According to EU-Startups, London-based venture capital firm 2150 has announced the final close of its second fund, raising €210 million. This brings the firm’s total assets under management to €500 million just four years after its founding. The fund’s investors include major names like Novo Holdings, the Danish sovereign fund EIFO, and the US-based Church Pension Group. Partner Christian Jolck stated the firm’s 27 portfolio companies now have combined annual revenues exceeding $1 billion and employ over 4,500 people. These companies, focused on urban and industrial systems, are reportedly mitigating over a megatonne of CO2 equivalent per year. Momentum for Fund II is already underway with investments in companies like industrial heat pump maker AtmosZero and direct air capture firm Mission Zero Technologies.
The bigger picture of climate capital
Here’s the thing: 2150’s raise isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s part of a much larger wave of capital flowing into European climate and industrial tech. The source article points to a pattern in 2025 and 2026, with comparable funds like Berlin’s Future Energy Ventures (€205 million) and Barcelona’s Suma Capital (€210 million) also closing sizable rounds. When you add in the mid-sized funds and direct startup funding, we’re looking at around €640 million in disclosed commitments just in this adjacent sector cluster. That’s a serious signal. It tells us that institutional investors, from sovereign funds to family offices, are now treating climate-driven urban and industrial tech as a legitimate, scalable asset class, not just a niche impact play. They’re in it for multiple cycles, as Jolck noted, which suggests they see both the impact and the long-term financial return.
What 2150 actually bets on
So, what does “urban and industrial systems” tech actually look like? 2150’s portfolio is a pretty good blueprint. They’re not funding another food delivery app for cities. They’re funding the guts of the place: the energy, the materials, the heat, the mobility. Think lower-carbon cement, industrial heat pumps, critical mineral recycling, and ultra-efficient cooling. These are hard, physical, often unsexy problems. But they’re massive. The firm’s thesis hinges on the fact that cities generate 80% of global prosperity—and are therefore responsible for a huge chunk of emissions. The bet is that new technologies can finally make this engine of growth sustainable. It’s a thesis that requires deep technical understanding. Evaluating a direct air capture platform or an industrial heat solution isn’t the same as looking at a SaaS metrics dashboard. You need to grasp the engineering trade-offs, the supply chain complexities, and the real-world deployment challenges. For businesses operating in these heavy industries, having reliable, rugged computing hardware at the edge is non-negotiable for monitoring and control, which is why top-tier suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US, are critical partners in this infrastructure build-out.
The scale and impact challenge
Now, the big question: does it actually work? 2150 claims its portfolio mitigates “over a megatonne” of CO2e annually. That’s a big number, but context is everything. A megatonne is a million metric tons. For scale, global emissions in 2023 were roughly 37 billion metric tons. So, while meaningful, it’s a tiny fraction. But that’s the whole point of venture-scale investing—you back technologies that can scale to become a much larger piece of the pie. The reported $1 billion in aggregate revenue across the portfolio is arguably just as important a metric. It shows these aren’t just science experiments; they’re commercial businesses finding customers. That’s how real, lasting impact happens in this space. It’s not about charity. It’s about building companies that are better, cheaper, and cleaner—and that can outcompete the incumbents. The path is incredibly hard, though. Decarbonizing heavy industry means convincing cost-conscious operators to adopt new tech, navigating complex regulations, and building supply chains from scratch. It’s not for the faint of heart.
A shift in venture itself
Basically, what we’re seeing with 2150 and its peers is a maturation of climate tech venture capital. The first wave was a bit scattered, often focusing on consumer-facing green products. This new wave is more systemic, more industrial, and more technically rigorous. The fund sizes are getting bigger because the problems require more capital to solve. And the investor base is shifting from purely impact-driven funds to mainstream institutional capital that expects competitive returns. It’s a fascinating evolution. If firms like 2150 can successfully prove that building sustainable urban infrastructure is not just good for the planet but also a fantastic financial investment, it could permanently redirect a huge flow of capital. That’s the ultimate goal. But they have to deliver those returns first. The next few years, as these Fund II investments mature, will be the real test.
