Active Impact Investments closes $54M climate tech fund

VANCOUVER, BC, July 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Active Impact Investments closed its oversubscribed second fund on June 30 at $54M, making the firm one of the fastest growing environmental impact venture capital companies in Canada. The second close includes a diverse group of institutional investors including: Fondaction pension fund, Vancity, the University of Victoria’s working capital fund, Hamilton Community Foundation and several clients of Genus Capital Management.

Active Impact Investments plans to add at least another 14 companies to its portfolio that are capable of achieving venture scale and profitability while solving the most urgent environmental issues. The firm has already made its first Fund II investment in Encycle, a software technology company focused on helping commercial and industrial customers dramatically improve the efficiency of their HVAC systems using artificial intelligence-based services.

The firm’s partners, Mike Winterfield and Tom Boddez left lucrative executive careers a few years ago so they could focus on solving the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. “Funding these early-stage innovations is not only critical to mitigating climate change, but we firmly believe that it’s also the largest growth investment opportunity of the next decade,” said Mike Winterfield, Managing Partner of Active Impact Investments. “Over the past couple of years, billions of dollars have flooded into the climate tech sector, but very little of that money is going into the seed stage which means there are incredible innovations that aren’t receiving funding. This is where we come in. Thanks to our investors, we have the opportunity to address this gap in the market by providing funding and operational expertise to the next wave of innovators across North America to accelerate climate solutions. With our second fund, we now have the scale and resources to really make a difference – and we’re just getting started.”

Marc-André Binette, Deputy Head of Investments at Fondaction explained, “Global warming has reached a critical point. It is now a race against time where innovation and capital play a determining role in meeting the challenge. We recognise Active Impact Investments as an emerging leader in the Canadian impact investing ecosystem. We trust Active Impact’s ability to identify and deploy capital in exceptional businesses who will leverage the fund’s investment and expertise to benefit society as a whole.’’

“Vancity knows that making money and having a positive impact on people and planet are not mutually exclusive,” said Heather Conradi, Director of Impact Investing at Vancity. “Capital for clean technologies that are focused on reducing emissions is critical to commercializing the innovation needed to make a net zero future a reality, and we look forward to seeing Active’s climate tech fund grow.”

“We selected Active Impact as one of our earliest venture investments because their focus on addressing the climate crisis aligns well with our strategic goal to promote sustainable futures. As part of UVic’s assessment process, UVic MBA students were given the opportunity to assess how this fund and other impact investment opportunities fit with our values and priorities while still meeting our financial goals,” said Andrew Coward, Treasurer at the University of Victoria.

Terry Cooke, President & CEO from Hamilton Community Foundation commented, “HCF has tried to be a leader among foundations in Canada in our commitment to maximize the environmental and social impact created through our investments as well as our grants. We’ve been following the progress of Active Impact Investment since it was founded and we see now as the ideal time to support an exceptional team that is on an upward trajectory.” 

Mike Thiessen, Partner and Director of Sustainable Investments, from Genus Capital Management added, “We have more and more clients coming to us looking for impact investing opportunities that are not only making a positive impact on the world, but are also striving for competitive rates of return. We believe that Mike and the team at Active Impact are really committed to quantifying the impact their portfolio companies are making, as well as providing solid strategic advice to help them scale.”

About Active Impact Investments

Active Impact Investments is a Certified B Corp based in Vancouver, BC, whose mission is to support environmental sustainability through profitable investment. With two limited partnership funds with over $64M in assets under management, the venture capital firm provides funds and talent to accelerate the growth of early-stage climate tech companies with $200K to $3M in revenue and significant growth potential. Active Impact’s portfolio includes and is seeking some of the most successful startups in North America that are capable of achieving venture scale and becoming extremely profitable while solving the most urgent environmental issues. More specifically, they are planning to invest in start-ups that have developed technology that meaningfully reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improves society’s sustainability in the areas of: circular and shared economy, clean energy and transportation, smart infrastructure, and sustainable food and water. For more information, including a full list of portfolio companies, visit activeimpactinvestments.com or follow @active_impact on Twitter and LinkedIn.