Infinite Paths
We know climate is about more than carbon - it’s also about force multipliers like asset finance and distribution, adaptation through the design and construction of hard infrastructure, creating viable ways to increase urban density, and more. We invest with that in mind, which is what takes us beyond short-term solutions and into the long-term, ongoing changes to the systems that power our world.
Venture
A real investment is about more than capital. We invest at the earliest stages (pre-seed & seed), stay close to our founders, and work with them from the onset of our relationship to build relationships with other founders, investors, and customers. From crafting a clear, eye-catching subject line to navigating a pitch, our emphasis on coaching leads to productive, inventive, and valuable relationships that bring ideas to life. Our community is more than just a nice idea - it’s a system designed to work for you.
Credit
We have spun out our credit funds, however we now maintain a database of a growing list of lenders who work with our portfolio companies. Why the change? Since we first added credit in 2020, private credit markets have expanded very rapidly. And so it doesn't make sense to have a single fund when there are funds that work with our portfolio focused on assets from ebikes to porta potties. Or e-commerce platforms like Shopify that automagically make offers based on revenue and other factors. Credit is an essential part of our Speedstrapping playbook and we work actively from pre-seed to help founders understand how to access it.
Other ways of working with us
From energy to finance, the next generation of global systems, tend to be distributed. In 2018, Third Sphere began working with some of our founders to understand how we might better help them to fund emerging, distributed assets. Perl Street transforms under-banked hardware companies into bankable deployments with structures formerly reserved for billion-dollar project finance transactions.
China is responsible for 28% of global emissions and home to nearly 19% of the worlds population. For many founders this means that having a global impact also means working with the Chinese people. In 2019 Third Sphere began working with Urban Gateway to explore how founders could grow their impact in China. Today, Urban Gateway has partnered with startup founders in areas like space heating and cooling, sustainable real estate development, virtual power plants as well as waste to energy.
URBAN-X
Between 2017 and 2021, we ran the sourcing, selection, investment in, and coaching of startups at URBAN-X. As of the final days in December 2021, over 90% of the startups we backed had raised follow-on funding, up from 35% when we started. We opted to conclude our work on URBAN-X so we could focus on our Third Sphere and specifically our approach to acceleration by connecting founders with members of the Third Sphere Network.
More on our role here
Reach Out
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