Sundeep’s history of climate investing & current work at Climate Capital

Sundeep started investing in climate in 2015. His primary vehicle was a syndicate on AngelList, where he was able to get access to some incredible companies. Hooked on the opportunities, Sundeep launched a traditional fund on AngelList in 2019, and then launched another one in 2020. Given the uptick in deal volume, he realized how he needed to grow the team. Since then, he’s set up a rolling fund, in addition to a dedicated syndicate called Climate Capital. He’s been able to attract folks to join the Climate Capital Collective, which is a separate syndicate. The partners there either source on their own or will collaborate on opportunities that he’s sourced (or will be coming to their inbox). 

The difference between syndicates, rolling funds & traditional venture funds

Sundeep points out that the difference in investment opportunities comes down to access. If you’re non-accredited, there are very limited opportunities to invest in startups. Republic, which is a company that he’s an advisor at, is increasingly presenting climate opportunities for non-accredited investors to come in. Wefunder is another notable one. 

If you’re accredited, there are several platforms you can go to. AngelList is one of them. He explains that oftentimes, you’re investing in a syndicate or there’s a syndicate lead, who sources the allocation, and is in theory, running diligence and presenting their investment memo as to why they’re excited. You’re invited to co-invest with them into what’s called a Special Purpose Vehicle, or SPV. Using this method, you pay some carry into the syndicate lead and platform, as well as some administrative fees for the opportunity to invest. 

Sundeep says that on the fun side, rolling funds are an innovation from AngelList. Unlike a traditional fund, where there may be a $10K minimum or 250K minimum, which is often the case for individual investors, you can subscribe on a quarterly basis to invest. Some leads will let you invest as little as $1-2K. At this point, Climate Capital’s minimum is $10K a quarter, where you can cancel at any time. This lets you invest a small amount and gain exposure to the fund, where now the General Partner is deploying your capital. 

Traditional funds typically do one, two, or three closes, and that’s your investment for the next two or three years. They deploy capital at the two or three-year mark versus a quarterly deployment period.

When investing in a rolling fund or traditional fund, Sundeep explains that you’ll need to trust the GP to make decisions on your behalf. In a world where you are inundated with deal flow, which is the world Sundeep is in, increasing trust is being placed on GPs because there are so many deals out there, and people don’t have the cycles to go and conduct diligence. Sundeep says that if you have the time, and you’re excited, great, go deal by deal. It’s amazing. If you feel like you have less time and you want to trust people, rolling funds and traditional funds are the way to go. However, as Sundeep and his team scale Climate Capital, they’re increasingly running into a certain class of investors that don’t want to invest in a rolling fund, especially the bigger-ticket investors. He says he doesn’t want to take anything away from rolling funds as a product, but the market is still adjusting to that product. Climate Capital, he says, is moving to traditional funds, so that they can write larger checks and raise more from people who write large checks for rapid deployment.

Climate Capital’s investment thesis

Sundeep knows that every industry now is being affected by climate in some way or another. With this understanding, Climate Capital has a broad investment thesis, believing that there’s disruption and opportunity across categories. So rather than focusing all on protein, or all on the energy transition, they’re trying to step back to look at these verticals and find the companies that stand out.

The case for investing in climate

Sundeep’s opinion is that investing in climate is a no-brainer. He says that we’re at a time when those who are looking for venture-scale returns can access venture-scale return opportunities. There’s an increasing number of people who are saying that, and if you look at the actions of the Sequoias of the world, they’re starting to dip their toes in climate. He believes that investors can get those returns, and also sleep better at night, knowing that they’re taking action on this once-in-a-generation, once-in-a-century issue. 

Resources Mentioned

• Climate Capital
• Climate Capital Collective
• Republic
• Wefunder
• AngelList
• ZeVie Cars
• Kuleana Tuna

Connect with Sundeep Ahuja

• Connect with Sundeep on LinkedIn

Connect with Jason Rissman

• InvestedInClimate.com 
• On LinkedIn
• On Twitter

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