Climate Scout Fund (Climate VC Scout Network)

The Climate Scout Fund is a climate-focused scout fund created by Climate Capital and Earthshot Ventures, with Elemental Excelerator's network included in the model. Its stated mission is to empower a diverse set of climate-tech leaders with capital and community to seed future climate solutions. The model is a classic VC scout structure applied to climate. Climate Scout Fund recruits climate scouts who are close to early-stage networks such as Y Combinator, GoogleX, startup founders, researchers, and climate executives, then gives them capital and community to invest in pre-seed climate companies.

Climate Scout Fund backs pre-seed climate-tech companies through a distributed scout network of climate leaders, using the networks of Climate Capital, Earthshot Ventures, and Elemental Excelerator to surface overlooked founders and diversify climate deal flow.

Designed for Founders, Investors, Researchers. Participation is generally part time.

The launch post says the fund sought founders/leaders at successful growth-stage or public climate-tech companies, well-networked early-stage climate founders, executives at successful tech companies beyond climate, exceptional students at leading or specialized institutions, and unconventional builders. Prior investing experience was strongly preferred but not required.

Public access begins with nominations. The official site asks people to nominate an impressive founder, investor, researcher, or climate-tech community member, then says the fund will ask nominees to apply if they seem like a fit.

Scouts receive an annual investment budget, capital allocation, and community access rather than a stipend or training curriculum. The scout role is to identify promising pre-seed climate companies and invest small checks with oversight and support from the collaborating firms.

Climate Capital announced Climate Scout Fund on September 15, 2023, and said applications would open later that month without giving an exact day. On October 11, 2024, it announced that the fund would move under its Programs umbrella. These are historical announcements, not a current intake schedule.