Analysis

July 18, 2024

Europe’s 10 most active climate tech investors 

Climate tech received more investment than any other tech sector in the first half of 2024. But which funds are writing the most cheques? 

Freya Pratty

3 min read

Climate tech in Europe received more investment than any other tech sector in the first half of 2024 – bringing in €7.7bn in equity (and a huge €13.2bn in debt). But which funds are writing the most cheques? 

Below are the most active investors in H1, according to Sifted data. Deal count only includes equity deals and publicly announced funding rounds, as well as those submitted to Sifted. Each investor was contacted to verify their deal count. 

1/ SFC Capital

H1 deal count: 21 

HQ: London

Fund focus: SFC Capital only backs startups eligible for SEIS and EIS funding — a UK government scheme which aims to incentivize support to early-stage UK companies by offering them income tax relief. SFC is a generalist investor and typically writes tickets between £100k-£500k.

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Notable deals: 

  • Adamo Foods, which develops plant-based meat whole cuts.
  • Adia Thermal, which sells a heat pump control system.

2/ BpiFrance

H1 deal count: 14 

HQ: Paris

Fund focus: France’s state-owned investment bank and sovereign wealth fund that invests across a wide range of tech sectors and stages.

Notable deals: 

  • Electra, a Paris-based EV charging startup.
  • Langa International, a renewable energy project developer.

3/ European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

H1 deal count: 14 

HQ: Budapest

Fund focus: European Union body backing startups across the bloc.

Notable deals: 

  • Onego Bio, a Finnish plant-based egg startup.
  • Ecoligo, a carbon accounting startup from Germany. 

4/ High-Tech Gründerfonds

H1 deal count: 10 

HQ: Berlin

Fund focus: Early-stage fund investing in deeptech, software, medtech and climate tech.

Notable deals: 

  • Inaratec, a German startup developing sustainable aviation fuel.
  • Proxima Fusion, a Munich-based company that’s developing fusion power plants.

5/ Norrsken VC

H1 deal count: 9 

HQ: Stockholm

Fund focus: An early-stage impact investor, backing companies globally.

Notable deals: 

  • Heart Aerospace, a Swedish startup building electric aircraft.
  • Syre, a textile recycling company, based in Sweden.

6/ Antler

H1 deal count: 8 

HQ: Singapore (global)

Fund focus: Antler invests in a wide range of companies, from B2B and healthtech to property tech and consumer. 

Notable deals: 

  • Terion, energy control developer for commercial real estate.
  • Aevy, a software tool for renewable energy developers.

7/ Rockstart

H1 deal count: 7 

HQ: Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Bogata 

Fund focus: Rockstart is an early-stage VC that invests across energy, agrifood and emerging technologies. 

Notable deals: 

  • Eddy Grid, a startup that helps companies looking for grid connection.
  • PlanBoo, a carbon removal startup using biochar.

8/ Banque des Territoires

H1 deal count: 7 

HQ: Paris 

Fund focus: A public financial institution that started a five-year plan in 2020 to back French companies working on the climate transition.

Notable deals: 

  • NEoT Green Mobility, a platform for financing zero-emission mobility solutions.
  • See You Sun, a solar energy and EV charging infrastructure developer.

9/ Invest-NL

H1 deal count: 6 

HQ: Amsterdam

Fund focus: Dutch government fund that invests in startups across agritech, biotech, life sciences and deeptech.

Notable deals: 

  • BioBTX, a renewable aromatics plant developer.
  • Mosa Meat, a Dutch startup working on production methods for cultivated meat.

10/ Speedinvest

H1 deal count:

HQ: Vienna

Fund focus: Speedinvest is an early-stage venture capital firm, investing across Europe.

Notable deals: 

  • Cylib, a battery recycling startup.
  • Trawa, a green energy supplier for companies .

Also with six deals each:

  • European Investment Bank;
  • European Innovation Council;
  • AFI Ventures.

Freya Pratty

Freya Pratty is a senior reporter at Sifted. She covers climate tech, writes our weekly Climate Tech newsletter and works on investigations. Follow her on X and LinkedIn