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Energize Capital Raises Climate Fund With Help From Foreign LPs
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By Yuliya Chernova, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Energize Capital overcame a challenging market for climate technology by leaning on foreign investors to raise its third venture fund, a $430 million vehicle the firm unveiled Tuesday.
“There’s a much more steady limited partner base from Canada and Europe than from the U.S. right now,” said John Tough, co-founder and managing partner of Chicago-based Energize.
Most of the institutional LPs for the fund were international investors, he said. That is a change from the firm’s first fund, closed in 2018, when 90% of LPs were U.S.-based, he said.
“Their regulatory swings are not as extreme as ours,” he said, adding that Canada and the European Union are adhering to targets to reduce emissions. Foreign LPs, for example, place strict impact reporting expectations on Energize, he said.
“We have a dedicated Impact and ESG [environmental, social and corporate-governance] team, and that responsibility was viewed favorably,” Tough said.
New LPs include Swedish pension Första AP-fonden, U.S.-based Capricorn Investment Group and Dublin-based Keeling Capital. Sovereign-wealth funds also invested, Tough said. Existing investors that backed the new fund are GE Vernova, Canadian pension Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Builders Vision and others.
Read the rest of the article.
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And now on to the news...
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PHOTO: KEVIN DIETSCH/GETTY IMAGES
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Growth streak. SpaceX is on track to record another significant revenue increase this year, Elon Musk said, continuing a growth streak at the world’s busiest rocket launcher, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive, said Tuesday on X that the Texas-based company is expected to generate about $15.5 billion in revenue in 2025.
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In his post Tuesday, Musk said “commercial revenue” at SpaceX would exceed the entire budget of NASA next year. The White House, where Musk worked until recently, has proposed cutting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration budget to $18.8 billion for its next fiscal year from nearly $25 billion currently.
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$3.6 Trillion
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The value of 29,000 companies owned by private-equity firms, according to Bain & Co.
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Thoma Bravo’s Fundraising Haul Bucks Private-Equity Slowdown
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A reckoning in the private-equity industry is sharpening the divide between the haves and have-nots, The Wall Street Journal reports. Thoma Bravo said it raised a total of $34.4 billion across three funds, topping its last big fundraising year in 2022.
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The haul shows how top-performing firms are still thriving despite a broader industry slowdown. Many firms are struggling to sell their portfolio companies, return money to investors and raise new funds.
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Cyber Investor Merlin Ventures Raises Over $75 Million Debut Fund
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Merlin Ventures, a Tel Aviv-based investor in early-stage startups, on Wednesday announced the launch of an over-$75 million venture-capital fund targeting nascent ventures in Israel’s thriving cybersecurity market, WSJ Pro reports. The fund is backed by a half-dozen industry veterans, including the founders of Talon cybersecurity and Dig Security. Launched in 2021 as a single-investor firm, Merlin Ventures acts as the venture-capital arm of Merlin Group, a network of cybersecurity companies groomed to compete for U.S. federal, state and local
government contracts.
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Funds
Cybernetix Ventures, which invests in robotics, automation and physical artificial-intelligence startups, said it is raising $100 million for its second fund. Boston-based Cybernetix said it has investments in companies across the U.S. and Europe involved in markets including manufacturing, logistics, construction, agriculture and healthcare. General Partners Fady Saad and Mark Martin lead the firm.
People
Ashish Kakran has joined Sierra Ventures as a partner, focusing on AI, cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity. Kakran was previously a partner at Thomvest Ventures.
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Impulse Space, a Redondo Beach, Calif.-based space mobility startup, raised a $300 million Series C funding round led by Linse Capital.
San Francisco-based Voxel, which monitors for unsafe behaviors via security cameras in factories and other settings, has raised $44 million in Series B funding led by NewRoad Capital Partners with participation from current investors Eclipse, Rite Hite, Tokio Marine, and MTech as well as HG Ventures and Whitestone.
Fabriq, a platform that digitizes daily management for frontline manufacturing teams, landed a $25 million growth equity investment. Expedition Growth Capital led the funding, with Partner Steven Twomey joining the company’s board.
OatFi, a New York-based fintech infrastructure company for B2B payments, raised a $24 million Series A led by White Star Capital. OatFi says it is building a credit network for B2B payments.
Rally UXR, a New York-based customer relationship management startup, raised $11 million in a Series A funding round led by Canapi Ventures with participation from investors including Stage 2 Capital and Y Combinator.
Kumulus Water, a Paris-based startup that makes atmospheric water generators that extract water from the air, raised €3.1 million in seed funding from Bpifrance, PlusVC, Khalys Venture, Flat6Labs and Spadel, a European bottled water company.
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Morgan Stanley’s in-house AI tool has so far this year reviewed nine million lines of old code and saved its developers 280,000 hours. PHOTO: MICHAEL NAGLE/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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