TED leader’s $300M ‘valley of death’ fund might be just what later-stage climate tech needs

Like many startups, climate tech companies often face a “valley of death” that lies between early-stage funding and growth capital that helps proven technologies reach commercial scale.

But because climate tech startups are often hardware focused — physical problems tend to require physical solutions, after all — this valley of death tends to be a lot wider. Financing a first-of-a-kind power plant or factory can cost tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.

Now a new fund hopes to bridge this financing gap, also known as the “missing middle.” Called the All Aboard Coalition, it aims to raise $300 million by October to help startups go on to secure $100 million to $200 million rounds needed to build first-of-a-kind projects.

While $300 million may seem modest for such capital-intensive needs, the fund’s real power lies in its network of prominent climate investors, designed to signal to larger institutional investors that these companies are worth backing.

The fund is led by Chris Anderson, the renowned curator and former head of TED Talks. Anderson, who transformed TED from a small conference into a global platform for spreading ideas, is now applying his network-building prowess to bridging a gap in climate technology investing.

The group includes Ara Partners, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Clean Energy Ventures, Congruent Ventures, DCVC, Energy Impact Partners, Future Ventures, Galvanize Climate Solutions, Gigascale Capital, Khosla Ventures, NGP Energy Capital Management, Obvious Ventures, Prelude Ventures, S2G, and Spring Lane Capital.

All Aboard will write checks for equity or convertible equity, but it won’t offer loans or back specific projects, a person familiar with the fund told TechCrunch. This approach places All Aboard firmly in the VC column rather than project finance, which is occasionally suggested as a way to bridge the valley of death.

Some of the partners at the firms listed above are investing in the new fund, though that’s not required to participate, a person familiar with the plans said.

The hope is that the new fund will serve as a “Sequoia-like” signal in the sector, they said, meaning that when All Aboard invests in a company, other experienced funds will follow suit. 

For climate tech startups looking to cross the valley of death, they’ll collectively need more than $300 million — and likely far more than the $60 billion that the All Aboard members have in assets under management at the moment. Finding generalist investors who want in is going to be crucial for All Aboard to succeed, and for the broader climate tech sector to achieve some commercial successes.