Climate tech venture capital: Where it’s at and how to get it An interview with MUUS

CleanTechnica says as the world swelters under the latest round of heat waves, global awareness of climate change has hit a tipping point. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

According to McKinsey & Co, climate tech as an industry has been growing at a phenomenal 30+% year over year even during the most recent economic turbulence of the last few years. As we swelter under the latest round of heat waves, and global awareness of climate change has (finally) hit a tipping point, we can only imagine this trend will continue and more than likely go even faster. Not only do we need it to survive, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that it also makes a smart financial investment.

We at CleanTechnica just launched our first raise, opening ownership in CleanTechnica to people outside our organization for the first time ever. We will be using the money to grow our flagship product (this website and its associated channels in audio, video, and social) as well as to launch our first mid-sized trade show focusing on sustainable homes. We hope to amplify our voice to further accelerate the clean tech revolution. (We are actively raising right now, and if you’re interested, you can sign up to be contacted here. We’re taking investment checks with a $5,000 minimum, and offering a discount on future valuations.)

As the guy leading the raise, I’ve been talking to a lot of investors in the climate tech space, mostly listening and learning. I’ve been talking to everyone from retirees looking to invest for their grandchildren to climate tech VCs from New York and San Francisco. One of the folks I talked to on the latter side of that equation is Benjamin Wolkon, a partner at MUUS Climate Partners, a venture firm based in NY. Ben has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and remains active in their MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative as an alumnus. I asked him some questions about how to pitch VCs in this market, and his answers were interesting enough that I thought I’d share them as an article to help other climate entrepreneurs hone their investment pitches.

Ben began his journey by calling a lot of venture capital firms and asking if he could be their climate guy. This was before climate tech was as sexy as it is today, and predictably, he struggled a little. He then met Michael Sonnenfeldt by what he refers to as dumb luck. Sonnenfeldt hired Ben into MUUS and then started MUUS Climate Partners.

I asked him what was a high-level, one-line takeaway about his years in climate tech VC. He said, in a nutshell, that nowadays, you have to move fast as a climate VC — it didn’t used to be that way. In other words, climate tech entrepreneurs used to have to really pound the pavement. Now they’re sought after. Seems that the demand for climate investments is high, and the supply can’t keep up.