Union Square Ventures Doubles Down on Climate With $200 Million Fund

Union Square Ventures, the venture capital firm known for its early stakes in Twitter, Coinbase and Etsy, has raised $200 million for its second fund focused on early investments in climate tech startups, managing partner Albert Wenger confirmed to The Information. The fund amounts to a doubling down on the sector for the New York firm, a sign of the rising interest among venture capitalists and their backers in technology to combat global warming.

“There’s a huge amount of capital rotating out of software into climate,” said Wenger, who joined USV over a decade ago, around the same time that a short-lived boom in cleantech VC investing was happening. In the past, the firm has invested in EV battery makers and in startups whose technology aims to capture carbon, or remove emissions from fossil fuel burning and other sources that contribute to global warming. The firm raised $162 million for its first climate fund in early 2021.