WovenEarth Ventures has held the final close of its first fund, WovenEarth Fund I, at $152 million on January 31st, hitting its hard cap. And WovenEarth’s goal is to seek attractive, risk-adjusted returns while moving compelled capital into US early-stage climate tech venture, providing highly diversified exposure to the sector via a focused, carefully crafted fund of funds with differentiated access.
This new fund seeks to break down the barriers to investing in US early-stage climate tech, which remains difficult for many investors due to the space’s dynamic, technical, and emerging nature.
And WovenEarth draws on the decades of experience that founder Jane Woodward has accrued building portfolios of early-stage risk in the energy industry. Woodward is complimented by two partners, co-founder Mauricia Geissler, the former chief investment officer of Amherst College, and Denise Miller, an energy transition strategist, and four other team members and expert senior advisors.
WovenEarth’s inaugural institutional partners include three major university endowments – Boston University, Northwestern University, Pennsylvania State University, Glenmede (representing a major foundation), Mortenson Family Foundation, and M.A. Mortenson Companies. Big Path Capital provided fundraising support.
Since 2022, WovenEarth Fund I invested with 13 US-based early-stage climate tech venture fund managers that are generalist investors focused on decarbonization and managers that have domain-focused funds on specific climate tech sub-sectors such as wildfire, water, agriculture, or digital solutions.
WovenEarth Fund I is largely committed to underlying funds and seeks to provide exposure to over 300 underlying portfolio companies. The fund also opportunistically invests directly in companies, often with unique access.
Woodward has been a Stanford educator for over 30 years, and investor education is central to WovenEarth’s strategy. And she brings her knowledge to WovenEarth investors through curated quarterly workshops featuring venture managers from WovenEarth’s portfolio and select portfolio companies.
