Slate VC secures €132m for climate tech scale-up fund: 'The timing was right'

Venture capital funding for climate tech surged in the years of 2021-2022. Since then funding has plummeted and hoards of startups have gone bankrupt.

However, a fair percentage of those early stage bets made it. Many of those companies are now maturing – and that's precisely the point where Slate Venture Capital looks to step in. The Paris-based firm has secured €132mn in the first close of its first fund, the company announced today.

Slate’s fund – which has a target size of €250m – targets energy, green material, and circularity startups at the stage where the tech works, but the business still needs to scale.

“The timing is right,” Chloé Giard, partner at Slate, told Impact Loop in an interview. “Lots of great companies working on the climate transition are now at the Series A and B stage – there are plenty of good opportunities to invest.”

LPs include the European Investment Fund (EIF), Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, and the Fonds National de Venture Industriel (FNVI), a French government backed fund managed by Bpifrance. Several undisclosed European family offices and private investors also invested.

Moonshots and unicorns

Despite the name, Slate operates more like an early-growth fund than a traditional VC, especially since its fund is explicitly focused on commercial acceleration – it doesn’t invest in companies without significant revenues already in place.

“We’re not necessarily chasing moonshots or unicorns,” Giard said. “We’re just looking to back businesses that can scale sustainably… that will deliver the most impact.”

With the new fund, Slate plans to invest in 15–20 companies, usually taking a board seat and working closely with the team. Tickets run between €5m and €40m. The goal is to help revenue-generating companies scale sales, expand internationally, and refine business models.

Slate’s first two investments are already live: Fairmat, a French startup recycling carbon-fibre for construction and automotive uses, and Resourcify, a German SaaS company helping corporations run circularity programs.

Other areas the fund is watching include decentralised energy for commercial buildings, solutions for clean, industrial heating, and water tech.

Broadly, the team is looking for capital efficient solutions and business models that don’t rely on green premiums alone.

Founder-led model

Slate’s founding partners bring a mix of operator, investor, and advisory experience.

Renaud Visage co-founded Eventbrite, scaled it to IPO, and navigated it through the COVID crisis. He’s been a venture partner at Index and Point9 and has advised dozens of European tech companies. Clément Buyse co-founded PeopleDoc, sold it for €300m in the US, and went on to support other scaleups.

Meanwhile, Sébastien Léger spent years in climate and decarbonisation consulting as partner at McKinsey. Giard herself is an investor at heart, having spent almost a decade with Eurazeo, one of Europe’s largest investment firms.

Slate started fundraising in 2024, and secured its first close in July 2025, but is only now announcing the fund publicly. The final close of the fund is expected sometime within the next 18 months.