Clean Energy Venture Capital Firms 2026: Verified List
Thirteen firms still write checks into early-stage clean energy in 2026, and the most active of them are Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital and Energize Capital. Four names that appear on almost every published list of clean energy venture capital firms no longer exist under those names: Energize Ventures became Energize Capital in July 2023, Element 8 Angels is now E8 Angels, Idinvest Partners was absorbed into Eurazeo and retired in 2020, and Alliance Ventures lost the backing of two of its three automaker parents in 2020. Two more, BMW i Ventures and BP Ventures, have moved their money away from clean energy since 2025. This page lists what each firm invests, at what stage, and when we last checked.
This article is information, not financial advice. Venture capital is illiquid, high-risk and generally restricted to accredited investors. Verify any figure with the firm before acting on it.
Which clean energy venture capital firms are active in 2026?
Thirteen firms below were verified as active on 16 August 2026 by reading each firm’s own website and its most recent fund announcement. Figures marked “company-stated” come from the firm’s own page. Figures marked “reported” come from press coverage or a data provider and are attributed in the text, because providers disagree with each other more than most lists admit.
| Firm | Base | Stage | Fund or AUM | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clean Energy Ventures | Boston, London | Seed to Series A | $415M AUM, 30+ portfolio companies (company-stated) | Hard-tech decarbonization |
| Clean Energy Venture Group | Boston | Pre-seed, seed (angel) | 60+ investments, 35+ partners (company-stated) | Early climate tech |
| Energy Impact Partners | New York, London | Venture to growth | Latest flagship fund closed October 2025, reported at $1.36B | Grid, utilities, energy software |
| Breakthrough Energy Ventures | Kirkland, WA | Seed to growth | Reported $3.5B+ committed across funds | Five highest-emitting sectors |
| Lowercarbon Capital | Berkeley, CA | Pre-seed to Series B | Reported ~$2.4B AUM, 207+ companies | Carbon removal, deep tech |
| Energize Capital | Chicago | Series A to growth | $300M growth platform (2023); $1.2B+ AUM reported at rename | Climate and energy software |
| ETF Partners | London | Series A, Series B | Fund IV closed May 2024 at EUR 285M | European sustainability tech |
| Powerhouse Ventures | Oakland, CA | Pre-seed, seed | Fund II reported at $70M; checks $200K to $2.0M | Clean energy and mobility software |
| E8 Angels | Seattle | Seed (angel) | $75M+ into 190+ startups since 2006 (company-stated) | Cleantech, water, agtech |
| Energy Foundry | Chicago | Seed, Series A | $72.5M evergreen; checks $500K to $10M (status disputed) | Energy, mobility, climate hardware |
| Munich Venture Partners | Munich | Series A, Series B | Not verified this month | Eco-industrial deep tech |
| Centrica Innovations | Windsor, UK | Corporate VC | Not verified this month | Energy, EV, home services |
| BP Ventures | London | Corporate VC | Parent cut low-carbon capex by over 80% in February 2025 | Increasingly non-renewable |
What is the difference between Clean Energy Ventures and Clean Energy Venture Group?
Clean Energy Venture Group is a Boston angel collective of 35 or more partners who invest their own money. Clean Energy Ventures is the institutional venture fund three of those partners spun out in 2017. They are sister organizations, they share deal flow and diligence, and they are constantly confused for one another, including by people searching for portfolio counts and check sizes. The two entities publish different numbers because they are different vehicles.
| Clean Energy Ventures (CEV) | Clean Energy Venture Group (CEVG) | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Institutional venture capital fund | Angel investor collective |
| Founded | 2017, by three CEVG partners | Operating since the mid-2000s |
| Capital | $415M AUM across two funds | Members invest personally; 75+ co-investors |
| Portfolio | 30+ portfolio companies | 60+ investments |
| People | Investment team | 35+ operating-executive partners |
| Offices | Boston and London | Boston |
| Website | cleanenergyventures.com | cevg.com |
If you are a founder, the practical difference is check size and process. CEVG partners can move at angel speed on a pre-seed round. CEV runs institutional diligence and leads seed and Series A rounds out of a committed fund. Many companies raise from both, in that order. Read more about how funds differ from pooled vehicles in our guide to clean energy mutual funds.
Clean Energy Ventures invests in hard technology with a clear commercialization path, and screens for gigaton-scale emissions impact. Clean Energy Venture Group provides seed capital plus operating mentorship.
Which firms on older lists were renamed, retired or repositioned?
Six entries that still circulate on clean energy VC lists no longer describe what they claim to. Four are naming problems, and two are thesis problems, where the firm exists but the money stopped going into clean energy. Each row below was checked against the firm’s own site or its parent’s own announcement.
| Listed as | What actually happened | Date | Correct name today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energize Ventures | Renamed when it broadened from venture into growth equity, alongside a $300M growth platform raise | July 2023 | Energize Capital |
| Element 8 Angels | Started 2006 as Northwest Energy Angels, became Element 8 in 2014, then shortened the name | Since 2014 | E8 Angels |
| Idinvest Partners | Eurazeo bought the remaining capital and retired the brand, then folded it again into a combined manager | 2020, then December 2023 | Eurazeo Global Investor |
| Alliance Ventures | Mitsubishi Motors, then Nissan, stopped funding the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi vehicle in a cost-cutting drive | 2020 | Not a current clean energy fund |
| BMW i Ventures | Fund III raised $300M targeting physical AI, agentic AI, industrial software, manufacturing and supply chain, not clean energy | 29 April 2026 | Active, different thesis |
| BP Ventures | Parent cut planned low-carbon investment to roughly $0.8B a year, about 6% of group capex, in a strategy reset | February 2025 | Active, sharply reduced mandate |
One trap is worth naming. Searching “Alliance Ventures” surfaces alliance.vc, which belongs to Alliance Venture Capital, a Nordic generalist technology investor backing artificial intelligence and software companies. It is not the automaker fund, and it is not a clean energy specialist. Two different firms, one name.
How much do clean energy VCs actually invest per round?
Cheque sizes in clean energy run from roughly $25,000 from an individual angel to $10 million or more from an institutional fund leading a Series A. The stage you are raising at, not the sector, sets the number. Angel collectives such as E8 Angels and Clean Energy Venture Group syndicate many small checks into one round. Institutional funds write a single larger check and take a board seat.
| Stage | Typical check | Who writes it | What they want to see |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed | $25K to $500K | Angel collectives, Powerhouse Ventures | Working prototype, credible technical founder |
| Seed | $500K to $3M | Clean Energy Ventures, Powerhouse, Lowercarbon | Pilot customer, validated unit economics |
| Series A | $3M to $15M | Clean Energy Ventures, ETF Partners, Breakthrough Energy | Repeatable sales, first commercial deployment |
| Series B and growth | $15M to $50M+ | Energy Impact Partners, Energize Capital | Revenue scale, gross margin trajectory |
| Corporate strategic | Varies widely | BP Ventures, Centrica Innovations, BMW i Ventures | Fit with the parent’s operations |
Which firms invest at pre-seed and seed?
Five of the thirteen will look at a company before it has revenue: E8 Angels, Clean Energy Venture Group, Powerhouse Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital and Energy Foundry. Clean Energy Ventures leads at seed and Series A, which in practice means it wants a pilot rather than a pitch deck.
E8 Angels is the longest-running of these. Founded in 2006 as the first United States angel group focused only on cleantech, its 140-plus accredited members have put more than $75 million into over 190 startups. Powerhouse Ventures runs a narrower thesis, backing seed-stage software for clean energy, mobility and industry, with 26 companies in its first fund and reported acquisitions including SparkMeter, Solstice and WattBuy.
Which European clean energy VCs should you know?
Europe’s most established clean energy venture investor is ETF Partners in London, which closed its fourth Environmental Technologies Fund in May 2024 at 285 million euros (about $307 million), oversubscribed against a 250 million euro target and backed by the European Investment Fund and British Patient Capital. Munich Venture Partners covers German-speaking Europe from Munich with an eco-industrial deep-tech thesis. Energy Impact Partners launched a European vehicle in September 2022 with 390 million euros and has since deepened its Nordic presence. Clean Energy Ventures runs a London office alongside Boston and invests across North America, Europe and Israel.
You can read the fund detail directly at ETF Partners and Munich Venture Partners. For the later-stage European picture, our overview of renewable energy private equity firms covers the buyout and infrastructure end of the same market.
What is the difference between cleantech, climate tech and impact investing?
Cleantech is the older term and centers on energy: generation, storage, efficiency and the grid. Climate tech is broader and organizes around emissions, so it pulls in agriculture, cement, steel, shipping and carbon removal alongside energy. Impact investing is broader still and is defined by intent and measurement rather than by sector, so it covers affordable housing and financial inclusion as readily as solar.
| Term | Organising idea | Typical scope | Example firm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleantech | Clean energy technology | Solar, wind, storage, grid, efficiency | E8 Angels |
| Climate tech | Emissions reduction anywhere | Energy plus industry, food, transport, carbon removal | Breakthrough Energy Ventures |
| Energy transition | Reshaping the existing energy system | Utilities, grid software, fuels, infrastructure | Energy Impact Partners |
| Impact investing | Intentional, measured social or environmental return | Any sector, including non-climate | Clean Energy Venture Group |
The distinction matters when you are choosing an investor. A cleantech-labelled angel group may pass on a cement decarbonization company that a climate tech fund would lead. Our explainer on climate change investment goes further into how these mandates are written, and sustainable finance covers the wider capital market around them.
Do corporate venture arms like BP Ventures actually invest?
They do, but their mandates move with their parent’s strategy, and two of the three corporate arms commonly listed as clean energy investors have moved away from it. BP reset its strategy in February 2025, cutting planned low-carbon investment to roughly $0.8 billion a year, about 6% of group capital expenditure, while raising annual oil and gas spending to about $10 billion. BP’s chief executive told investors the company’s earlier faith in the transition had been misplaced and that it had gone too far, too fast. BP Ventures still deploys capital, including a $25 million round into Oxford Flow alongside Energy Impact Partners in December 2024, but a founder should read the parent’s capital plan before assuming a strategic fit.
BMW i Ventures moved even further. Its third fund, announced on 29 April 2026 at $300 million and fully backed by the BMW Group, targets physical AI, agentic AI, industrial software, manufacturing technologies, supply chain technologies and advanced materials across North America and Europe. Clean energy is not in the thesis. Centrica Innovations remains the closest of the three to its original remit, investing across energy, electric mobility, home services and industrial markets.
What do clean energy VCs look for in a startup?
Every firm on this list screens on the same four things: proven science, a credible route to commercialization, defensible economics without a subsidy, and measurable emissions impact. Clean Energy Ventures is explicit that its trained engineers run technical diligence on each technology, looking for cases where the science is proven, the commercialization path is clear, and the impact is measured in gigatons. Breakthrough Energy Ventures applies a numeric test: a portfolio company must have a credible path to avoiding at least 500 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2050, and it invests on a 20-year horizon rather than the usual ten.
The subsidy point deserves its own line. After the 2025 changes to United States federal clean energy tax credits, investors have become noticeably less willing to underwrite a business model whose margin depends on a credit that a future Congress can remove. If your unit economics only work with an incentive, expect that to be the first question in due diligence. The same caution applies to a Department of Energy loan or grant in your model, and to any assumption that natural gas prices stay where they are.
Patent position matters more in this sector than in software. A clean energy startup is usually selling a physical process into a conservative industrial buyer, so an issued patent, a pilot with a named customer and an independently verified performance number carry more weight in due diligence than growth metrics do. Firms that describe themselves as company builders, Clean Energy Ventures among them, will also ask who is going to run commercial operations once the technology works.
How much money is going into climate tech right now?
Roughly $40 billion to $42 billion of venture and growth capital went into climate tech worldwide in 2025, and the two most-cited trackers disagree about whether that was growth or a plateau. Sightline Climate put the 2025 total at $40.5 billion, an 8% increase on 2024. PitchBook put it at $42.2 billion and called it essentially flat year over year. Both agree on the more important number: deal count fell about 18%, so the same money went into fewer, larger rounds.
| Measure | Sightline Climate | PitchBook | What it means for a founder |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 total invested | $40.5B | $42.2B | Capital is available at roughly 2024 levels |
| Change on 2024 | Up 8% | Roughly flat | Neither a boom nor a collapse |
| Deal count | Down about 18% | Fewer companies are getting funded | |
| Median deal size | At record highs | Winners raise more; the middle is squeezed | |
| Hot sectors | Dispatchable power, nuclear, geothermal | Grid reliability is where the money moved | |
The practical reading is that early-stage activity contracted while late-stage checks grew. That is consistent with what the firms did: Energize Capital moved into growth equity, Energy Impact Partners closed its largest flagship fund yet in October 2025, and the pre-seed end of the market leans more heavily on angel collectives than it did five years ago. It also explains where the money went. Rising electricity demand from data centers pulled capital toward dispatchable power, nuclear and geothermal, and toward the distributed energy resources and grid software that keep an overloaded network standing up. Energy storage, heavy industry and sustainable aviation fuel absorbed most of the rest. Deep tech with a long capital path now competes for follow-on funding against companies selling into utilities today.
Why do published portfolio counts disagree with each other?
Because the trackers count different things and refresh on different schedules. For Breakthrough Energy Ventures, one provider listed 138 portfolio companies in August 2026 while another listed 174. Energy Impact Partners is variously described as managing $3.6 billion, $4.5 billion and over $10 billion depending on which page you read, because some counts include only committed venture funds while others add growth vehicles, co-investment and the wider platform. Energy Foundry is flagged as closed by one database, with a final deal in April 2021, while other profiles describe it as an active evergreen fund with 31 investments.
We have not resolved those conflicts, because we cannot verify them from a primary source. Where a firm publishes its own figure, that is what this page uses and labels as company-stated. Where it does not, the range is shown and attributed. A single confident-looking number would read better and tell you less.
How do you approach a clean energy venture capital firm?
- Match the stage before the sector. A pre-revenue company pitching a growth fund wastes both calendars.
- Read the firm’s current portfolio page, not a list like this one, and find two companies adjacent to yours.
- Get a warm introduction through a portfolio founder or a co-investor. Angel collectives such as E8 Angels and Clean Energy Venture Group run open application processes, which makes them a realistic first door.
- Lead with the technical risk you have already retired, not the market size.
- Show the unit economics without any subsidy, then show them again with one.
- Quantify the emissions impact in metric tons. Several firms screen on it formally.
If you are on the other side of the table and want exposure to this sector without writing venture checks, our guides to how to invest in renewable energy and renewable energy stocks cover the public-market routes, which are liquid and open to everyone. Pooled options run from climate change mutual funds through to green bonds, and our list of the best green companies covers the individual names.
Frequently asked questions about clean energy venture capital firms
Who owns Clean Energy Ventures?
Clean Energy Ventures is an independent venture capital firm owned by its partners, not by a corporate parent. It was founded in 2017 by three partners of Clean Energy Venture Group, the Boston angel collective, and the two remain sister organizations that share deal flow. Its capital comes from limited partners, and it states $415 million in assets under management across two funds.
How many portfolio companies does Clean Energy Ventures have?
Clean Energy Ventures states 30 or more portfolio companies as of August 2026, alongside $415 million in assets under management and a track record it describes as spanning more than 20 years of investing. Named holdings on its own site include Electrified Thermal Solutions, DG Matrix, ConnectDER, Nth Cycle, OXCCU, Hertha Metals, Transaera, Aqua Membranes, Boston Materials and Queens Carbon. The separate Clean Energy Venture Group reports 60 or more investments.
Who is the biggest investor in clean energy?
Among dedicated venture firms, Breakthrough Energy Ventures is the largest by committed capital, reported at more than $3.5 billion across its funds, followed by Lowercarbon Capital at a reported $2.4 billion and Energy Impact Partners, whose latest flagship fund alone closed in October 2025 at a reported $1.36 billion. Those figures are not directly comparable, because firms count committed capital, deployed capital and platform assets differently.
How big is the Clean Energy Venture Group fund?
Clean Energy Venture Group does not run a pooled fund in the usual sense. It is an angel collective whose 35 or more partners invest their own capital deal by deal, supported by 75 or more institutional and strategic co-investors. The $415 million figure often attached to it belongs to its sister firm, Clean Energy Ventures, which does manage committed funds.
Is clean energy venture capital open to ordinary investors?
Generally not. Venture funds and angel groups on this page are restricted to accredited investors and institutions, and commitments are illiquid for a decade or more. Retail exposure to the same sector runs through listed companies, funds and exchange-traded funds instead. This is information rather than financial advice, and the right route depends on your own circumstances.
Methodology and sources
Every firm on this page was checked on 16 August 2026 in three ways, which is the test any list of this kind should pass. First, is the organization actually a clean energy or climate investor today, judged by its current stated thesis rather than its history. Second, does it still exist in the form described. Third, is it still called by the name on the list. Six of the thirteen entries carried on the previous version of this article failed at least one of those three checks, which is why the corrections table exists.
Company-stated figures were read from each firm’s own website. Fund closes were taken from the firm’s or the parent’s own announcement where one exists, including the BMW Group press release of 29 April 2026 for BMW i Ventures Fund III and BP’s February 2025 strategy reset for BP Ventures. Market totals come from Sightline Climate and PitchBook full-year 2025 reporting, both cited in the text. Where sources conflict, both numbers are shown rather than averaged. No figure on this page was carried forward from the previous version without being re-checked.
Last updated 16 August 2026. This revision replaced the previous list, which dated from May 2024, corrected four firm names, removed two firms that no longer invest in clean energy from the active list, added Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital, and added check sizes, stage focus and 2025 market data that the earlier version did not contain.
The Impact Investor publishes research and education, not investment recommendations. This article is not financial advice. Venture capital carries a high risk of total loss and is not suitable for most investors. Speak to a licensed financial professional about your own situation before making any investment decision.
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