New Climate Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
New Climate Ventures (NCV) invests in innovative early-stage startups building the future of how the world produces, powers, and consumes. The firm's stated framework is "Resilient, Efficient, Clean, Affordable, Secure" — the belief that emerging technologies can transform global energy, industrial, and food systems while maintaining (or improving) current standards of living. NCV specifically looks for next-generation technologies that are approaching price parity with the incumbent solutions they replace, that open multiple revenue paths for the founding team, and that strengthen secure, resilient supply chains rather than depending on fragile or geopolitically exposed ones. The firm was founded in October 2021 and has built a thesis around the intersection of energy, commodities, climate, technology, finance, and regulatory domains, drawing on the founding team's prior careers in commodities and energy trading.
Sector Focus
NCV's portfolio spans carbon reduction, removal, and avoidance broadly rather than a single vertical. Recurring themes include alternative proteins and food technology (Ansa, Marvelous Foods, Imagindairy, Renegade Foods), carbon capture and industrial materials (Carbicrete, Mantel Capture, FAST Metals, Vartega, Transition Metal Solutions), energy generation and grid infrastructure (Tandem PV, Piq Energy, Air Company), and sustainable transportation (Natilus, sustainable aviation). The firm also backs carbon-market infrastructure and offsetting platforms (Cloverly, Calyx Global).
Stage Focus
NCV invests at the earliest stages — pre-seed and seed — and has followed on in some cases through Series A. Its July 2026 investment in FAST Metals was a pre-seed round; its 2026 investments in Coral and Piq Energy were seed rounds.
Check Size
No official check-size range is published. Based on recent syndicated rounds where NCV was one of five to seven co-investors in $4.3M-$7.5M rounds, individual checks appear to fall in the low hundreds of thousands to roughly $1-2M range. This is an inferred estimate, not a stated figure.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. NCV led FAST Metals' $4.3M pre-seed round (announced July 2026), but was a non-lead participant in Coral's $7.5M seed (led by ResilienceVC, March 2026) and Piq Energy's $5M seed (led by Active Impact Investments, July 2026). The firm appears comfortable both leading smaller pre-seed/seed rounds and joining larger syndicates as a value-add climate specialist.
Recent Activity
NCV has been actively investing through 2026: it backed Piq Energy's oversubscribed $5M seed round (July 8, 2026) for an agentic grid-interconnection platform, led FAST Metals' $4.3M pre-seed round (July 29, 2026) for critical-mineral recovery from mining waste, and joined Coral's $7.5M seed round (March 9, 2026) for energy-efficiency financing infrastructure. Public trackers show roughly four new first-time investments in the trailing twelve months as of mid-2026, consistent with a small, selective early-stage fund.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio includes 30+ companies. Notable names include Air Company (carbon-to-fuel/chemicals), Carbicrete (carbon-cured concrete), Dimensional Energy and Ecolectro (industrial decarbonization), Natilus (sustainable cargo aviation), Osmoses and Solidec (materials/separation technology), and Cloverly and Calyx Global (carbon markets infrastructure). One known exit: Atmos AI, a carbon-accounting and ESG-reporting platform NCV backed in its $1.7M 2022 seed round (alongside GoAhead Ventures, 701 Fund, and WAP Sustainability), was acquired by WAP Sustainability on February 15, 2024.
Team
- Eric Rubenstein, Founding Managing Partner — Houston-based investor focused on carbon reduction, removal, and avoidance across commodities, energy, and climate technology. Previously held investment, strategy, and trading roles at Citigroup and Louis Dreyfus in their commodities and energy trading divisions. Yale University (psychology/behavioral neuroscience) and Temple University MBA (global business and entrepreneurship).
- Matt Arnold, General Partner and Co-Founder — Co-founder of the firm alongside Rubenstein; public biographical detail beyond this title is limited in available sources.
- Taylor Chapman, Principal — Investment principal at NCV.
Decision Process
With a three-person named investment team (Managing Partner, General Partner/Co-Founder, and Principal), NCV appears to run a small-partnership decision process rather than a solo-GP or formal investment-committee structure typical of larger funds.
Founder Preferences
The firm's own language emphasizes wanting to help "passionate founders" build technologies that are both commercially successful and instrumental in driving a cleaner, greener future — suggesting a preference for founders with credible paths to commercial viability (not pure research projects) in climate-adjacent industrial, energy, and food systems.
Geographic Focus
NCV is headquartered in Houston, Texas, and its investment activity is concentrated in North America, consistent with its roots in the US energy and commodities industry and its focus on securing North American supply chains.