AI has changed the climate discussion.
There was no doubt in my mind as I sat on stage yesterday, under the lights of Nest Campus, Climate Week NYC’s bonanza at the North Javits Center. It feels a bit like a mini climate-focused CES, complete with electric vehicles in the conference center.
I spoke to Dawn Lippert, founder and CEO of Elemental Impact and GP of Earthshot Ventures, and Mike Schroepfer, founding partner of VC firm Gigascale Capital, about the future climate-focused VCs are investing in – and what it actually means to balance speed and climate concerns.
It’s an interesting time: over the last 15 years or so, climate technology has gone from sexy to unspeakable, to today where it’s gaining traction again in the age of AI. As the debate over what it takes to power data centers intensifies—and concerns about the electric grid become inevitable—sustainable energy and the U.S. industrial base are more or less in hot demand again.
“AI is, in my view, both a headwind and a tailwind for the space, but more of a tailwind than a headwind,” John MacDonagh, senior research analyst at PitchBook, said by email. “Data center developers are looking for energy sources to support their projects, and in the climate technology space, there are core technologies such as renewable energy that can be deployed quickly and are relatively inexpensive, but also face intermittent challenges that can then be addressed by energy storage technologies. Fixed energy sources are potentially better suited for data center applications, but are less mature and require significant funding for development and commercialization.”
In short, AI has opened up many opportunities for those developing and supporting climate technology, which is a remarkable turnaround given some of the numbers in recent years: recent PitchBook data showed that fundraising for climate-focused VCs fell by almost 40% in 2025 compared to 2024. At the same time, it appears that startups, particularly in the energy sector, have enormous amounts of capital. I asked Lippert and Schroepfer about it on stage.
“90% of the companies Earthshot supports have generalist technology investors as our co-investors,” Lippert said. “We think it’s really helpful as a climate investor to sit at the cap table of these companies and ask about social impact or environmental impact. Sometimes we’re the only ones in the room asking those questions.”
Schroepfer, former CTO of Metaraised $250 million for a climate fund announced in June. Although he was asked to consider changing the name to AI funds, he declined.
“As Dawn said, our most common co-investors are generalists or follow-on investors, and we’ve seen more capital coming from there,” he said. “However, it’s a bit of a tale of two cities. If you’re in energy, critical minerals or anything in the supply chain, there’s more money for that work than I’ve ever seen from an investment perspective.”
See you in the morning,
Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
E-mail: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Joey Abrams curated the Offers section of today’s newsletter.
RISK CAPITAL
– snorkel AIa San Francisco and New York City-based provider of AI training data and assessment tools, has raised $350 million in Series E financing. insight partner And S32 led the group and were accompanied by them Addition and other.
– Verdaa Helsinki, Finland-based cloud provider for AI developers has raised $189 million in Series B funding. Origin Capital city led the lap and followed suit Super micro, MUFG innovation partnerand other.
– Go.AIa Chicago, Illinois-based provider of on-premises AI infrastructure for regulated industries, has raised $85 million in Series A financing. Updates partner led the lap and followed suit GFT ventures And START.
– Confidentiala New York City-based AI back-office platform for consumer brands, has raised $55 million in Series B funding. insight partner led the lap and followed suit Trenches Capital city, Watchfire, barrel venturesand existing investors.
– Biolevatea Paris, France-based provider of AI automation software for life sciences companies has raised €30 million ($34.3 million) in Series A funding. RAISE France And Orange ventures led the group and were accompanied by them MSD Global Health innovation Fund, station FAnd EQT Ventures.
– Chamelioa New York City-based AI contract management platform for in-house legal teams, has raised $26 million in Series A funding. Starting capital led the lap and followed suit Workbench, Turn up venturesAnd Bright pixel Capital city.
– Ramona opticsa Durham, North Carolina-based developer of AI-powered microscopy systems for life sciences researchers, has raised $25 million in Series A funding. BOW Dare partner led the lap and followed suit Stealth point ventures, ND Capital city, Falling line Capital cityand other.
– Teal Healtha San Francisco-based developer of at-home HPV screening tests, has raised $22 million in Series A funding. .406 ventures led the lap and followed suit Emerson Collective, precursor, Serena venturesAnd MPower partner.
– Selaa San Francisco-based provider of AI voice agents for mortgage lenders, has raised $21 million in funding in seed and Series A rounds. Costanoa led the lap and followed suit Origin Capital city.
– Dialybirda Cantù, Italy-based developer of dialysis access devices has raised €15 million ($17.2 million) in Series A financing. XGEN Dare led the lap and followed suit CDP Dare Capital city.
– Bird&BeA Toronto, Canada-based fertility company that sells nutritional supplements and home tests raised $13 million in funding. BDC Thrive And BFG partner led the round.
– Nexstroma Singapore-based developer of 2D semiconductor materials and manufacturing technology, has raised $12 million in seed funding. Xora innovation led the lap and followed suit Foothills ventures And SEEDS.
– Mikaa Berlin-based AI-powered tax advisory platform, has raised €6 million ($6.9 million) in seed capital. Smedvig ventures led the lap and followed suit Wake & Cie and existing investors.
– Benforda technology-focused financial audit firm based in London, UK and Oslo, Norway, has raised €5 million ($5.7 million) in pre-seed funding first minute Capital city, Global founder Capital city, Sondoand other.
– Feara San Francisco-based artificial intelligence-powered patent law firm, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding relationship ventures, a16z Speedrun, Designers FundAnd beings VC.
– Hooka Brooklyn, NY-based AI-powered sublease and short-term rental marketplace has raised $4 million in seed funding. Slow ventures led the lap and followed suit Long Trip ventures, chameleonand angel investors.
– Palma.aia Berlin-based platform for controlling and monitoring deployed AI agents, has raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding. D11Z led the lap and followed suit Plug and play company, Deel, scale Now venturesand angel investors.
PRIVATE EQUITY
– Cornell Capital city acquired Hancock Claims Consultantsan Alpharetta, Georgia-based provider of property insurance claims inspection services. Financial details were not disclosed.
– Odyssey investment partner acquired a majority stake hawk gasesa Long Beach, California-based distributor of industrial and specialty gases. Financial details were not disclosed.
– Pentecost acquired Next Point Warehouse groupa Valencia, California-based dealer of specialty bearings and power transmission parts. Financial details were not disclosed.
EXITS
– Blackstone And EQT acquired Urbasera waste management company based in Madrid, Spain platinum Equity capital for about $6.6 billion.
IPOs
– Acceleration StocksA Miamisburg, Ohio-based data center energy and infrastructure company plans to raise up to $720 million through an offering of 30 million shares priced between $20 and $24 on Nasdaq. The company had revenue of $727 million for the fiscal year ended June 30. Olympus Medium stands behind the company.
PEOPLE
– cherry venturesa Berlin-based venture capital firm, was hired Tatiana formwork wall as a partner. Before that she was with Kinnevik.