Early investment in climate technology startups
Satgana invests €100,000–€500,000 in very early climate and environmental technology startups, with a focus on Europe and Africa. It also supports fundraising, business development and impact measurement.
Questa opportunità è attualmente disponibile in inglese.
Satgana provides venture capital: founders receive investment in exchange for a share of company ownership. Its general investment range is €100,000–€500,000. The Fund I disclosure describes a typical contribution of €100,000–€300,000 within company fundraising rounds of €500,000–€4 million; those larger round totals include other investors’ money.
The team offers hands-on help with fundraising, strategy and operations, introductions through its network, and workshops and plans for environmental impact. It can help build commercial connections between Europe and Africa where relevant.
Its fields include energy, mobility, food and agriculture, industry, buildings and carbon removal. Fund I prioritises reducing, avoiding or removing greenhouse-gas emissions. It also considers businesses that reduce waste and material use, and solutions helping people prepare for or recover from changing weather.
Eligibility
Satgana targets pre-seed and seed companies: teams building their core product or technology and working to establish that it meets customer needs. Europe and Africa are its stated investment focus.
For Fund I, the solution must have a positive environmental effect overall and must not cause significant harm to other environmental or social objectives. Before investing, Satgana assesses the team, business model, market, commercial progress, technology and risks. Its impact assessment considers the founders’ motivation, whether business growth delivers the intended environmental benefit, how that benefit can be measured, and the evidence behind it. The company must pass Satgana’s internal impact assessment; it does not apply a universal numerical carbon-reduction threshold.
Founders should already have a defined environmental measure and a plan to measure it: for example, tonnes of emissions avoided or removed, waste eliminated or repurposed and associated emissions savings, or people benefiting from climate adaptation. Companies report the previous financial year’s impact and other non-financial metrics in the first quarter each year. Satgana also examines founding-team diversity, inclusive hiring, pay policies and gender pay gaps, a code of conduct, and willingness to develop good management practices as the business grows.
Fund I’s exclusions cover weapons and ammunition, gambling and casinos, tobacco, adult entertainment and pornography, and alcoholic beverages other than beer and wine. They also cover nuclear and coal-fired power projects and new or modernised coal electricity and heating plants. The exclusion list also names operating or decommissioned power stations with or without long-term carbon capture and storage. Hydroelectric projects above 20 MW are excluded.
Biofuel projects involving biodiesel or ethanol, and certain biomass and organic-waste projects such as palm-oil production, are excluded unless a detailed study demonstrates sustainable development and robust environmental and social safeguards, including protection against threats to food security, deforestation, forest degradation and wetland drainage from indirect land-use change. The industrial-gas exclusion applies to HFC, N₂O, PFC and SF₆ projects related to carbon-market activities.
The list also excludes oil production causing major local pollution; mining activities with particular waste-handling risks; unlawful or particularly damaging logging and fishing; dams causing serious environmental damage; and activities with severe, irreversible effects on particularly valuable or protected areas. Mining and power companies are excluded if more than 30% of their income or operations relate to thermal coal. Companies with more than 30% of income or operations from oil exploration are also excluded.
How to apply
- Stato
- Date non annunciate
Use “Tell us about your startup” on Satgana’s contact page to reach its dedicated founder submission form. The separate general message form is for investors, partnerships and other enquiries.
Be ready to explain the business and its environmental benefit and provide supporting information for commercial and impact checks. Satgana gathers this through founder conversations, email, company documents, references and market research. When it leads or co-leads an investment, it includes environmental, social and governance commitments in the proposed investment terms.
After investment, founders take part in an onboarding workshop to plan impact measurement. Annual reporting and follow-up support continue as the company grows.