Top Climate and Cleantech Investors in 2026

Climate tech attracted over $40 billion in global funding in 2025, and 2026 is shaping up to be another significant year for the sector. But the investor landscape has shifted. Generalist funds that dabbled in green energy a few years ago have mostly stepped back. What remains is a smaller, more committed group of climate-focused investors who understand the long development cycles, the regulatory tailwinds, and the specific risks that come with backing companies in this space.

If you are raising for a climate or cleantech startup, this list covers the investors actively writing checks in 2026, what they focus on, and what you should know before reaching out.

At a Glance: Top Climate and Investors in 2026

Why Climate Tech Investment Looks Different in 2026

Clean energy investment grew 31 percent in 2025 to $14.4 billion, with particular momentum in grid infrastructure, energy storage, advanced nuclear, and low-carbon industrial processes. But that growth has not been evenly distributed. Investors are writing bigger checks to fewer companies with proven technologies, rather than spreading capital across early experiments.

For founders, this means the bar is higher at the seed stage but the upside for fundable companies is real. Investors who have stayed in the space are deeply knowledgeable and well-networked, which can be a significant advantage beyond the check itself.

Top Climate and Cleantech Investors in 2026

1. Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Founded by Bill Gates, Breakthrough Energy Ventures is one of the most influential climate investors in the world. The fund backs early-stage companies working on decarbonization across energy, agriculture, transport, and industry, with a particular appetite for hard science bets that other investors will not touch.

Breakthrough Energy is known for long-horizon underwriting and patient capital. They co-led a $300 million "missing middle" fund through the All Aboard Coalition in late 2025 to support growth-stage climate companies that have moved past seed but are not yet at the scale that infrastructure investors want.

• Stage: Seed to growth
• Focus: Energy storage, clean transport, agriculture, industrial decarbonization
• Geography: Global

2. Lowercarbon Capital

Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital has built one of the most recognized brands in climate investing. The fund is explicit about what it is doing: backing founders who are actively reducing carbon emissions, across carbon capture, solar, clean energy infrastructure, and materials.

Lowercarbon is comfortable investing early and supporting technically ambitious bets. Recent investments include Stardust's $60 million solar geoengineering round and Earthmover's seed round for a climate data platform.

• Stage: Early stage, comfortable at pre-seed and seed
• Focus: Carbon removal, clean energy, next-generation storage
• Geography: Global, with US concentration

3. Congruent Ventures

Congruent Ventures focuses specifically on seed and Series A for companies at the intersection of software, sustainability, and physical systems. Their portfolio spans mobility, energy, materials, carbon, agriculture, and the built environment.

They are frequently the first institutional investor for cleantech founders, which makes them worth approaching early. Congruent is a signatory to the All Aboard Coalition and published a detailed 2025 analysis on climate capital flows through 2050.

• Stage: Seed and Series A
• Focus: Mobility, energy, materials, carbon, agriculture
• Geography: US-focused

4. Prelude Ventures

Prelude Ventures has a single focus: climate and energy. The fund invests across software, hardware, and infrastructure-adjacent businesses, which gives them flexibility to back companies that do not fit neatly into either bucket. They are a founding member of the All Aboard Coalition.

• Stage: Seed through growth
• Focus: Clean energy, climate tech broadly
• Geography: US-focused

5. Khosla Ventures

Khosla Ventures has been one of the longest-standing names in cleantech investing. They back companies working on energy transitions, clean transport, food systems, and materials, often at stages that other firms consider too early. Vinod Khosla is known for high-conviction bets on technologies that could fail and still be worth the attempt.

• Stage: Seed to late stage
• Focus: Energy, food, materials, clean transport
• Geography: Global

6. Energy Impact Partners (EIP)

Energy Impact Partners operates at the intersection of climate and infrastructure. EIP brings together a network of strategic corporate partners from the energy sector, which gives their portfolio companies direct access to utilities and grid operators. That relationship layer is genuinely valuable for companies selling into regulated markets.

• Stage: Growth stage primarily
• Focus: Grid, energy transition, clean infrastructure
• Geography: US and Europe

7. Clean Energy Ventures

Clean Energy Ventures focuses on seed-stage climate companies specifically. They have a sharp focus on cost-reducing technologies in energy and chemicals, and they bring operational experience alongside capital. The fund is a member of the All Aboard Coalition.

• Stage: Seed
• Focus: Energy, chemicals, materials
• Geography: US-focused

8. Pale Blue Dot

Pale Blue Dot is a European climate fund focused on early-stage startups. They back companies working on the climate crisis specifically, with a focus on founders who are building solutions that can scale globally from a European base. The fund has backed companies in carbon removal, sustainable food, and clean energy.

• Stage: Pre-seed and seed
• Focus: Carbon, food systems, clean energy
• Geography: Europe

9. World Fund

World Fund is a Berlin-based climate VC that uses a proprietary "Climate Performance Potential" metric to evaluate investments. They only back companies with the potential to avoid at least 100 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year at scale. The bar is high by design.

• Stage: Seed and Series A
• Focus: Energy, food, mobility, industry
• Geography: Europe and global

10. Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF)

The Ecosystem Integrity Fund backs early-stage companies in sustainable agriculture, clean energy, water, and materials. They have a long track record in the space and bring deep sector expertise to their portfolio companies.

• Stage: Seed and Series A
• Focus: Agriculture, water, clean energy, materials
• Geography: US-focused

How to Reach Climate Investors

Most climate-focused funds are inundated with decks, so the quality of your outreach matters. A few things that will help:

• Be specific about your technology and its carbon impact. Vague claims about helping the planet do not move these investors. Quantify what you are reducing, avoiding, or removing.
• Show that you understand the regulatory environment relevant to your business. Climate tech rarely exists in a policy vacuum.
• Know your go-to-market path. Hard tech investors in this space have seen too many founders who can build the technology but have not thought through how it gets adopted at scale.

If you are still building your target list, the Pitchwise investor database is a good place to find climate-focused funds and filter by stage and geography.

When you are ready to share materials, make sure your deck and data room are set up to give you visibility into investor engagement. Tracking who has opened your pitch deck and for how long tells you which conversations are worth following up. You can also set up an investor data room early to make due diligence faster when interest picks up.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between climate tech and cleantech?

The terms are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction. Cleantech is the broader category covering any technology that reduces environmental impact, including energy efficiency, waste reduction, and water treatment. Climate tech is typically used to mean companies working specifically on reducing greenhouse gas emissions or removing carbon from the atmosphere. Most investors in this space back both.

How much funding do climate tech startups typically raise at seed?

Seed rounds in climate tech tend to be larger than in pure software, often ranging from $2 million to $8 million, because the capital requirements for hardware, prototyping, and regulatory processes are higher. Some hard-tech climate companies raise pre-seed rounds of $1 million to $3 million to get to proof of concept before approaching seed investors.

Do I need to be based in the US to raise from these investors?

Not necessarily. Funds like Pale Blue Dot and World Fund are based in Europe and specifically back European founders. Several US-based funds, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital, invest globally. What matters more than geography is whether your solution has global scale potential, as most climate-focused investors are thinking at that level.