Climate Investor Bay Bridge Ventures is raising a new $200 million fund, TechCrunch has learned exclusively.
Bay Bridge filed documents Monday for the new climate fund with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The increase comes at a time when venture capitalists are increasingly bullish on climate technology.
Although recent years have been marked by a downturn in the general venture market, some companies have raised impressive sums to support climate tech founders. SOSV on Tuesday announced a $306 million deep tech fund that will be 70 percent climate focused. New Summit Investments Raises $100 Million Impact Fund. And Congruent Ventures raised a $275 million fund in 2023, dropping $325 million in additional LP interest.
The difference, however, is that these are all relatively established companies. Bay Bridge Ventures is young, having been founded in 2022 with a focus on ESG in general and sustainability in particular. Although the company participated in a $10 million round for SailPlan in 2022, according to PitchBook, it does not appear to have any other investments or funds on file, based on a search of SEC filings and PitchBook data.
However, that doesn’t mean Bay Bridge doesn’t have experience. General partner Andrew Karsh left pension fund CalPERS to co-found the firm. Its co-founders, Joe Blair and Kim Colt, are not new to the scene. Blair previously worked at Cota Capital and Obvious Ventures and currently hosts the Epic Human Podcast. Kolt founded For Good Ventures and previously worked at Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.
The company did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
The group’s previous investments span a range of industries, including sustainable footwear company Allbirds, power grid software startup Arcadia, fleet EV charging company Amply and space launch startup Astra.
