Some retired CEOs go into space. Others move to Hawaii. But Unity co-founder David Helgason has chosen a different path after 12 years at the helm of the game engine company, which went public in 2020 at a $13.7 billion valuation.
Having stepped down as CEO in 2014Helgason is still on the board of the now publicly traded company he co-founded in Copenhagen in 2004. but spends most of his time Transitional Businessesan early-stage venture capital firm launched in 2021 to focus on climate.
It’s an indication that the fund is called a “transition” and not, say, an “apocalypse.” This is partly because Helgason is convinced that legacy industries — usually harmful to the environment — will eventually compete with more sustainable solutions, and partly because of his personality. “My friends describe me as a ‘one-tenth full’ optimist,” he told TechCrunch.
In an interview at his home near Reykjavík, the entrepreneur-turned-VC shared thoughts on his ventures and the journey that led him from Unity to climate tech, a homecoming of sorts. “It’s kind of disturbing how much fun it is to work on the climate crisis,” he said.
Long way home
Unity’s public debut turned Helgason into a billionaire, at least on paper. The market cap has fallen since then, but the bottom line remains: He made a lot of money from the company, and that capital was getting bigger and bigger. liquid Over the years.
This enabled him to become a prolific angel investor, fulfilling his natural inclination to spend time with entrepreneurs. But his climate concerns had to wait: As a self-proclaimed software man, he had no clear way.
This changed when one of his brothers, Ingvar, founded a laboratory leather goods company, VitroLabs Inc. This led Helgason to become involved with the startup and with synthetic biology more broadly. Ultimately, this led him to climate-driven deep-tech startups.
In addition to his angel investments, Helgason also became a limited partner in several climate-focused funds. “For a while, I claimed that I was probably the LP with the biggest climate investment,” he said.
Both activities brought him the kind of learning he craved. “I always wanted to be a scientist,” he recalls. In his current situation, however, he realized he had more value to add as an early-stage investor. Thus, Transition Ventures was born as a venture capital firm. Helgason already had (and has) a family office called Foobar. Transition Ventures is a different beast, and not just because of its climate mandate.
A proper fund
It would be a mistake to think of Transition Ventures as a family business. Sure, Helgason and Ingvar’s brother Ari is one of his four partners, but Ari’s resume speaks for itself. His startup, Textilesparticipated in Y Combinator’s Winter 2010 batch before becoming an investor at Dawn Capital and Index Ventures.
Third partner Kristian Branaes, a London-based Atomico alum, was on board from day one, with the trio soon to hire New York-based Mona Alsubaei, who learned the VC ropes at Union Square Ventures and its air conditioning fund. The investment team also includes principal Clara Ricard, who recently made the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2024 list.
While Helgason’s wealth allowed Transition to begin investing immediately, the partners also asked to seek limited partners. “We never really thought about not doing it as a proper commercial venture fund,” he said. This meant joining the ranks of other climate funds, such as Climate Capital and Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital. Although it has an LP, Transition does not disclose specific capital sizes or how much it has invested to date and plans to invest.
Although Helgason was able to anchor the fund himself, fundraising was not easy. By the time the paperwork was ready, market conditions had changed.
“Before we start collecting money properly, the war [in Ukraine] had started and we went from the hottest market in memory to the coldest market in quite some time, so it was a lot of work,” he said.
Once the fundraising is complete, Transition Ventures has settled on a mix of LPs that Helgason believes is pretty healthy: some mission-aligned backers, but also those who lean more financially without a climate mandate. In other words, it is there for returns, which is the commitment of any commercial venture fund.
Having an LP means you have to create returns, and do it within a limited time frame, but Helgason is fine with that.
“We are quite disciplined in terms of focusing on timetables, but the climate crisis demands that of us as well,” he said. “We don’t have time to just hang around and explore. … We’re in the business of finding companies that are ready to move forward … and then helping them get very fast.”
A portfolio of projects
Because Transition Ventures sees climate as an issue, not an industry, its 12 companies portfolio are quite varied:
- Electricity mapswhich calculates the carbon intensity of electricity consumption to optimize usage at scale.
- FabricNanowhich hopes to make cell-free biomanufacturing cheaper and more efficient at scale.
- Heat Geekwhich provides independent installers with the support needed to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps.
- Odysseyan online marketplace and software platform that connects investors with developers of renewable energy projects.
- Phase Biolabsa synthetic biology startup that upgrades CO2 to ethanol and other chemicals.
- Reela supplier of renewable electricity that allows companies to buy power purchase agreements.
- Revoyan alternative battery and charging network solution for converting trucks into hybrid and electric vehicles.
- Running Tidewhich removes carbon by growing algae in hatcheries and sinking it into the deep ocean.
- Safiformerly known as TrueCircle, a B2B marketplace for trading recyclables.
- Upwardswhich makes e-bikes more affordable through refurbishing and recycling.
- Water designwhich participated in Y Combinator’s 2021 summer batch and helps companies manage water risk.
- Watershedwhich helps companies decarbonize their operations.
Unlike Helgason, none of these companies are Icelandic, but “that was never the plan,” he said. However, Running Tide uses Iceland as R&D base, with the support of an outside team that Helgason helped build. Now it is called Transition Workshopshelps climate technology companies leverage Iceland and its natural and social features to accelerate their scaling.
Not long after starting Transition Labs, Helgason returned home.
“I’ve always wanted to live here,” she said. After spending most of his life abroad, he now lives in one of Iceland’s houses the most expensive properties; However, this price is not invisible in the Bay Area. The house itself is quite unpretentious. Its most impressive feature is its picturesque view of the ocean.
For someone who spends their time worrying about global warming, the ocean is likely a powerful reminder to take action.
“But even for people who say climate change isn’t real, I say, well, it almost matters because there are adjacent crises that are so big,” he said. Whether it’s biodiversity or ocean health, Helgason is impressed with the caliber of founders tackling these issues. “The talent is unbelievable,” he added.
While Helgason no longer fancies himself an entrepreneur, he also has a new project, Cleanplaywhose stated mission is to “make games part of the solution to combating the climate crisis.”
The project is still under wraps, with details to be announced at Dice Europe Conference in September, but we already know video game hotshot Richard Hilleman is involved, as is Benedikt Franke, CEO of carbon management startup Planetly acquired by OneTrust in 2021.
It sounds very fitting for Helgason to combine gaming with climate impact investing, but his heart is now firmly with the latter.
“A couple of years ago, I decided I was going to just do climate from now on,” he said. Transition Ventures still has work to do on that front. is “about halfway through” its capital development, seeking to answer the question on many investors’ lips: Which climate solutions are best positioned to scale?
Disclosure: Anna Heim traveled to Iceland at the invitation of Business Iceland by the Reykjavík Science City.
