Cool Climate Collective Research
Investment Thesis
Cool Climate Collective (CCC) is an investor-operator syndicate and fund, established in 2021, that backs early-stage climate technology founders building systemic solutions to risks "before those risks are priced." Its tagline is "Foresight-led, market-made." The firm organizes its mandate into four domains: Electrons (generation, storage, grid flexibility, freight electrification), Atoms (materials and manufacturing), Flows (water, waste, food, nutrient and methane loops) and Signals (data, permit intelligence, carbon compliance, water risk, verification). Every deal must also deliver co-benefits such as lower cost, jobs, de-risked supply chains or public health; carbon math alone is "table stakes."
Five named doctrines govern every check: Proximity Inversion (those closest to a problem hold the least authority over solving it, so operators and domain experts source deals and sit on ad-hoc investment committees); the Three Futures Test (back a company only if three independent regulatory, market and technology futures could each make it dominant); Causal Parallax Underwriting (score how many futures a position serves, using a proprietary PCS/PCF/PVS methodology); Bottleneck Backcasting (start from the needed outcome, find the binding constraint, fund it); and the Circulation Doctrine (resilient economies behave like circulatory systems, so favor companies that keep goods, energy, water, capital and knowledge flowing under stress).
Stage Focus
Pre-seed and seed. The firm describes itself as writing the first check into pre-seed and seed rounds, often alongside other funds (for example Collaborative Fund and Third Sphere on Focal).
Check Size
$100k to $350k first checks, with a rapid ad-hoc investment committee assembled from scientific, domain and industry experts per deal.
Structure and Lead Tendency
CCC operates as both a deal-by-deal AngelList syndicate (SPVs for LPs) and a broader diversified fund. It markets "co-invest with us" and "share pipeline, share diligence, share conviction," which signals a co-investor and syndicate-lead posture rather than a sole lead. Lead tendency is not explicitly stated, so it is recorded as unknown. Its members have built companies such as Tesla, Stripe, Google, Meta, DoorDash, Slack, Square and Airtable, and provide IP support, go-to-market help, talent and policy navigation to portfolio companies.
Ecosystem
CCC is the founding node of the Emrgnce ecosystem, a "fund foundry" that seeds domain-specific investment vehicles. Related nodes include Fifth Wave Fund, the Bottlenecks Institute, and the foundations_ open research arm. Writing is published at coolclimate.substack.com, and the site hosts a field guide to climate SPVs.
Recent Activity and Portfolio
The site claims 35+ portfolio companies; its portfolio page lists 30 firm positions plus a separate set of eight personal angel investments by the founding partner (Sightline Climate, Zeno, Heimdal, Harvest Thermal, Dandelion Energy, Phaidra, Waterplan, Kaikaku), which are not counted as firm holdings. Highlights by domain: Electrons: Natrion (solid-state battery components), Elastic Energy, Raya Power, Modern Energy Storage, Ivy Energy (acquired Glow Energy in 2024), Nevoya, Electric Fish, Praan. Atoms: InventWood (Superwood, covered by WSJ and TechCrunch), Lingrove, DTE Materials, Cascade Biocatalysts, Ginkgo Bioworks, GOB. Flows: Alga Biosciences (methane-cutting feed additives), Wasted*, AquaPoro, Glanris, Hayzel, Focal, New Farmers, Kawa Project, Biome, GigaClimate. Signals: Shovels, Offstream (YC S24), Pioneer, Leafr, Sphere, Resilience. No new fund close is publicly dated, so fund status is unknown, though the firm is plainly still soliciting founders and LPs.
Team and Decision Process
Founded in 2021 by Mehrad Yaghmai and Tristan Pollock. Mehrad Yaghmai is Founding and Managing Partner; he spent a decade operating in Dubai, built and exited e-commerce and EdTech ventures, and previously directed Terra.do's "Climate Change for VCs." He works with a rotating set of venture partners. Teddy Hennes is Partner and Head of Platform, focused on due diligence and ecosystem building. Decisions run through ad-hoc investment committees of external experts, with the managing partner as the central decision maker.
Founder Preferences
Bold teams at the earliest moments with strong indicators of execution, especially in team and traction, working on bottleneck problems where multiple futures could make them dominant. Solutions proven in extreme environments (deserts, monsoons, policy vacuums) are favored. Pitches go through an Airtable form; contact is [email protected].
Geographic Focus
No explicit geographic restriction is stated. The portfolio skews US and includes companies from India, Africa and emerging markets, and the firm emphasizes domestic manufacturing and resilience themes.