VCs keep ghosting climate-focused start-ups – it’s harming investment

Start-ups focused on climate and sustainability solutions have reported a growing trend of venture capital (VC) firms dropping out of meetings or ignoring start-ups, damaging investors’ relationships in the start-up space, according to Juliette Devillard, chief executive of Climate Connection.

Devillard said her company, which runs around 40 networking events for start-ups and investors each year in the climate space, said she has noticed in events that VC firms often drop out of meetings with start-ups at the last minute or sometimes fail to show up, and that it is becoming “increasingly expected”.

As a result, she said these companies, which are driving innovation in the climate technology space, are starting to avoid VCs as a source of capital.

“There’s a consistent trend within the start-up ecosystem, where VC investors don’t conduct themselves in a way that values or respects start-up founders’ time,” she told PA Future. “We’ve had numerous reports from start-ups in our community attending some of the UK’s biggest events that a significant number of investors didn’t show up to pre-agreed one-on-one meetings, often with no excuses around why.

“This isn’t about ganging up on VCs, as they are an important part of a start-up’s journey and invaluable for helping them to scale. However, they need to consider the reputation they’re creating for the innovative founders they want to attract if they’re not attending meetings.”

She added: “Ironically, VCs could be missing out on the investments that make their career, not only because they might miss a meeting with the next Revolut, but also because the damage to their reputation might mean founders might decide to look elsewhere for investment.

“This is not to say that there aren’t some really good VCs out there that are doing exactly what they say, but we all need to rally together to stop this trend from happening.”

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