Vilnius-based Contrarian Ventures, an early-stage climate technology investor, announced on Wednesday that it has launched a €100M climate-tech fund to solve the funding gap for seed-stage climate founders in Europe.
The Lithuanian company also announced its intention to expand across Europe, with bases in London and Berlin.
Contrarian Ventures co-founder Rokas Peciulatis says, “We are the climate generation. We’ve never known a world where global warming hasn’t been a spectre, yet we’re the first to have the knowledge, expertise, and tech to drive real change. But we must focus on the world in 2050, not just 2030. Climate tech will be one of the most lucrative and important investment opportunities for the next 30 years, but European entrepreneurs are still heavily underfunded and underrepresented at the Seed stage. That’s why we’re launching today’s fund to close this funding gap for future climate-tech founders and mobilise the resources needed for climate action while continuing to build a firm that becomes the top choice for climate tech entrepreneurs.”
The VC aims to become an impactful player in the climate tech sector and is looking to triple the size of its team by expanding its investment team and adding roles, including market research and platform management.
It has also made its first hire in Berlin, with another planned in London by the end of the year.
Contrarian Ventures: What you need to know
Founded by Rokas Peciulaitis in 2017 and later joined by Tomas Kemtys, Contrarian Ventures takes a collaborative, hands-on, founders-first approach focused on backing the most ambitious climate entrepreneurs across Europe and Israel.
With its first fund, Contrarian Ventures has invested in 21 deals, including three exits, and co-invested with more than 100 investors – from large generalist VCs to smaller, sector-specific ones.
“Contrarian’s first fund is currently performing at top decile in 2017 vintage with 4 ‘soonicorns’ (privately held firms with a €100M valuation) in their portfolio already,” says a press release.
The top-tier LPs already investing in Contrarian Ventures’s fund include Korys Investments, Molten Ventures, and the Grantham Foundation.
Currently, Contrarian Ventures has a pan-European portfolio of 18 category-winning companies, from Zoomo (light electric vehicle platform) to H2Pro (commercialising a novel electrolysis technology).
Mohadeseh Abdullahi, an investor at Molten Ventures, says, “With a direct focus on the climate sector at the seed stage, coupled with its impressive team in an exciting territory, Contrarian enjoys a unique perspective on the market and its opportunities. It has built a strong reputation in this space and has developed a brilliant and deep-knitted network of technical experts and advisors. We are delighted to welcome Contrarian to our Fund of Funds programme.”
Brieuc de Hults, Investment Director at Korys Investments, says, “We were very impressed by the Contrarian team and what they have achieved with their first fund already. They invested in great founders and managed to develop great networking opportunities such as the Energy Tech Summits to position themselves as leaders in seed investments within the energy transition. The energy transition is at the core of our DNA, and their investment scope aligns with ours. We are thrilled to see what they will achieve with their second fund and are very pleased to support them achieving their sustainability goals with a commitment at their first closing.”
