Climate tech isn’t dead. Voyager just raised an oversubscribed fund to prove it.
The venture capital firm announces a $275 million fund to decarbonise the global economy
NEW YORK and San Francisco-based venture capital firm Voyager has just announced a $275 million Fund II as it doubles down on investing in the next generation of sustainable technologies.
Voyager invests in startups that contribute to decarbonising the global economy, looking at sectors such as mobility, critical materials, energy production and distribution, and carbon management.
It was launched in climate tech’s golden era, 2021, by founding partners Sierra Peterson, who brought experience from stints at Obama’s White House Office of Energy and Climate Change and the International Energy Agency, and Sarah Sclarsic, who previously cofounded car sharing company Getaround. The pair, which have since grown the team and opened a European HQ in London, have held steady on their investment thesis since then. On the launch of Voyager’s second fund Peterson told Verdant’s Tasmin Lockwood, who was then at Business Insider, that they back software, hardware and relevant biotech companies.
With the fresh pot, Voyager will manage $475 million across North America and Europe. It aims to back seed and Series A startups, cutting cheques of up to $10 million. The fund has already starting investing in companies, including in ENAPI, Leeta Materials, and Electroflow Technologies.
“There’s a lot of investor appetite for investing in hardware and deeptech, which to a degree didn’t exist 10 years ago,” Matthew Blain, principal at Voyager who represents the firm in London, told Verdant in an interview. “We position ourselves around investing in the technology that underpins the future, and the industries that underpin a trillion-dollar energy transition.”
Climate tech has faced its fair share of headwinds in 2025; the Trump administration’s pushback on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives compelled some companies to sideline their climate commitments – at least publicly. Still, the sector wasn’t as rattled as public perception portrayed it to be.
In 2024, VCs pumped around $40 billion into climate tech companies, per Dealroom data. This declined just slightly in 2025, to $36.2 billion. Climate tech investments made up 8% of the global VC share last year — down from the 12% in 2024, but broadly in line with the trend over the past 10 years. Investment has hobbled, but not as radically as expected.
Case in point, Voyager raised an oversubscribed fund from limited partners spanning Europe and North America, including a range of institutions, family offices, and charitable endowments.
“We went out to raise a $250 million fund, and it ended up being $275 million – which is good evidence for the investor demand,” Blain said.
The business case for climate tech
Voyager wants to push back against the narrative that investing in climate isn’t economically viable. Indeed, Silicon Valley Bank’s State of Climate Tech report 2025 found that climate tech funds actually outperformed generalist VCs by an average of 9% IRR across recent vintages.
The fund only considers companies with a strong business case, that can scale across geographies, including those that can tackle pressing issues such as supply chain risks and energy sovereignty concerns.
“In a world where sovereignty is more important, and where there’s greater supply chain risks, modularity can be a huge advantage to technological adoption,” Blain said. “A lot of those legacy technologies are also analogue, and there’s huge potential at the intersection of software and hardware to ultimately improve these unit economics.”
Electrification is a key focus. Data centres are certainly key culprits in consuming huge swathes of energy but the industry is eclipsed by the energy demands of manufacturing, transport, and home electrification, Blain said.
Recent geopolitical developments, including the US’ actions in Venezuela and quest to claim Greenland, highlight the importance of technologies in addressing challenges at the intersection of national sovereignty and energy resilience. To be sure, Europe has scrambled to strengthen its energy security so to get off Russian imports. China, meanwhile, is currently the kingpin for critical mineral processing.
These sectors — and problems — are fertile grounds for investment, which is what Voyager is looking to capitalise on. It has already backed materials startups such as Addis Energy, Lydian, and Apneus, as well as energy upstarts Copper and Powerline.
While political currents inevitably inform how VCs invest, Voyager is also adamant that it takes a policy-agnostic approach to investing.
“Fund I had a laser focus on investing in companies that aren’t dependent on the green premium or public policy as a regulatory force to drive adoption,” Blain said.
When the Trump administration slashed funding for the Inflation Reduction Act, many climate tech startups that relied on subsidies were searching for a lifeline. Voyager recognises that “political winds can change” and doesn’t want its portfolio to rely on government subsidies to scale, Blain said.
With the cash injection, Voyager will continue to scale its presence in Europe.
“We would like to be a catalyst to drive growth in Europe, and build not just a regional or national champion, but a globally-dominant company,” Blain added.
Amazing article!!