Superorganism raises $25 million to support biodiversity startups

A supernatural organism Launched in 2023 as what it claims to be the first biodiversity-focused venture capital firm, it aims to act as a conservationist at the cap table for nature-friendly startups.

Now, the company has closed its first fund, securing $25.9 million in capital commitments from Cisco Foundation, AMB Holdings, and Builders Vision, among others, along with individuals like Jeff Jordan, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz.

Superorganism supports companies across three categories: technology that slows or reverses extinction, startups that work at the intersection of climate and biodiversity, and tools that enable conservationists to do their work more effectively.

The company writes checks of $250,000 to $500,000 to pre-seed and seed-stage companies and donates 10% of its profits to future environmental conservation efforts.

“You can think of us like the Climate Tech Fund, but instead of thinking about where can we emit less CO2 or avoid emissions in the first place, we do the same thing for nature’s loss,” Kevin Webb, managing director of Superorganism, told TechCrunch.

Superorganism portfolio company Spoor It shows what type of startup the company is looking to support. The company’s software uses computer vision to track birds’ movement and migration patterns, reducing damage caused by wind turbines to local bird populations. This benefits both biodiversity and wind farm developers, who face strict regulations about their impact on birds, regulations that can delay construction or even shut down projects.

Webb and co-founder and managing director Tom Quigley described their introduction as “Kismet”. TechCrunch returns in 2023. Webb began making angel investments focused on biodiversity to see if it could be applied as a strategy for a venture capital fund. While doing so, he reached out to Quigley because he was impressed by his background. The two started talking and eventually started working for the company in 2022.

The political climate around nature conservation and climate in general has changed a lot — in the United States at least — since the duo started working on this a few years ago. But it didn’t really stop the company from reaching its $25 million goal.

Quigley said some potential LLCs need guidance to understand what makes Superorganism different from a climate fund, but this becomes clearer when you look at the company’s portfolio. Its portfolio companies span different categories and attract different types of investors and clients.

“We intentionally build a diversified portfolio,” Quigley said. “It allows us to show what the best biodiversity companies look like across all industries, across all types of technology. We think there’s a portfolio offering for the fund — something that’s really strong, a portfolio that’s really stable and not (affected by) different headwinds in different industries or different government policies at the time.”

Many of these biodiversity issues transcend partisan battles over climate change as well, he said. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis recently gave a shout out reflectsone of the Superorganism portfolio companies that Converts invasive species into leather goodsHe added that it has helped address the snake problem in the Everglades.

The company has so far invested in 20 companies and plans to build a portfolio size of about 35 companies for this fund.

“We realize we are the first and we need to be there to bring others to where they might be interested in taking their first bet on biodiversity, and help them find the right people who can make a radical difference and support them,” Quigley said.