Introducing Overture Fund I
February 21, 2024
If you care about the climate crisis, you know that solving it will take innovation, finance, and government action. We started Overture last year with a clear and ambitious vision: to invest in the most promising climate startups and help them leverage the U.S. government to scale faster. Today, we’re thrilled to announce we have closed our $60 million debut fund to do just that.
Generational crises require significant government intervention and widespread private sector participation. The U.S. government wielded a powerful baton during WWII and the Cold War to mobilize every corner of private industry. The climate crisis is our generation’s thermonuclear challenge and it requires the broader mobilization that Overture represents. Fortunately, just six months after our fund launch, the Biden Administration passed the most ambitious climate laws in history: the Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and CHIPS Act collectively unlocked a staggering $1.2 trillion for climate alone, with the objective of amplifying that investment through private sector action. Given the reality and inevitability of climate impacts, that is just the opening salvo.
We know firsthand from our time in the Obama Administration that climate startups are most successful when they effectively partner with the U.S. Government. But early-stage startups rarely know how to engage the government effectively. That’s why each Overture portfolio company receives in-kind support from our partner, the country’s leading climate government affairs firm, Boundary Stone Partners. Led by climate policy wonks, Boundary Stone can get into the nitty gritty to identify opportunities for government support in the form of rulemaking, low-cost loans, grants, permitting assistance, export financings, facility leasing, and everything in-between. We are the only climate-tech venture fund providing this kind of service.
Overture channels three streams of experience into a novel investment platform. As former government appointees, we have served in senior roles in the U.S. Department of Energy and White House. As founders, we have built startups that have realized over $1.5 Billion in value. And as investors, we have already backed some of the most exciting startups in climate, including Antora, Crux, Forum Mobility, and 18 other cutting edge startups (meet our full portfolio here.)
Overture invests in hardware and software technologies across energy, transportation, built environment, carbon management, climate adaptation, and agriculture. We do not invest in “gov tech” startups whose sole customers are governments or in technologies wholly dependent on government subsidies for long-term success. We believe decarbonization will be paced by technologies that empower their customers with solutions that are cheaper, better, and faster than carbon-intensive alternatives. Overture and Boundary Stone will then turbocharge those startups by unlocking the full potential support of the US government.
We are incredibly grateful for the support of our investors and advisors - Schneider Electric’s SE Ventures, WovenEarth, our board chair Richard Kauffman, non-profit foundations, family offices, industry leaders, and personal friends - whose convictions align so closely with our own. If you are an early-stage climate founder building something new, we hope you’ll reach out and say hello. And if you’re looking to work in climate, there are nearly 100 jobs open right now in our portfolio, which you can find here.
