Footballer Chris Smalling Launches Climate-Focused VC Firm

• Footballer Chris Smalling has launched a climate-focused venture capital company.
• He wants to make it easier for celebrities to invest in social and environmental startups.
• The special purpose vehicle will write checks of up to $1.2 million to pre-seed to Series A firms.

Footballer Chris Smalling has launched a venture capital vehicle to help celebrities invest in startups tackling climate change.

The AS Roma center back and England international will facilitate deals between athletes, musicians, entertainers, and high-profile personalities and startups tackling social and environmental issues through a new company called ForGood.

The investment consultancy firm will write checks of between £50,000 and £1 million to businesses across the world at the pre-seed and Series A stage.

It follows a bevy of high-profile investments into climate tech. Leonardo DiCaprio recently backed water crisis management tool Waterplan while actress Emma Watson and Twitter cofounder Biz Stone handed checks to Fabric Nano, a London-based startup looking for an alternative to fossil fuels in the production of plastics and chemicals. 

Smalling, who previously played for Manchester United and Fulham, was first exposed to startups when he went vegan.

“I’ve always been an animal lover and I’m hugely passionate about animal welfare, which led me to switch to a plant-based lifestyle nearly seven years ago, as well as the health impacts,” he said.

“It also opened up a whole new world of startups and I’ve personally invested in pineapple-based leather business Piñatex and frozen food company All Plants. For me, I want to find founders who are looking to shake up industries – no matter if it’s food and drink, fashion or tech.”

Instead of raising a fund, Smalling will offer celebrities investment opportunities on a deal-by-deal basis via a special purpose vehicle in a bid to make investing easier. Having personally invested for the last few years in the sustainability and plant-based space, Smalling wants to bring the opportunities to others. 

He created ForGood alongside cofounders Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni, an entrepreneur and investor, and Rebecca Wheeler, who previously founded a creative agency. The four-person business, first founded in 2020, is sector agnostic. 

ForGood, which has a wider network of VCs, strategists, food scientists, and branding experts, will also operate a consultancy arm offering growth services to portfolio companies. 

The company’s focus is on conscious living, high-impact disruption, and community, according to its website.  It currently has 11 startups in its portfolio, including plant-based meat companies THIS and Heura, and natural laundry detergent Dirty Labs.

Smalling, who nearly went to university to study economics before becoming a professional footballer, added that he’s on the hunt for a solution for global waste.

“I really want to reduce the volume of waste in the world – from food waste to making sport more sustainable – as there is sadly still so much.”