In Sydney, a venture firm known for backing early Australian tech successes has turned its full attention toward the climate, committing $100 million AUD to a sector-focused fund — its first of its kind. The move reflects a broader reckoning in the investment world: that the era of treating climate change as a peripheral concern has ended, and that capital must now organize deliberately around the solutions the decade demands. Investible's bet is not merely financial; it is a wager that the conditions for climate technology to scale — shifting consumer behavior, corporate accountability, and g
Investible launches $100M climate tech fund, first sector-focused vehicle
the debate is over and we really must take action this decade
Mark
So Investible is moving from being generalist to climate-focused. What triggered that shift?
Mimi
The deal flow itself changed. They're seeing 1,500 to 2,000 pitches a year now, and more and more of them are climate-related. At some point, you notice the market is telling you something.
Luke
But is that because climate tech is actually growing, or because climate tech founders are more likely to pitch to a firm that's already signaling interest?
Mimi
Fair question. What we know is Investible saw enough momentum to commit $100 million AUD and hire two experienced people to run it.
Mark
Half the fund is reserved for follow-on investments. Why not deploy it all upfront?
Mimi
It's a bet on the companies themselves. If you find a winner in the seed round, you want capital ready to back them through growth. It's not spreading risk—it's concentrating it on the best performers.
Luke
And the international allocation—30 percent—that's interesting. Are they saying Australian climate tech isn't enough?
Mimi
Or that the best opportunities might be anywhere. Climate doesn't respect borders.
Mark
What about Greenhouse, the hub they're launching? Is that just networking, or something more?
Mimi
It's infrastructure. Connecting startups with researchers, academics, and corporations. The theory is that climate tech needs more than capital—it needs to be embedded in an ecosystem where it can actually get adopted.
Luke
But we don't know yet if that works. The hub opens next year. We're betting on a model that hasn't been tested.
Mimi
True. But the bet itself is worth watching.
Der Puls
- A Sydney venture firm that once spread bets across industries is now concentrating $100M AUD entirely on climate tech, signaling that sector-agnostic investing is giving way to mission-driven capital.
- Between 1,500 and 2,000 pitches arrive at Investible each year, with climate solutions claiming a rapidly growing share — the deal flow itself is pushing the firm toward specialization.
- The fund targets six UN-identified emissions-critical sectors, entering at seed stage but reserving half its capital for follow-on rounds, prioritizing depth over breadth in its bets.
- A parallel initiative — the Greenhouse hub, launching in 2022 with the City of Sydney — aims to bridge the gap between startup promise and commercial scale by connecting founders with researchers and corporate buyers.
In Sydney, a venture firm known for backing early Australian tech successes has turned its full attention toward the climate, committing $100 million AUD to a sector-focused fund — its first of its kind. The move reflects a broader reckoning in the investment world: that the era of treating climate change as a peripheral concern has ended, and that capital must now organize deliberately around the solutions the decade demands. Investible's bet is not merely financial; it is a wager that the conditions for climate technology to scale — shifting consumer behavior, corporate accountability, and government mandates — have finally converged.
Investible, the Sydney venture firm behind early bets on Canva and other Australian startups, is making a decisive turn. For the first time in its history, the firm is building a fund around a single sector: climate technology. The $100 million AUD commitment — roughly $72 million USD — follows two previous vehicles that invested without thematic constraint, including a $50 million AUD fund that closed earlier in 2021.
Leading the new fund are Tom Kline, formerly chief executive of New Energy Solar, and Patrick Sieb, who shifted his investment focus specifically to climate startups in 2019. Together, they point to the firm's own deal flow as evidence the moment has arrived — Investible now receives up to 2,000 pitches annually, with an accelerating share centered on climate solutions.
The fund will back startups across six sectors the UN Environment Programme identifies as critical to emissions reduction: energy, transport, industry, buildings and cities, food and agriculture, and forests and land use. It will typically enter at seed stage, contributing around $500,000 AUD per company, while reserving half its total capital for follow-on investments in its strongest performers. Up to 30 percent of the fund may go to international startups, with the remainder focused on Australian companies.
Kline described the launch as a response to three converging forces: consumers changing behavior in response to climate concerns, corporations facing greater transparency demands, and governments setting emissions targets that will require both innovation and significant capital. Investment decisions will weigh emissions reduction potential, founding team strength, market size, and commercialization timelines.
Alongside the fund, Investible announced Greenhouse — a climate tech hub opening in 2022 in partnership with the City of Sydney. The space will bring together startups, researchers, and corporate partners, including companies outside Investible's own portfolio, with the explicit goal of helping climate ventures move from early-stage promise to genuine scale.
Investible, a Sydney venture firm that backed Canva and other Australian startups, is committing $100 million AUD—roughly $72 million USD—to a new climate technology fund. The announcement marks a significant turn for the firm: this is the first time Investible has built a fund around a single sector. Its previous two vehicles, including a $50 million AUD fund that closed earlier in 2021, invested across industries without thematic constraint.
The shift reflects what Investible's leadership sees happening in the deal flow itself. Tom Kline, who will lead the climate fund alongside Patrick Sieb, told the firm it now receives between 1,500 and 2,000 pitches annually, with an accelerating share focused on climate solutions. Kline came to the role from New Energy Solar, where he served as chief executive. Sieb has invested in technology companies since 2014 and turned his attention specifically to climate startups in 2019. Together, they're betting that the moment has arrived—not just for climate action, but for venture capital to organize around it.
The fund will deploy capital across six sectors the United Nations Environment Programme identified as critical to reducing emissions: energy, transport, industry, buildings and cities, food and agriculture, and forests and land use. It will typically enter seed rounds starting around $1.5 million AUD, contributing up to 30 percent of that round, or about $500,000 AUD per company. Crucially, the fund reserves half its total capital for follow-on investments, meaning it plans to double down on winners rather than spread bets thinly across many companies. It will primarily back Australian companies but allocate up to 30 percent of the fund to international startups.
Kline framed the decision to launch a climate-specific fund as a response to shifting conditions. "Scientists have been talking about climate change for decades and there's been a lot of debate," he said, "but I think we're finally at the stage where the debate is over and people are acknowledging that this is human-caused and we really must take action this decade." He pointed to three forces converging: consumer behavior changing in response to climate concerns, corporations becoming more transparent about their environmental impact, and governments setting emissions targets that will require significant technological innovation and capital investment.
Investible will apply the same investment discipline it uses for sector-agnostic funds, but with climate-specific criteria. Evaluations will weigh how much emissions a company can reduce, the strength of its founding team, the size of the addressable market, and the timeline to develop and commercialize the technology. The firm is not simply chasing green credentials; it's looking for companies that can scale.
The climate fund announcement arrives alongside a parallel initiative. Last month, Investible said it would launch Greenhouse, a growth and innovation hub for climate tech startups, in partnership with the City of Sydney. The hub, opening in 2022, will house startups, researchers, academics, and corporations—including climate tech companies outside Investible's portfolio. Kline described the hub's purpose as helping companies "go from startup to scale," which means conducting additional research to improve their technology, connecting them with corporations to understand what those buyers actually need, and helping them find customers. The hub represents an attempt to build infrastructure around climate tech commercialization, not just fund individual companies.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
It's about helping them go from startup to scale, and so some of that will be additional research to improve their technology or engaging corporates to understand what exactly they are looking for and also finding their next customers.— Tom Kline, head of Investible's Climate Tech Fund
With each passing year, we're noticing that we need to do more in the space, and coming from the other end, Investible sees deal flow of between 1,500 to 2,000 a year, and an increasing amount of those have been climate focused.— Tom Kline, on why Investible launched a climate-specific fund
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