Tom Steyer Closes $1B Climate Fund
Tom Steyer, founder and former managing partner at Farallon Capital and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has raised a $1 billion climate investment fund.
The Innovation + Expansion Fund, from Steyer’s new firm, Galvanize Climate Solutions, will provide venture and growth equity funding to early and growth stage climate startups. Specifically, the fund will target companies that are able to provide near-term decarbonization.
Funding was raised from institutional investors, endowments, foundations and family offices. The fund identifies itself as one of the largest funds dedicated to climate tech, rivaling the $235 million Green Climate Fund and Bill Gates’ $1 billion Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, among the largest climate funds, according to Bloomberg.
“Fully realizing the most significant investment opportunity of our time and succeeding in ushering in the climate transition will require more than capital alone,” Steyer said in a statement. “That’s why, based on years of investment experience and an understanding of the resources needed to accelerate critical climate solutions, we deliberately built Galvanize to forge a new model for climate investing, alongside constructing a world-class team built for this moment. We are thrilled to have the support of our partners in pursuit of this opportunity.”
The Innovation + Expansion fund will be led by former Ajax Strategies partner Veery Maxwell; former Joe Biden presidential campaign CFO, Blackstone director and Congruent Ventures partner Saloni Multani; and former Riverstone managing director and Credit Suisse banker Cliff Ryan. All three will serve as co-heads of growth.
“We are witnessing an inflection point in the transformation of the global economy,” Multani said in a statement. “The alignment of market forces—including corporate commitments, regulatory and policy progress, consumer expectations, workforce talent preferences, technological maturation and economic competitiveness—is driving substantial tailwinds behind the climate sector. We believe immense value will accrue to the technologies and solutions that can drive meaningful decarbonization over the next decade.”
Galvanize has allocated funds from the Innovation + Expansion Fund to 11 companies within the energy, transportation, real estate, agriculture and carbon removal sectors. These companies include Alcemy, Arable, Lydian, Plotlogic, Pulsora, Regrow, The Routing Co., Veir, Watershed, Worldy and Zhero.