SAN FRANCISCO, CA – December 7, 2023 – Congruent Ventures, an early stage climate and sustainability venture firm, today announced the close of its third flagship fund, Congruent Ventures III, focused on supporting early stage climate tech companies from the earliest stages of formation. Leveraging decades of investing experience, Congruent supports climate entrepreneurs building transformative companies in North America that can build and scale rapidly.
The new fund brings Congruent’s total AUM to more than $1 billion, making it one of the largest pure play early stage climate firms and doubling the firm’s AUM over the past year. The fund’s commitments represent Limited Partners with more than $2 trillion in assets. With an original target of $200M, the $600M of interest marks a 3x oversubscription for the fund, which held a single close in early November after starting conversations in June.
Founded in 2017 by Joshua Posamentier and Abe Yokell, Congruent is one of the first dedicated investors in early stage climate tech in recent years and has built a team of 12 professionals who are among the most experienced and diverse in the industry. Investors supporting Congruent include previous investors such as California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the Grantham Foundation, the University of California, Sobrato Capital, Strategic Investment Group, clients advised by Cambridge Associates and new investors including Northwestern University and Vintage Investment Partners in addition to multiple institutions representing some of the largest endowments, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and foundations in the world.
“We are delighted to have the support of some of the largest and most mission aligned institutional investors in the world supporting our early stage climate focus” said Abe Yokell, co-founder and managing partner, Congruent Ventures. “With institutional investors going through a reset across their venture portfolios, we hope that our fundraising process proves there is returns-focused appetite to invest in climate solutions.”
Congruent’s portfolio includes category leading climate companies from food to fusion including Meati Foods, AMP Robotics, Fervo Energy, Span.IO, Hippo Harvest, Pano.AI, Avalanche Energy, Parallel Systems, and Lightship among many others.
“While we regret having to turn away over $300M of investor interest in Fund III, we believe a disciplined approach to fund size will allow Fund III to continue to support climate entrepreneurs from the formation stage,” said Joshua Posamentier, co-founder and managing partner, Congruent Ventures. “If we allowed our fund size to go much beyond $275M, our ability to support investing in the first institutional rounds of companies would be challenged.“
Congruent’s previous two flagship funds (Fund I in 2017 at $92M and Fund II in 2021 at $175M) have been focused on supporting entrepreneurs who are building solutions to address sustainability challenges, investing early across hardware, software, enterprise, consumer, deep tech, fin-tech, and business model innovation. Climate sector focus includes mobility and urbanization, energy transition, food and agriculture, and sustainable production and consumption. The flagship funds were complemented by Congruent’s $300M Continuity Fund, launched in April of this year, which focuses on the growth stage rounds matriculating from its early stage portfolio.
Congruent has backed 53 companies over the past six years investing in first institutional rounds in 80% of its portfolio, making it amongst the most active and experienced U.S. investors in climate. Its portfolio represents companies that will help to decarbonize every sector of the economy covering energy, fleet electrification, farming, new food products, sustainable aviation fuels, manufacturing, and more.
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About Congruent Ventures
Congruent Ventures is a leading early stage venture firm focused on partnering with entrepreneurs to build companies addressing climate and sustainability challenges across four themes: Mobility and Urbanization, the Energy Transition, Food and Agriculture, and Sustainable Production and Consumption. The firm has more than $1 billion in AUM across early stage climate tech funds, making it one of the largest climate portfolios in early stage venture. With the announcement of the Continuity Fund and Fund III Congruent has doubled the firm’s AUM. With 53 companies in the portfolio, Congruent is amongst the most active investors in the climate and sustainability ecosystem. For more information, please visit: https://www.congruentvc.com.
Media Contact: Chris Allieri, chris@mulberryandastor.com
