Cerulean Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Cerulean Ventures is a pre-seed and seed-stage climate tech venture fund based in Santa Barbara, California, founded in 2022 by Matthew Stotts and Jahed Momand. The firm closed its $10M Fund I in September 2024 at Climate Week NYC. Cerulean focuses on what it calls "the end of externalities"—backing founders building asset-light, rapidly-scaling software companies that drive meaningful climate impact.
The core thesis centers on identifying systemic leverage points where unique, proprietary data, compute and AI scaling, and finance and fintech solutions can rapidly scale into large, transformative niches in the economy that have historically been resistant to digital transformation. Key target industries include mining, niche manufacturing, soft tropical commodities, pharma supply chains, and the emerging markets of natural capital and biodiversity.
Unlike traditional climate tech VCs that focus on hardware or energy infrastructure, Cerulean deliberately targets software-first solutions that can achieve exponential scale without heavy capital requirements. They prefer open-source software, IoT platforms, and occasionally simple hardware components.
Sector Focus
Cerulean organizes its investment thesis around four major focus areas:
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Carbon Markets & Natural Capital: Companies building infrastructure for nature-based carbon credits, biodiversity markets, and ecosystem services. Portfolio includes Earthbanc (nature-based carbon), Renoster (carbon market transparency), Thallo (carbon-as-a-service), and Neutral Labs (climate finance infrastructure).
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Renewable Energy: Companies digitizing renewable energy markets and optimizing energy allocation. Portfolio includes Jasmine Energy (renewable energy certificates), Quantum Energy (energy optimization), WattCarbon (M&V for distributed energy), and Asoba (distributed energy in Africa).
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Sustainable Supply Chains: Software for verifiable and transparent supply chain sustainability. Portfolio includes Meridia (GIS-based supply chain verification compliant with EUDR), CommonShare (AI-driven supply chain transparency), and EthicHub (regenerative finance for agricultural supply chains).
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Climate FinTech: Innovative financial products and infrastructure for climate solutions. Portfolio includes Nibiru (climate finance leverage tools), Masa Finance (web3 credit), KYVE Network (web3 data infrastructure), and Epoch (payments for ecosystem services).
Stage and Check Size
Cerulean operates exclusively at pre-seed and seed stages, positioning itself as typically the first institutional investor in companies. Fund I has deployed capital across 19+ confirmed portfolio companies from its $10M fund. While specific check sizes are not disclosed, the fund size and portfolio breadth suggest typical investments in the $250K–$500K range. The firm maintains 50%+ reserves for follow-on investments into top performers.
Geographic Focus
The firm invests globally with emphasis on the US, European Union, and African continent. Portfolio geography reflects this: Asoba operates in Africa, Meridia works across the Netherlands, Ghana, Indonesia, and Côte d'Ivoire, EthicHub originated in Spain, and KYVE Network is Germany-based. WattCarbon and Jasmine Energy are US-headquartered.
Team
Matthew Stotts (General Partner): Co-founded Cerulean with a background as founder of a Silicon Valley technology marketing consultancy and co-founder of a financial technology business. Represents Cerulean in portfolio company relationships and is quoted in major investment announcements.
Jahed Momand (General Partner): Background includes co-founding a developer operations SaaS company and prior product leadership roles at enterprise software firms in Silicon Valley.
The firm maintains a strong advisory board with deep domain experts:
- Dr. Julie Pullen (Ocean and Climate Science Advisor) — Chief Scientist at Propeller
- Peter Olivier (Carbon Markets Advisor) — Head of New Markets at UNDO Carbon
- Chadwick Manning (Renewable Energy Advisor) — Founder of Eletriq Power
- Dr. John Clippinger (AI & Nature Finance Advisor) — Founder of ClearTrace
- Dr. Troy Cross (Bitcoin Decarbonization Advisor) — Professor of Philosophy at Reed College
Decision Process and Founder Approach
Cerulean runs as a two-GP partnership. They engage with founders months before making investment decisions, assisting with customer acquisition, hiring, and co-founder matching—a "hands-on mentorship" model. The firm invites founders to submit through a dedicated founder intake portal on their website.
Cerulean targets three types of opportunities: (1) companies generating new environmental assets and data, (2) teams creating institutional demand for environmental information and assets, and (3) builders developing digital tools helping communities address climate adaptation and risk mitigation.
LPs include anchor investor One Small Planet, strategic investors Regen Foundation and Regen Network, and global family offices.
Recent Activity
The most notable recent activity is participation in WattCarbon's Seed Extension in July 2025, alongside City Light Capital, Tom O'Keefe, and existing investor True Ventures. WattCarbon's AI-powered platform (Aristotle) serves as measurement infrastructure for hourly distributed clean energy attributes. Matthew Stotts noted: "WattCarbon is solving one of the most fundamental challenges in the clean energy transition – how do we accurately measure and verify the impact of distributed resources at scale."
Fund I closed September 2024 at Climate Week NYC at $10M. The firm has made 33+ investments according to PitchBook data.
Notable Portfolio
- EthicHub: Regenerative finance (ReFi) protocol enabling unbanked coffee farmers to access low-interest microcredits; $4M+ in microcredits brokered
- KYVE Network: Decentralized web3 data hub for blockchain data; major crypto infrastructure project
- Masa Finance: Decentralized data marketplace for Fair AI; 1.3M+ unique wallets, 70+ businesses consuming data across 8 blockchains
- WattCarbon: Authoritative "weights and measures" system for distributed clean energy M&V
- Jasmine Energy: Digitizing the US renewable energy certificate (REC) market; YC S22 graduate; $2.5M seed at $22M valuation with Collaborative Fund and Climate Capital
- Earthbanc: Vertically integrated nature-based carbon removal platform with MRV software; Mastercard partnership
- Meridia: GIS-based sustainable supply chain verification compliant with EUDR; operates across 4 continents
- Regen Network: Blockchain platform for equitable biodiversity financing and land stewardship
Anti-Thesis
Cerulean explicitly avoids incremental climate improvements, hardware-heavy capital-intensive plays, and companies without a clear digital scaling path. The fund focuses on software that creates exponential impact rather than linear improvements.