Green Angel Syndicate celebrates record raise for Climate Change Fund
Network of green investors hails record fund raising round as evidence of growing interest in clean tech opportunities
Climate tech investor the Green Angel Syndicate (GAS) has today announced its Climate Change Fund fifth round has enjoyed a record level of interest, closing at almost twice the size of its previous fundraising round.
The syndicate said the successful round, which was for an undisclosed sum, was also completed in record time.
Antonie Pradayrol, chief investment officer at the company, said the growth was “entirely attributable” to the rapid expansion of the climate change investment sector.
“Having seen continuing strong demand throughout our network for climate investments in the latter part of 2022, our expectation was that this round of the Climate Change Fund would be relatively buoyant,” he said. “When we opened shortly after New Year, though, we saw a surge that took us a little by surprise.”
GAS said the positive result is in line with trends which have been seen throughout international investment markets, arguing that while economic challenges and banking turmoil have impacted almost every other investment category, climate-related investments continue to grow.
“The levels of interest we are seeing in new deals since Christmas are astonishing,” said GAS chief executive Cameron Ross. “We had an excellent year to December 2022, and our expectation is that, far from fading, climate investment will continue to expand in 2023 and onwards.”
GAS said there are commitments from every sector to slash emissions in pursuit of net zero and as such demand for climate technologies and solutions is set to soar in the coming decades.
The latest fundraising round closed as GAS today also announced today it has invested in flexibility services marketplace Piclo’s £8.3m Series B funding round.
The funds will be used to support the expansion of Piclo and its flexibility marketplace – Piclo Flex – which enables system operators to procure, dispatch, and settle local grid flexibility services and balance the grid during times of constraint.
The funding round was led by Future Energy Ventures (FEV) and Clean Growth Fund (CGF), alongside existing investor Green Angel Syndicate and new investors Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions (Toshiba ESS), Sustainable Future Ventures (SFV) and Japan Energy Fund (JEF).
“We believe that flexibility solutions through our marketplace have a critical role to play in the global journey to net zero and will help deliver increased energy security at lower cost, building on the great progress we’ve already made in the UK,” said James Johnston, chief executive at Piclo.
“It is an exciting time to be part of a UK cleantech ecosystem that will deliver the solutions we need to achieve net zero. Whilst we had minimal exposure to SVB, we applaud the quick action of the US and UK authorities which has reassured the business community.”
