There’s a mismatch in climate tech investing: Since 2020, more than half of all investments have flowed into energy and transportation startups, according to Sightline Climate.
“It’s great to see these solutions thriving,” said Michael Luciani, one of the founders of Juniper. However, he pointed out that these sectors account for less than half of all carbon emissions.
“The biggest contributors are industries like chemicals, plastics, and manufacturing, as well as food, agriculture, and buildings,” he said. “I’ve come to believe that engineered biology is the best emerging solution for most of the challenges in these sectors.”
Luciani and Jennifer Kan, Juniper’s co-founders, have been investing in climate solutions for years. Initially, they worked as part of Climate Capital, a venture fund that specialized in smaller investments in early-stage companies. During their time there, they invested in 30 companies and managed special-purpose vehicles, Kan told.
Initially, Juniper was launched as “Climate Capital Bio,” focusing on synthetic biology startups aimed at addressing climate issues. But, as Luciani explained, “as we went further along, we realized we should lean into being the ‘climate biotech people.’ Climate Capital is a great brand, but it’s more generalist. We wanted to send a more focused signal.”
Juniper’s first fund totals $10.6 million and is oversubscribed. Investors include family offices, foundations, and Allocator One, an institutional fund of funds serving as the anchor.
“We’ve also opened the fund to scientists in the field, allowing them to invest at lower minimums, along with over a dozen partners from venture capital and private equity firms,” Luciani added.
Juniper operates as a traditional venture fund, writing checks of $100,000 to $500,000 for scientists working to commercialize their research. According to Kan, the fund’s goal is “to be their first institutional investor and help them think through how to build a company.”
Some of Juniper’s early investments include California Cultured, which grows plant cells to produce more sustainable coffee and chocolate, and Cache DNA, which is developing more efficient ways to store DNA and RNA.
“We’re building a lot of data centers today, but they’re not the most sustainable way for our world to grow digitally. If we could store all the world’s data in DNA, it would only take up the space of a shoebox,” Kan explained. “The difference is massive.”
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