‘Recession Resilient’ Climate Start-Ups Shine in Tech Downturn

A group of seasoned founders, CEOs, operators and venture capitalists announced the launch of Climactic, a New York City and San Francisco, Calif.-based venture capital firm, with a $65M inaugural fund dedicated to accelerating the growth of software-first climate tech startups.

Climactic, a seed venture firm founded by Freestyle Capital's Josh Felser and ex-Lyft executive, Raj Kapoor, has raised $65 million for its first fund.

A couple years ago, when the pandemic was still in full swing, Raj Kapoor and Josh Felser started making some investments in climate tech startups.

We sat down with Josh Felser, Co-founder and Managing Director of Climactic VC, to look at the importance of utilizing private companies in the existential crisis of climate change.

I just co-hosted a Scaling Climate Tech salon this week with the fantastic Meera Clark and was thrilled with the incredible interest from founders (leading to a massive waitlist).

When I jumped 2.5 years ago from Freestyle to Climactic with Raj Kapoor, I hoped my relationships with the founders I’d previously backed while at Freestyle would continue but it was truly the great unknown.

Climate tech founders often come from non-operator backgrounds– nonprofits, academia, or research, to name a few. While their engineering skills might be world-class, transitioning into a sales role, particularly with enterprise clients, can present a unique challenge.

Raj Kapoor talks about how a mindset of curiosity led him to where is today and how the team at Lyft are challenging our assumptions about transportation.

Raj Kapoor, CSO at Lyft, talks about the fundamental nture of transportation and logistics being reshaped by exponential technologies.

Before starting Freestyle Capital, Josh Felser was a founder for over a decade across two companies: Spinner and Crackle.

Raj Kapoor joins Drew to talk about the inspiration and new purpose he found from his experience contracting and surviving COVID-19.

Josh Felser left Freestyle to save California.