Climate Tech Venture Firm Aera VC Raises $US30M

Aera VC, a Singapore-based climate tech venture firm, announced a $US30m first close of its new fund investing in startups accelerating the planet toward a sustainable future.

Contributors to the new climate-focused fund include purpose-driven investor families from around the world who are leveraging their resources to decarbonise industries deeply in need of climate solutions.

The new Aera fund expects to make up to 30 new seed investments over the next two years and will also contribute to follow-on rounds. The fund is continuing to accept further subscriptions up to $US100m from institutional investors in 2022 who will join the international community of family offices.

The fund is launching with a portfolio of global climate companies including:

• Houston-based chemical decarbonisation firm Solugen – now valued at $US1.8 billion – as well as
• Shiok Meats (Singapore),
• Carbon Chain (London),
• Noya, and Twelve (San Francisco); and
• Fable Foods (Australia).

Aera is also today launching an investment DAO (Distributed Autonomous Organization) called Aera Force, with 2000 ETH (approx $US6 million) earmarked specifically for pre-seed projects harnessing the power of blockchain to conquer climate and carbon related challenges. Established in partnership with the creators of Dream DAO, the Aera Force DAO will expand the global community of innovators, scientists and founders formed in the past five years by Aera VC.

Aera VC was formed in 2016 when Derek Handley joined forces with fellow New Zealander Nick Winstone to launch the globally distributed venture firm from their bases in New Zealand and New York. A seasoned team of geographically dispersed partners have since joined the company, now one of the prominent climate funds based out of the Asia Pacific region, including Alex Andre de la Porte in Australia (Sydney); Guneet Banga in Hong Kong, Milena Nikolova in Singapore, and Dream DAO co-founder Josh Thompson in New York.

FinSMEs

23/02/2022