US-Israeli Fund NFX To Begin Investing in Climate Tech Sector

US-Israeli investment fund NFX, led by technology investor Gigi Levy-Weiss, announced last Tuesday that it will begin investing in climate tech through the fund’s fast investment track for seed investments up to $2 million, according to a report from Globes.

After raising a third fund of $450 million last October, NFX is now managing approximately $1 billion. It will now direct its pre-seed and seed investments toward early-stage companies that are developing green technologies in response to the historical lack of investments into early-phase climate-tech startups.

But now that many countries have drawn up roadmaps for reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, large funds and many other investors have begun setting their sights on the climate-tech field.

Sarai Bronfeld, head of NFX’s climate-tech investment program, therefore encourages hesitant entrepreneurs to enter the climate-tech industry, telling Globes, “We want to say to entrepreneurs who are looking at this field, ‘Go for it’. You don’t have to be afraid of going into this sector.”

“Cleantech has a reputation among investors of not being particularly successful, apart from some very special technologies, but now we’ve decided to be at the forefront of climate-tech,” said Bronfeld. “We have to support it and bring brains into it from the Israeli high-tech industry. We expect thousands of proposals in this field, and believe that other funds will follow in our footsteps.” 

In collaboration with Israeli climate technology community PLANETech, NFX will aim to identify Israeli early-stage ventures in emissions reduction, circular and sharing economy, alternative proteins, smart mobility, green construction, waste treatment, and water conservation for initial investments to overcome the early-stage funding barriers that have hindered the climate-tech industry for years. 

“We listen to Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, who estimates the next unicorns will be in this field, and to Bill Gates, who believes that climate technologies will create ten companies like Tesla, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft in the coming years,” Bronfel added. “This is no longer just an academic vision. Venture capital funds now see the potential and the future market.