'Much harder than ever before': UK early-stage climate investor on raising its eighth fund
18 maj 2026
05:00
Julia Groves, investment partner at Sustainable Ventures, has spent two decades trying to convince people to back climate tech. She has never found it harder than right now.
In this exclusive interview, we sat down with Groves to discuss:
→ Why raising its eighth fund has been the hardest of all
→ The Innovate UK pipeline that is shaping the fund's near-term deployment
→ How its early-stage portfolio companies are leveraging AI
In this exclusive interview, we sat down with Groves to discuss:
→ Why raising its eighth fund has been the hardest of all
→ The Innovate UK pipeline that is shaping the fund's near-term deployment
→ How its early-stage portfolio companies are leveraging AI
When Sustainable Ventures launched its eighth fund at the start of 2025, it had solid numbers to show potential investors. Previous fund cohorts were sitting at 2.89 times invested capital. The firm had three exits, a workspace community of over 150 climate startups across London and Manchester, and portfolio companies that had gone on to raise more than £160m in follow-on funding.
But none of that seemed to make a difference. The fund is still open – and still a hard sell.