, it's time to actively support and nurture the growth of your portfolio companies. Explore effective mentorship and guidance strategies tailored to the unique needs of climate tech startups.
Learn how to provide value beyond capital,
making a tangible difference in shaping their trajectory toward success.
Investing: Executing Successful
Climate Tech Investment Deals
In the final week, we guide you through the intricacies of deal execution. Navigate term sheets, negotiate with entrepreneurs,
and ensure a smooth transaction process.
Gain the confidence and skills needed to structure investment deals that align with both financial objectives and positive climate outcomes.
Harness your passion for climate change solutions and become an influential climate tech angel investor with Climate Capital's training program. Our investing partners will impart invaluable knowledge, insider tips, and real-world case studies to elevate your investing prowess.
Why Choose Climate Angels?
Climate Angels is presented in collaboration with Climate Capital, which backs exceptional founders addressing emissions reduction and climate adaptation. Climate Capital invests in early-stage companies and is one of the most active funders of climate tech in the world.
Experience
Pioneering climate-focused investments since 2015, with a robust portfolio of companies driving large-scale climate impact. We are partnered with Climate Capital, one of the original climate-focused funds.
Successful Track Record
Celebrating several successful exits, including Amply & Blueprint Power.
A solid history of investing in climate breakouts like Mosaic, Remora, and Span, showcasing our ability to spot and nurture high-potential startups.
Trusted
Co-Investors
Trusted co-investors with prominent climate investors like LowerCarbon Capital, YCombinator, and Khosla.
Community
Vibrant Community
and Team
Enriching connections within a 2K+ community of founders, operators, and enthusiasts, backed by a team boasting both industry expertise and academic excellence.
Strategic Partnerships
Affiliations with renowned climate organizations like Climate Capital, TerraDo and OnDeck Climate, extending our reach and collaborative potential.
Extensive Network
Regular interactions with leading Series Seed & A climate-impact firms, angel investors, and scouts, as well as influential individuals from pivotal climate & tech startups.
Empowering Founders
An intimate community of 300+ founders benefiting from peer support and a host of services including expert networks and content platforms.
We believe investing in founders who are addressing one of the most pressing issues of our generation while also tracking toward delivering venture scale returns is one of the highest potential ROI opportunities out there.
Join us to accelerate your climate investing trajectory and drive impactful change. While Climate Angels will typically ask for a $4,000 community fee for the program, for the second cohort the price is $3,000 and includes an annual membership in the Climate Angels & Climate Capital communities.
We are accepting applications on a rolling
basis for our next cohort.
🌿 The future of our planet lies in our hands.
Equip yourself with the right knowledge
and tools to make a lasting impact.
Note: if after 1 week the program doesn’t feel like a fit, we’re happy to refund your program fee and allow you to exit the program.
Partnerships: Building a Future Together
Are you part of a climate fund, educational institute, government entity, or another organization passionate about driving
impact in the climate tech sphere?
Climate Angels invites you to reach out to explore partnership opportunities with us!
By joining forces, we can collectively amplify our impact, fostering the development and scaling of pioneering climate technologies and investments.
If our mission resonates with you and you
envision a collaboration that can accelerate our shared journey toward a sustainable future,
we’d love to connect!
Reach Out to Explore Partnership Opportunities!
Blog
April 10, 2024
March 27, 2024
January 11, 2024
October 12, 2023
About Us
Climate Capital has been a global leader in climate tech investing since 2015. It is known for backing intrepid founders who are ardently addressing the vital issues of emissions reduction and climate adaptation through innovative technological solutions. With a track record of investing in startups like Mosaic, Remora, and Span, and exits including Amply & Blueprint Power, Climate Capital is not only one of the most active funders in the climate tech world but also a robust community where founders, investors, and climate tech enthusiasts converge to create an unparalleled ecosystem, enabling, enhancing, and accelerating the global climate tech revolution.
Stay Connected
Sign up for Climate Angels'
Newsletter to receive insights, updates, and opportunities direct to your inbox.
Under no circumstances should any information or content on this page be considered an offer to sell or solicitation of interest to purchase any securities, including any securities advised by Climate Capital or any of its affiliates or representatives. Further, no content or information herein is or is intended, nor should it be construed as, an offer to provide any investment advisory service, financial advice, legal, tax, accounting, investment, or other advice from Climate Capital or any of its affiliates (collectively "Climate Capital”). Under no circumstances should anything herein be construed as fund marketing materials by prospective investors considering investing in any Climate Capital investment fund. Content contained herein does not constitute an offer to sell — or a solicitation of an offer to buy — any securities and may not be used or relied upon in evaluating the merits of any investment. Information regarding companies highlighted herein has been provided by third parties, and Climate Capital makes no representations or warranties as to its accuracy, as to the viability of any company listed herein, or the results of any investment in a listed company.