UK-based investment platform Clim8 Invest raised $8m in funding alongside launching its app for retail investors.
The investment round was led by 7pc Ventures, an early backer of Oculus, and British Business Bank Future Fund.
Executives including Marcus Exall from Monese, Marcus Mosen of N26, Paul Willmott from Lego Digital and McKinsey, Steve Thomson and Doug Scott from Redbrain, Matt Wilkins from Thought Machine, Andrew Cocker of Skyscanner, Monica Kalia hailing from Neyber and Goldman Sachs, Doug Monro from Adzuna and Erik Nygard from Limejump also participated in the round.
The investment comes after the company raised £2.4m in November last year following an oversubscribed crowdfunding campaign.
Clim8’s platform allows consumers to invest in companies and supply chains with a focus to tackle climate change. Users can choose between stocks and shares ISAs up to £20,000 or a taxable general investment account.
Its core themes include cleantech, clean energy, smart mobility, circular economy, clean water and sustainable food. This app has been launched at a time when sustainable fund inflows more than doubled in 2020, reaching $348bn compared to $166bn in 2019.
Commenting on the funding, Clim8 CEO Duncan Grierson said, “We are launching at an exciting time for sustainable investing. 2020 was an exceptional year for environmentally-focused investment offerings such as ours, as investors looked harder at climate-related opportunities.
“Sustainable investments have continued to outperform markets since the beginning of the Covid-19 Crisis and we believe this will continue.”
Echoing a similar sentiment, Clim8 chief investment officer Vincent Gilles added, “Not only is sustainable investment becoming mainstream, we believe it has the basis for sustained out-performance in the medium-term, irrespective of views on the environmental crisis.
“We believe this outperformance can be explained by two main factors. The demise of the oil and gas sector² in which sustainable funds are typically not invested in and the defensive qualities of the more sustainable companies in a period of market turmoil.”
Copyright © 2021 FinTech Global
