Climate seed VCs in 2026: a working list by check size

Picture a founder who spends six weeks emailing climate VCs that have quietly stopped writing seed checks. She has a strong deck, good traction, and a clear ask. The problem is not her pitch. The problem is her list.

She pulls it from Crunchbase, filters by "climate" and "seed," and gets 340 names. Then she starts emailing. The few replies she gets are polite passes, and one junior associate tells her the fund has moved upstream to Series A. The fund is still listed as "seed" on its site.

This is not a fundraising problem. This is a data problem. And in 2026, it is fixable.

Below is a working list of climate seed investors, grouped by approximate check size. This is not every climate VC, and it is not a ranking of who is most active. It is a starting point for your own research.

If you are raising climate seed capital right now, this list can save you time, as long as you verify each name before you email.

How this list was built

This list was compiled from public information: firm websites, published portfolios, and announcements. It is not built from VC Boom outreach data, and we do not rank firms by reply speed or track which founders closed rounds with them. Check sizes are rough indications and depend on round structure, co-investors, and traction.

Before you pitch any firm on it, filter out:

• Funds that moved upstream (now Series A or later)
• Funds that went dormant (no recent new investments)
• Funds that pivoted away from climate (now doing general software or AI infra)
• Funds that only write follow-on checks (no new logos)

One signal worth checking is fresh capital: 1,377 investors in our database raised a new fund in the last 12 months, according to SEC filings (matched to SEC Form D filings by exact name). A fund that just raised has money to deploy.

The top 30 climate seed investors by check size

These are grouped by approximate seed check size. Check sizes are rough indications and often depend on round structure, co-investors, and traction. Treat these as guides, not guarantees, and confirm on each firm's site.

$2M+ typical check

1. Lowercarbon Capital, $2M to $5M, known for writing big seeds into hard tech and industrial decarbonization.
2. Congruent Ventures, $2M to $4M, focused on energy transition and built environment.
3. Voyager Ventures, $2M to $3M, software and hardware for climate infrastructure.
4. Climate Capital, $2M to $3.5M, writes big seeds but wants meaningful traction (revenue or pilot contracts).
5. Pale Blue Dot, $1.5M to $3M, European-based but writes U.S. checks, strong on carbon management and food systems.

$1M to $2M typical check

6. Powerhouse Ventures, $1M to $2M, Oakland-based, invests in energy software and grid optimization.
7. Overture VC, $1M to $1.8M, Boston-based, climate software and marketplaces.
8. Elemental Excelerator, $1M to $2M, technically a grant-to-equity program, Hawaii-based, strong on resilience and adaptation.
9. Giant Ventures, $1M to $1.5M, UK-based but writes U.S. checks, focused on industrial software and supply chain.
10. Good Growth Capital, $1M to $1.8M, Austin-based, climate software and ag tech.
11. MCJ Collective, $1M to $1.5M, rolling fund, smaller checks, founder-friendly reputation.
12. Earth Foundry, $1M to $2M, St. Louis-based, hard tech and industrial decarbonization.
13. Transition Capital, $1M to $1.6M, New York-based, early-stage climate infrastructure.
14. Red to Green, $1M to $1.5M, Copenhagen-based, writes U.S. checks, strong on circular economy.
15. Future Positive Capital, $1M to $1.7M, Australia-based, writes U.S. checks, climate software and fintech.

$500K to $1M typical check

16. Collaborative Fund, $500K to $1.2M, consumer and climate crossover, writes smaller seeds into storytelling-strong founders.
17. SOSV (HAX Climate), $500K to $1M, accelerator model, strong on hardware and IoT.
18. Daphni, $500K to $1M, Paris-based, writes U.S. checks, consumer climate and mobility.
19. Climate Tech VC, $500K to $1M, UK-based, writes U.S. checks, early-stage software and hardware.
20. AENU, $500K to $1M, Berlin-based, writes U.S. checks, strong on industrial software.
21. Ecosystem Integrity Fund, $500K to $1M, nature-based solutions and carbon markets.
22. Azolla Ventures, $500K to $1M, Bay Area-based, climate software and food systems.
23. SOSV (IndieBio), $500K to $900K, accelerator model, bio-based materials and food tech.
24. Blue Bear Capital, $500K to $1M, NYC-based, climate software and marketplaces.
25. Trucks VC, $500K to $1M, Los Angeles-based, climate and logistics crossover.
26. ReGen Ventures, $500K to $900K, San Francisco-based, regenerative agriculture and food systems.
27. Third Derivative, $500K to $1M, program-based, tied to RMI, clean energy and built environment.
28. Clean Energy Ventures, $500K to $1M, Boston-based, energy transition and grid tech.
29. Prime Impact Fund, $500K to $1M, Colorado-based, climate infrastructure and resilience.
30. Wind Catcher Capital, $500K to $900K, Kansas-based, rural climate solutions and agriculture.

Reply speed: what to expect

We do not publish per-firm reply times, because we do not have reliable data for them. Expect cold email to be slow and low-yield in general: across 1,962 emails sent by 111 founders through VC Boom, the overall reply rate is 2.5%. Fast replies do not mean easy yeses, but they do mean you will know where you stand quickly. Silence after a follow-up is an answer too.

What to do with this list

Do not email every investor on this page. Do not even email all of the top 30. The best list is the shortest list that still gets you three term sheets.

Here is how to use this list:

Step 1: Filter by check size

If you are raising a $1.5M seed, do not pitch funds that write $500K checks. You will need three of them to close, and coordinating three small checks is harder than closing one lead and one follow-on. Look for funds that write checks at or above 50% of your target round size.

Step 2: Filter by stage and traction

Some of these funds say "seed" but want $50K+ MRR or signed pilot contracts. Others will write into pre-revenue teams with strong founder-market fit. If you have no revenue yet, look for funds known for writing into idea-stage or pilot-stage companies, such as accelerator-style programs. If you have meaningful revenue, larger seed checks become realistic.

Step 3: Filter by vertical

Not all climate investors care about all climate verticals. Lowercarbon writes big checks into hard tech and industrial decarbonization but rarely touches consumer climate. Collaborative Fund is the opposite. If you are building carbon accounting software, prioritize Voyager, Powerhouse, or Climate Tech VC. If you are building regenerative agriculture tech, prioritize ReGen Ventures, Wind Catcher Capital, or Good Growth Capital.

If you need help filtering by vertical and stage, VC Boom's investor directory lets you filter 47,874 investor records by sector, geography, and check size in under 30 seconds.

Step 4: Prioritize warm intros where possible, cold email where not

A warm intro from someone the partner trusts is still the stronger door. But a sharp cold email to the right investor is a legitimate path, not a last resort (more in cold email vs. warm intros).

A cold email to the right fund beats a warm intro to the wrong fund. If you have a warm path to a well-matched investor on this list, use it. If not, write the cold email. Just make sure it is sharp, specific, and under 120 words.

Step 5: Track reply speed and update your list weekly

If an investor does not reply in 14 days, send one follow-up. If they do not reply after that, move on. Reply speed correlates with interest. Slow replies usually mean low priority. The investors who want to invest will reply fast.

More climate investors to research

Here are more firms that have made climate investments, alphabetically. Many are generalists, strategics, or rarely write climate seed checks, so verify each one before you pitch:

Accel (select climate deals), Acme Capital (occasional climate software), AgFunder, Alumni Ventures (climate track), B Capital (select climate deals), Beenext (Asia-based, occasional U.S. climate), Bessemer (select early climate software), Breakthrough Energy Ventures (mostly Series A but occasional seed), Canary Climate, CapitalT, Cavallo Ventures (Shell-backed), Clean Energy Trust, Climate Avengers, Climate Collective, Climate Draft, ClimateHaven, Clocktower Ventures (occasional climate), Collide Capital, Corigin Ventures, Crane Venture Partners (Europe-based, occasional U.S.), Creandum (Europe-based, occasional U.S.), Cresset Capital, Day One Ventures (occasional climate), Defy (select climate deals), Dynamo Ventures (industrial automation, occasional climate), E2JDJ, Earthling Ventures, EnerTech Capital, Energy Impact Partners (mostly growth but occasional seed), Energy Revolution Ventures, Exelon Ventures (strategic), Fontinalis Partners (mobility and climate), Form Capital, Founders Fund (rare seed, occasional climate), Free Flow Ventures, Fuel Ventures (UK-based), Generate Capital (mostly project finance but occasional equity), Global Brain (Japan-based), Green Frontier Capital (Africa-based), GridX Ventures, Grizzly Ventures, GV (rare seed, occasional climate), Halogen Ventures (consumer climate), Hatch Blue (ocean and aquaculture), Hemi Ventures (rare seed, occasional climate), Homebrew (rare climate), Hummingbird Ventures (Europe-based), Hypothesis Ventures, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Ignite (UK-based), Impact Ventures UK, Incubate Fund (Japan-based), Innospark Ventures, Investible (Australia-based), Jetstream (occasional climate), Kachuwa Impact Fund (Asia-based), Khosla Ventures (rare seed, occasional climate), Kleiner Perkins (rare seed, occasional climate), Launch Africa Ventures, Lux Capital (rare seed, occasional climate hardware), M Ventures (Merck-backed), Material Impact, Munich Re Ventures (strategic), NGEN Partners (Canada-based), NextGen Venture Partners (DMV-based), Nimble Ventures (Europe-based), North Light Ventures (Denmark-based), Obvious Ventures (occasional climate), One Way Ventures (immigrant founders), Oversubscribed Ventures, Pacific Light Capital (rare seed, occasional climate), Pear VC (occasional climate), Planetary Technologies (project-based, occasional equity), Precursor Ventures (occasional climate), Primavera Capital (China-based, occasional U.S.), Prologis Ventures (supply chain and industrial), PTB Ventures (Thailand-based), Radicle Growth (Canada-based), Range Ventures (Midwest-based), Recharge Capital (occasional climate), Rethink Food (grant-to-equity), Rice Investment Group, Root Ventures (occasional climate hardware), Rural Ventures (Nebraska-based), S2G Ventures (food and ag, occasional climate), SaaS Ventures (rare climate software), Safar Partners (MENA-based), Savannah Fund (Africa-based), SBV (Sri Lanka-based), Seraphim Space (space and climate crossover), Set Ventures (Europe-based), Shasta Ventures (occasional climate), Shell Ventures (strategic), Siam Capital (Thailand-based), Sixty8 Capital (UK-based), Social Impact Capital (grant-to-equity), Soteria Battery Innovation (battery tech only), Spaced Ventures (rare climate), Speedinvest (Europe-based), SpringTide Ventures, Starshot Capital (rare climate), Struck Capital (occasional climate), Sustainable Food Ventures, Sway Ventures (occasional climate), Talis Capital (UK-based), Touchdown Ventures, Trucks VC (logistics and occasional climate), Union Square Ventures (rare climate), Urban Innovation Fund, Valo Ventures (Europe-based), Vanagon Ventures (rolling fund, rare climate), VentureSouq (MENA-based), Version One Ventures (Canada-based), Viking Global Investors (mostly growth, rare seed climate), Virescent Ventures, Vita Ventures (life sciences, occasional bio-climate), Wavemaker Partners (Southeast Asia-based), Wire Ventures (Europe-based), Y Combinator (batch-based, frequent climate), Zephyr Ventures (India-based), Zonda Collective (occasional climate), plus many micro-funds, rolling funds, and syndicate leads that write occasional climate checks.

Why this list will change by Q3 2026

Investor behavior moves fast. Funds raise new vehicles, partners leave, thesis shifts happen quietly. A fund that wrote 12 seed checks in 2025 might write 2 in 2026 because they are between funds or focused on portfolio support. A fund that was slow to reply in Q4 2025 might be fast in Q2 2026 because they hired a new associate or changed their inbound process.

This list is a snapshot, not a constant. If you are reading this in July 2026 or later, verify that the fund is still active before you email. Check their site for recent investments. Look at Crunchbase or press releases. If their last announced deal was in 2025, they might be between funds.

If you want a list you can filter and keep current, VC Boom's VC directory covers 47,874 investor records. We check SEC filings and firm portfolio pages, and show the date we checked.

The one thing most founders get wrong about climate investors

They treat "climate" as one vertical. It is not.

A fund that writes checks into carbon accounting software will almost never write a check into regenerative agriculture hardware. A fund that loves grid optimization software will pass on consumer climate marketplaces. A fund that writes into industrial decarbonization will not touch food tech.

Climate is not a thesis. It is many different theses wearing the same jacket.

Before you email a climate investor, check what they actually fund. Look at their last 10 investments. If 9 of them are software and you are building hardware, you are pitching the wrong firm. If 8 of them are B2B and you are building B2C, same problem.

The best climate investor list is not the longest list. It is the list of 15 funds that have written checks into companies that look like yours in the last 18 months. If you cannot name 15, find more. If you can name 40, cut half.

What to do next

If you are raising climate seed capital in 2026, start with this list. Filter by check size, vertical, and stage. Build a target list of 20 to 30 investors. Then score your deck, research each firm, and write 20 to 30 different first emails.

If your deck is not ready yet, fix that first. A great investor list with a weak deck gets you 30 polite passes. A strong deck with a weak list gets you three months of wasted time. A strong deck with the right list gives you a real shot.

Score your deck for free at vcboom.com/upload, get a ranked list of climate seed investors that match your vertical and stage, and write your first 20 emails in the next 48 hours. The question is whether the next check goes to you or to the founder who emailed them yesterday.