🌍 Heidi Lindvall's Pale blue dot Raises $100M Climate Tech Fund
FemWealth Issue #110
In the Spotlight 🌍
Co-founded by General Partner Heidi Lindvall, Pale blue dot, a Malmö, Sweden-based climate tech venture firm for pre-seed and seed-stage startups, raised its second fund of €93 million (approximately $101 million) to back climate tech-oriented startups.
“Climate tech is here to stay. As long as the climate crisis has not been solved, we will need to keep investing more money into tech solutions. This space will continue to see accelerated growth as individuals, corporates and governments try to figure out how to decarbonise and prepare for a new world.” - Heidi Lindvall
The firm will back mainly European-based companies, but it is also open to deals from the US. Ticket sizes will range between €500,000 and €2 million.
The General Partners aim to invest in 35 startups in sectors such as food and agtech, industry, mobility, and fintech, whose solutions have a positive impact on climate change.
Read more: Pale Blue Dot continues investing in its climate vision, with a second $100M fund
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Startups: Wellthy lands $25M to help caregivers feel less overwhelmed - Founded and led by Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, Wellthy’s “tech-enabled care concierge” helps caregivers be better equipped to deal with all aspects of their responsibilities. Previous investors, Hearst and Eldridge, co-led the funding round, which included participation from Citi Impact Fund, Cercano Management, Stardust Equity, and ReThink Impact.
Prewave pulls in $20M as supply chain tech investments remain on VC radars - The Vienna, Austria-based startup, co-founded by Lisa Smith, raised €18 million ($20 million) in a Series A+ funding round.
Cable wants to help banks cut financial crime through automated assurance - Co-founded by Natasha Vernier and Katie Savitz, the US-based company enables banks and fintechs to monitor all of their accounts to ensure they are compliant with regulations and to combat breaches. It raised an $11 million Series A, led by Stage 2 Capital and Jump Capital, with participation from existing investor CRV.
Skin care startup raises $6.2 million to fight hyperpigmentation - Mother Science, a skincare company co-founded by Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger, raised $6.2 million in VC funding (most of it in a seed round last November). Female Founders Fund, defy.vc, Founders Fund, KarpReilly, H Venture Partners, NewBound Ventures, BFG Partners, and Tuesday Capital are among the company’s backers. Jessica Goldin, a beauty industry veteran and former CEO of Shani Darden Skin Care, is the CEO of the company.
Fermify Secures $5M for Mission to Remove Cows From Dairy by 2027 - Co-founded by Eva Sommer, the Austrian biotech company, Fermify secured $5 million for its revolutionary animal-free production system that allows the removal of cows from cheese production. Investors include Dörte Hirschberg from Article 9 climate tech fund Climentum Capital, Bettine Schmitz from Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, Nina Wöss from Fund F, Clima Now, Satgana Ventures, and Triple Impact Ventures, a.o.
Sustainable performance fibers company Werewool raises $3.7 million led by Material Impact and Sofinnova Partners - Co-founded by Chui-Lian Lee (CEO) and Valentina Gomez, the US-based company is on a mission to produce biodegradable fibers with protein-based color and performance properties.
Women’s healthcare group Amara Therapeutics raises €3m - The Galway, Ireland-based medtech company, co-founded by Dr. Emma Carr, developed BladderBoss, a consumer-focused app that helps women reduce the impact of the overactive bladder through an eight-week digital programme. The company announced €3 million in non-diluting funding and is planning a €5 million seed round later this year to further develop its bladder health technology.
Could Odin be Europe’s answer to AngelList? - Mary Lin is the CEO and co-founder of Odin. The UK Angel investor marketplace startup announced a $3 million seed funding round, backed by its own community of angel investors, alongside VC fund Haatch and the family offices O’Shaughnessy Ventures, Material V, and IPQ Capital.
AI Music Startup AUDIOSHAKE Raises $2.7M in Seed Round with Backing from Crush Music, Peermusic… and Metallica - Co-founded and led by Jessica Powell, the San Francisco-based startup uses AI to deconstruct music tracks into stems that can be used for remixes, sampling, and other applications. Indicator Ventures led the seed round with participation from Precursor Ventures, Side Door Ventures, and more.
How A Mushroom-Based Solution Could Detoxify Construction Waste - Founded and led by Joanne Rodriguez, Mycocycle uses fungi to transform industrial waste into reusable materials. It raised a $2.2 million seed round led by Anthropocene Ventures, with TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good, Alumni Ventures, and Telescopic Ventures also participating.
Sweden’s Freshsound raises fresh funding to the tune of €2 million - Co-founded by Sara Larsson, Freshsound’s licensing platform provides entertainment and advertising companies access to licenced music. The Stockholm-based startup raised a €2 million Seed funding round led by Zenith Venture Capital and Aligned, and including angel investment by industry experts such as Kristina Tunkrans.
This app, backed by Marissa Mayer and Peter Thiel, is making texts more expressive - Alexis Traina is the CEO and co-founder of HiNOTE, an app that helps people create messages set over personalized backdrops. The startup announced its $1.9 million pre-seed round from angel investors, including Marissa Mayer (ex-CEO of Yahoo and founder of Sunshine) and Sarah Kunst (Cleo Capital).
Clue, a female-femtech startup backed by Revolut investors, exceeds its €1M crowdfunding goal
“The record-breaking female participation in our crowdfunding shows the impact Clue has made to date, and how our users – and the wider female population – see the company’s potential. This campaign brings our most important stakeholders – our community – even closer to our product development. And given female investors often have less access to investment opportunities, we’re excited to attract more female investors to share in Clue’s future success.” - Audrey Tsang, co-CEO of Clue
We had half a million users and £8m from VCs and angels — here’s why we still pivoted
“Making any radical change to your business model is hard, because it means giving up all the blood, sweat and tears that you and your team have put in. And as a founder, it can feel like a failure. It requires letting go of a vision and journey that you wholeheartedly advocated for and convinced your team and investors to follow you on. Pivoting affects everyone in the business and as CEO you need to find a way to set aside your ego and make the right choice for the company.” - Karoli Hindriks, Founder and CEO of Jobbatical
Writer introduces product that could help reduce hallucinated content in its LLMs - The Generative AI company is led by May Habib.
VC: All Raise’s interim CEO is now full-time - Paige Hendrix Buckner, who has previously served as the organization’s interim CEO and Chief of Staff, officially stepped into the CEO role.
“We are really passionate about long-term, intergenerational change. For us, that means that we are passionate about moving money, changing culture and shifting power. (…) We will be able to lock arms with our community and get the work done because there’s so much good stuff to do.” - Paige Hendrix Buckner
12 female-founded startups to watch, according to VCs - A list of women-led European startups to watch and back.
Leadership: How Sallie Krawcheck went from Wall Street star to managing $1.5 billion in assets: ‘I’m a natural contrarian’ - Features Sallie Krawcheck, co-founder and CEO of Ellevest, a digital investment and wealth management platform for women
Elon Musk appoints new Twitter CEO, NBCU’s Linda Yaccarino
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
The Cost Of Corporate Inflexibility: Reshma Saujani On The Risks To Working Mothers
“[…] it’s time for a new playbook when it comes to women’s leadership – one that focuses on changing the system, not the woman. We’ve got to start saying no to more trainings, more self help books, more mentorship programs and start asking for what we really need: things like flexibility (that doesn’t come at a cost), child care, paid leave, and equal pay.” - Reshma Saujani, founder of Moms First and Girls Who Code.
Caregiving costs women nearly $300,000 in lost pay over their lifetimes, Department of Labor finds - A new report from the US Department of Labor studying women in their early 40s calculated how much they lose in terms of retirement savings, wages, and promotions as a result of their caregiving responsibilities for children and parents.
“At some point in our lives we all need care, and women often provide this care in our families. And while family care may be priceless, that does not mean that there’s no cost to those providing it.” - Wendy Chun-Hoon, director of the Women’s Bureau, US Department of Labor
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Enjoy your Sunday, and have an excellent week ahead!
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth