Welcome to our second Impact Report, where we share data and insights into our impact during the years 2023 and 2024.
The ONGOING COMMITMENT TO REPORT
Our mission underpins everything we do at Carbon13. It was the founding stone of the company and it remains our guiding light. It is also a science-led approach which sets us – and the founders we back – apart.
This report is part of our mission discipline, to ensure that our mission is not just a philosophy, it is a science. It is data and evaluation that builds our mission, that studies the challenges, and that delivers the solutions. Our Cambridge origins have taught us this and it’s what’s made us able to back 76 high potential ventures by the end of 2024.
“This report is not a conclusion, but a checkpoint and an honest look at where we are and where we need to go”
The Impact – what’s changed
Our mission is to back world-changing entrepreneurs addressing Earth’s critical life support systems. Initially, this means addressing the most urgent problem of our time – climate change.
In 2023, we shifted how we talk about impact, or rather, what we were impacting on. Despite our name Carbon13, we have never focused just on just one metric of CO2e. The evidence is mounting that we have breached 6 of the 9 planetary boundaries for a safe operating space for humanity and so our thesis has evolved to address these challenges. This report explains this shift.
It also dives into other areas that fall under the umbrella of “impact,” including our current impact (Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions) and our planned impact, considering the impact potential of the companies in the portfolio.
We also look at our social impact because how ventures are built, and who builds them, matters.
Read the report
By the end of 2024 we had invested in 76 ventures and worked with over a 1000 founders. Here’s what we did, achieved, and learned, including:
- Carbon13 in numbers
- Our portfolio
- Our mission
- Scope 1-3
- Planned impact and projected impact
- Social Impact
Behind the report
Marina Fontoura is part of the team at Carbon13 and led on the creation of the report. She’s lived and breathed this part of our work for years and she has this to say:
“This second Impact Report highlights what Carbon13 is doing differently from every other VC in the climate tech space. We tell the story of how we embed impact from day 1 of the venture-building journey. Our approach to impact and additionality is not an add-on; it’s at the core of how we build ventures.
The unique journey that founders go through at Carbon13 has now been tested 18 times since 2021. We can confidently claim the value we add to help founders build high-impact, scalable climate tech ventures.
This report is not a conclusion, but a checkpoint and an honest look at where we are and where we need to go as we scale our ventures ecosystem. As our portfolio companies mature, future reports will bring more detail on our success stories, showing how these ventures prove themselves to be not only more sustainable but also disrupt traditional processes with efficiency and cost-effectiveness.”
What next? Join the mission! Found Follow Invest.
If you want to found a high potential venture that addresses Earth’s planetary boundaries, then apply to one of our programmes, applications open very soon.
Follow our work through our newsletter or social media to stay up to date with the forefront of climate innovation in Europe.
Investors can explore supporting Carbon13’s funds or our ventures directly. We run events, share insights and deals with our investor community. To join this, simply reach out to us on investors@carbonthirteen.com
Carbon13’s SEIS Fund VIII is open now but closes 28th November. To download the IM please visit our fund partners Syndicate Room.
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