Congruent Ventures new fund bucks the trend of venture pullback, suggesting continued confidence in climate tech

Climate tech may have started the year with a down quarter, but don’t count it out just yet.

Amid a backdrop of depressing figures from much of the venture capital sector, climate tech deals were lower both in value and in deal count. But it remains to be seen whether it’s the start of a longer trend or just a brief blip.

As if to argue in favor of the latter, Congruent Ventures on Wednesday announced the close of a new $300 million fund that, like its other funds, will focus on climate tech. The sheer size suggests that not only is the specialist VC firm confident in the sector’s future, but that its limited partners are, too.

Unlike its previous funds, which are aimed at the seed and Series A stages, the new Continuity Fund will focus on providing follow-on financing for its portfolio companies, which include AMP Robotics, Servo Energy, Span.IO, Avalanche Energy and others.

Still, the firm says it won’t be straying far. “We don’t actually see this as a move away from the early stage; that is still always where we’re going to be forming our relationships,” managing partner Abe Yokell told TechCrunch+. But after executing a couple special-purpose vehicles to provide additional financing for earlier investments, there was appetite for more.