Europe’s venture capital landscape for sustainability is expanding rapidly, with ClimateTech emerging as one of the strongest investment areas. According to an OECD report, global CleanTech investment peaked at around €74 billion in 2021, and by 2025, nearly 30% of green startups secured funding, almost double the rate of their non-green peers.
In the European Union, the tendency to shift towards climate-neutral policies made the ECB stress the need for substantial investment in GreenTech. Hence, instruments like green bonds and venture capital are crucial, yet still underutilised, to fully support green innovation and startup financing.
Against this backdrop, we highlight 10 of the most active venture capital firms headquartered in Europe that are leading the green transition, investing in climate technology, renewable energy, circular economy solutions, and sustainable innovation from seed to growth startups stage.
2150: Headquartered in London, 2150 is a venture capital firm that aims to sustainably reshape urban environments, backing entrepreneurs who are driving the climate transition with technologies that create long-term impact.
They invest from early to late stage in startups addressing the full urban stack. Its portfolio spans solutions for how cities are built, designed, and powered, as well as how people live, work, and are cared for. Its portfolio already features startups such as Mission Zero Technologies, which has raised €25.4 million in Series A, and NatureMetrics, which is developing a cutting-edge biodiversity monitoring solution.
4Impact: Based in the Netherlands, this venture fund backs “tech4good” startups that deliver both societal and environmental impact alongside financial returns. The firm closed its second fund with €68 million, co-financed by major backers like the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Invest‑NL.
The firm’s team draws from diverse backgrounds, including Goldman Sachs, Mubadala, and Citi, highlighting its expertise in sustainability aligned with investment. Their portfolio includes investments in the Dutch CleanTech startup Deftpower, a provider of AI-powered electric vehicle charging solutions and Solar Monkey, which provides software for the design and remote monitoring of solar energy systems.
AENU: Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Berlin, this venture capital firm closed in 2024 €170 million to invest in startups for climate technology aimed at accelerating the circular economy and tackling climate change through DeepTech. The firm backs startups from seed until series A stages, with a focus on areas such as renewable energy, energy storage and sustainable materials.
AENU’s portfolio already includes promising startups such as Entrix, Greenlyte or trawa. All developing solutions that drive smarter carbon management, enable CO2 capture with hydrogen as a valuable byproduct, and improve and simplify energy purchasing and management.
Climentum Capital: This Danish early-stage VC firm invests in clean energy startups. It is headquartered in Copenhagen, Berlin, and Stockholm, with a particular focus on the Nordic region. The firm backs European hardware innovations enhanced by DeepTech software.
Climentum Capital looks for disruptive startups that can maximise the reduction of CO2 emissions from industrial powerhouses across Europe. They provide capital to startups at the late Seed and Series A levels. Among their investment portfolio, there is Rodinia Generation, a fashion startup that has created a manufacturing method that drastically reduces carbon emissions and water usage in garment production. Other highlighted stories are the ones from Aegir Insights or Jolt Electrodes.
Contrarian Ventures: As a certified B Corporation, the firm adopts a hands-on, founders-first approach across Europe and Israel. Its main focus is on accelerating decarbonisation, addressing the urgent challenge of greenhouse gas emissions released daily. They typically invest from pre-seed to Series A and provide a process-driven approach to support founders, whether in operations, business development, or fundraising.
In 2023, Contrarian Ventures secured €25 million from the European Investment Fund to support European startups advancing climate-neutral policies. Some of their well-known investments have been in startups such as Beebop.ai, which raised €4.9 million to advance power grid software or Altrove, a DeepTech startup developing sustainable alternatives for critical materials.
Emerald Technology Ventures: Zurich-based, Emerald is one of the first pure CleanTech VCs in Europe. Its investments are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a strong emphasis on decarbonisation, resource and energy efficiency, and waste reduction. In August, the firm secured backing to launch its first water-focused fund with partners including Ecolab and the Goldman Environmental Foundation.
Latelly, they have invested €14.2 million in the startup Vytal Global that’s driving the shift from single-use packaging by providing businesses in the food, beverage, and events sectors with an innovative, scalable, and affordable alternative. Or at the beginning of the year, they invested in StormHarvester, a SaaS startup developing an automated water management software platform.
Extantia Capital: With headquarters in Berlin and a team spread across the UK, Germany, and Israel, Extantia invest in deep decarbonisation technologies, energy transition, and climate-first solutions. To do so, they support the next generation of mission-driven Gigacorn founders. This means that they are looking for startups that are ultimately capable of saving more than 1Gt of CO2 emissions per year and are also commercially viable with scalable business models. Extantia’s main investment vehicle is Article 9 Fund, which meets the EU’s strictest sustainability standards under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
In 2024, they closed this fund at €204 million, raised from major institutional investors, to channel into climate tech companies. One of their notable investment is in the startup Reverion, which is developing reversible carbon-negative power plants and recently secured €56 million in Series A funding.
Future Energy Ventures: This multi-stage VC firm with hubs in Germany, Israel and Silicon Valley, is dedicated to shaping the future of climate transition. It focuses entirely on sustainable investments across three themes with clear decarbonisation potential: future energy, future cities and future technologies. In 2024, the venture launched a new fund with a volume of €110 million and a target size of €250 million, joined by E.ON and the European Investment Fund (EIF), aimed at developing and implementing digital solutions to drive the energy transition.
With average initial tickets of €1–10 million, the fund targets seed to Series A investments in Europe, North America and the Middle East. One of its recent investments includes thermondo, a German heat pump installer that has raised €50 million, or the Swiss Jua an AI-based Earth simulation.
HTGF (High-Tech Gründerfonds): Headquartered in Bonn, this venture manages over €2 billion, making it Europe’s most active early-stage investor. While it invests broadly across industrial tech, life sciences, digital, and DeepTech, it has been steadily increasing its focus on GreenTech.
HTGF typically invests about €800k at pre-seed and seed, with the ability to scale follow-on investments up to €30 million. This combination of early backing and long-term support positions HTGF as a key player in financing Europe’s climate tech startups. One of their recent investments was at Proxima Fusion, a DeepTech startup aimed at advancing its stellarator-based fusion power plant across Europe.
Norrsken: It is a VC deeply focused on investing in ClimateTech aligned with the SDGs. They aim to build a global ecosystem that gives entrepreneurs the knowledge, capital and network they need to create solutions to mitigate climate-hazardous consequences.
This year, Norrsken launched Norrsken Evolve, a €57 million fund aimed at investing in early-stage startups which can develop an impactful solution to mitigate climate change consequences. Additionally, they foster investments in startups “using AI for good’ to solve challenges in climate, health, food, education, and society. Among their portfolio, there are startups such as the German-based 1KOMMA5°, a ClimateTech startup for CO2-neutral energy, heat and mobility or Sunsave, a British energy startup making rooftop solar more accessible to people.
Pale Blue Dot: Founded as Sweden’s first dedicated climate VC, they back early-stage startups combining software and hardware to tackle some of the most pressing climate challenges. Its investments span Europe and the United States, guided by three core themes: Optimise, supporting technologies that decarbonise existing systems such as energy infrastructure and food supply chains; Adapt, funding innovations that build resilience against the impacts of climate change; and Pioneer, enabling breakthrough ideas with the potential to transform industries and create a more sustainable future.
Pale Blue Dot currently manages two funds with €180 million, a €87 million Fund I and a €93 million Fund II, focused on pre-seed and seed-stage ventures. Some examples of their investment portfolio include Solarock, a solar self-consumption startup in France or Cirplus, Europe’s largest B2B procurement platform for recycled plastics.
Planet A: This venture is dedicated to backing startups tackling some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. What makes Planet A truly stand out is its science-based approach to impact investing. It is the first European VC to build an in-house science team that conducts life cycle assessments of every potential investment.
These scientists even hold veto power, ensuring that only companies with a demonstrable, measurable impact in areas such as climate mitigation, resource efficiency, waste reduction, and biodiversity protection make it into the portfolio. Backed by BMW, KfW Capital, and REWE, Planet A has invested in 14 green tech startups, including Makersite and Arsenale Bioyards, a neo-industrial startup transforming bio-manufacturing.
SET Ventures: The Dutch VC fund focuses on investing in digital technologies for a carbon-free energy system. SET has built a strong portfolio in areas like energy storage, grid optimisation, and energy efficiency. Investing from early to late stage, providing not just capital but also industry connections in the energy sector.
In 2024, they announced the closing of its Fund IV at €200 million to continue investing in Europe’s energy transition startups. Examples of their investments are the Dutch-based Tibo Energy, a developer of a next-generation Energy Management System (EMS) for industrial and commercial energy sites; Optics11, a DeepTech scale-up that builds advanced fibre optic sensing solutions; and the Spanish Green Eagle Solutions to expand its AI-powered renewable asset automation platform.
Systemiq Capital: Launched in London, they take a systems change approach to climate and nature investing, focusing on circular economy, energy transition, and sustainable food production. Systemiq Capital targets early-stage ClimateTech startups across Europe and North America. They specialise in a more technical aspect of the fight against climate change: electrification, decoding nature and applied AI.
Among their portfolio investment, there are startups such as Podero, a software platform designed for utilities to reduce energy costs, or the British Qflow construction tech scaleup working towards a new way of approaching construction.
World Fund: One of Europe’s leading sustainability-focused VCs, backing startups that directly contribute to tackling the climate crisis. With a focus on the highest-emitting sectors such as energy, food and agriculture, manufacturing, buildings, and transport, the venture targets two critical gaps in climate tech: the transition from lab to market and from pilot to scalable solutions.
Concentrating on seed to Series B rounds, World Fund has recently invested in startups such as UK-based NetZeroNitrogen, which aims to end reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, and Germany’s Freshflow, an AI-driven platform optimising the fresh food supply chain.
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Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/09/from-capital-to-climate-impact-europes-15-promising-sustainability-vcs/
