One of the 2023 mantras for my firm Energize Capital has been: “There has never been a better time to work in climate software.” From the billions of dollars entering the space through private and public investments to cultural shifts toward mission-driven careers, the influx of talent we’ve seen come into the climate space has been incredible.Recently, the climate tech sector reached a new talent milestone: attracting and retaining seasoned tech executives. Many growing climate companies are hiring for certain C-suite level positions – such as Chief Strategy Officers and Chief Revenue Officers – for the first time, and traditional SaaS executives are entering the climate space to fill the roles.Climate software is ready for the C-Suite Energize CapitalWhy now? The climate market has reached a point where it is both good for the world and good for customers’ wallets. Climate companies are growing into resilient businesses with sizeable annual recurring revenues. As those companies scale, they become capable of supporting more executive-level positions – and they increasingly require those executives’ expertise. More and more climate companies are recruiting people who have experience expanding internationally, lobbying, creating paths to public markets, and all the other business functions needed by large companies.To highlight this blossoming area of the climate workforce, Energize has interviewed a roster of impressive talent who have joined our own portfolio in the last year from leadership roles at major tech companies like WhatsApp and Robinhood. Here they share their backgrounds, their motivations for switching to a career in climate and the knowledge they’re transferring from their time in traditional tech.Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.Matthew Idema, President & Chief Operating Officer at Aurora SolarMatthew Idema Aurora SolarStarted role: June 2023Before working in climate: Matt worked at Meta for 12 years, joining the company in 2010 to work on products to help small- and medium-sized businesses use Facebook, including Facebook Pages and Promoted Posts

本稿は、Cherubic Ventures（心元資本）によるものだ。2014年に設立された同社は、アメリカとアジアの両方で活動するアーリーステージ・ベンチャーキャピタルであり、運用総資産（AUM）は4億米ドルだ。シードステージ投資を中心に、次の象徴的な企業の最初の機関投資家になることを目指し、大きな夢と世界を変える勇気を持つ創業者を支援している。同社は、サンフランシスコ、シンガポール、台北に拠点を置いている。. 英語によるオリジナル原稿は Cherubic Ventures の Web サイトで読める。（過去の寄稿）. This guest post is authored by Cherubic Ventures. Founded in 2014, they are an early-stage venture capital firm that’s active in both the US and Asia, with a total AUM of 400 million USD. Focusing on seed stage investments, Cherubic aims to be the first institutional investor of the next iconic company and back founders who dare to dream big and change the world. Their team sits across San Francisco, Singapore, and Taipei

Malmö, Sweden-based climate tech VC firm Pale blue dot has announced the close of its second fund at €93 million. According to the firm, they are still actively making investments from the first fund, and are ironing out the final details of these tickets before officially uncorking the second vintage.Rooted in a pan-climate tech thesis, Pale blue dot invests in, but is not limited to, European and US-based food and agtech, industry, mobility, and fintech startups at the pre-seed and seed stage with an average ticket size ranging from €500,000 - €2 million. On par with the firm's first fund, the plan is to invest in 35 promising startups via the second fund.Pale blue dot has invested in 28 companies thus far, including Patch, Monta, Phytoform, Climate X, Hived, Overstory, and Green Got.In a strong show of support for the firms’ methodology, more than two-thirds of existing LPs chose to return to the table for Pale blue dot’s second outing and include serial entrepreneurs, family offices, and institutional investors from Europe and US.While not specifically named in the second fund, LPs of Pale blue dot’s first fund include Prima Materia, the investment firm founded by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Shakil Khan, Pirates Impact, as well as the founders of companies like Contentful, Delivery Hero and Wise.“Receiving interest and recognition from the industry is good, but the fact that amazing founders keep picking us to be their partners on their journeys is the biggest vote of confidence and why we get up in the morning,” commented Pale blue dot General Partner Hampus Jakobsson