University of California is among the limited partners for venture firm Congruent Ventures’ latest sustainability-focused fund that had a $125m target.

US-based venture capital firm Congruent Ventures has raised $175m for an early-stage climate technology fund, from limited partners including University of California, according to Canary Media. Software producer Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, affiliates of Prelude Ventures, Three Cairns Group, clients of Cambridge Associates that include the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust and the Surdna Foundation, are also among the LPs. Unnamed institutions, foundations and family offices have also backed the fund, which had a $125m target. The university participated through UC Investments. Founded in 2017, Congruent typically invests in technology companies that are addressing sustainability issues across sectors such as energy transition, mobility, agriculture and sustainable production. Congruent has tapped the fund to complete seven investments, in portfolio companies including Parallel Systems, the developer of an autonomous, electric freight transportation system. The firm’s co-founders are Joshua Posamentier, a former principal at Prelude Ventures, and Abe Yokell, who was a partner at VC firm RockPort Capital. It also manages a separate investment vehicle that backs technology companies addressing climate change. Yokell told news publication Bloomberg: “If you brought up the word cleantech to any institutional investor allocating to venture 10 years ago, they would do their best to avoid the meeting. But now, there is a fundamental belief there will be significant financial returns investing broadly in climate tech over time.” University of California and Prelude Ventures were already limited partners in Congruent’s first $92m sustainability-focused fund that closed in 2018. – A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.

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