WovenEarth Ventures Research
Overview
WovenEarth Ventures is a boutique fund of funds (FoF) manager headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 2022 by Jane Woodward, Mauricia Geissler, and Denise Miller, the firm provides diversified, risk-managed access to early-stage climate tech venture capital through a fund-of-funds structure. The firm is led entirely by women and targets institutional endowments, family offices, and impact-oriented investors seeking climate tech exposure without having to navigate hundreds of individual VC relationships.
Investment Thesis
WovenEarth's core thesis is that disruptive forces of change are fundamentally reshaping how the world is powered, built, moved, and managed — and that early-stage climate tech is the investment opportunity of the decade. The firm believes that this asset class is chronically underfunded and that institutional investors face significant barriers including high manager selection risk, lack of established track records, and the complexity of evaluating dozens of emerging climate fund managers.
WovenEarth addresses these barriers by aggregating capital and deploying it across a portfolio of carefully selected US-based early-stage climate tech VC fund managers, providing diversified exposure to 300+ underlying portfolio companies in a single LP commitment.
As Jane Woodward has described: "We're building a bridge, that's a risk-adjusted product, that in one investment, you get exposure to three or 400 companies, instead of 20 to 30." She adds: "No one else is doing what we're doing."
Fund Structure & AUM
WovenEarth Fund I:
- Final close: January 31, 2024 at $152M hard cap
- Structure: Fund of funds investing in 13 US-based early-stage climate tech VC fund managers
- Exposure: 300+ underlying portfolio companies
- Co-investments: Also offers co-investment opportunities alongside underlying fund managers
WovenEarth Fund II:
- Launched in 2025
- Target size: $300M
- First close announced: July 2025
- Continues the fund-of-funds strategy with expanded scope and capital base
Sector Focus
WovenEarth covers seven climate technology verticals through its underlying fund manager portfolio:
- Energy — Solar, wind, grid infrastructure, battery storage, power markets
- Food, Land & Water — Regenerative agriculture, water technology, sustainable food systems
- Transportation — Electric vehicles, sustainable mobility, aviation, maritime
- Built Environment — Building efficiency, construction technology, smart buildings
- Carbon Removal — Direct air capture, nature-based solutions, carbon markets
- Climate Intelligence — Data analytics, AI, and software for climate monitoring and optimization
- Industry & Supply Chain — Industrial decarbonization, manufacturing, logistics
Portfolio Fund Managers
WovenEarth Fund I has invested with 13 US-based VC fund managers, including both generalist decarbonization-focused investors and domain-specific managers:
Generalist (Decarbonization-focused):
- Anthropocene Ventures
- Earshot Ventures
- LowerCarbon Capital (co-founded by Chris Sacca)
- Volo Earth Ventures
- Voyager Ventures
Domain-Focused:
- Burnt Island Ventures (Water Technology)
- Trailhead Capital (Regenerative Agriculture)
- Buoyant Ventures (Digital Solutions for Climate)
- Five additional managers covering wildfire, water, and other climate sub-sectors
Team
Jane Woodward — Founder & Managing Partner Jane is a Stanford Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, teaching energy and environment courses since 1991. She has 35+ years of energy investment experience. She is the former founder and CEO of MAP Energy, which developed utility-scale renewable energy projects and sold its renewable and energy storage assets to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in 2020. Jane holds a BS in Geology from UC Santa Barbara, and both an MS in Engineering/Petroleum Geology and an MBA from Stanford. She serves on Stanford's Precourt Institute for Energy Advisory Council and participates in the Stanford Climate Ventures teaching team.
Mauricia Geissler — Co-Founder & Advisor Mauricia is the former Chief Investment Officer of Amherst College, a position she held since 2003, bringing 35+ years of institutional investment management experience to WovenEarth. Her deep endowment management expertise and established LP relationships form a core pillar of the firm's institutional fundraising capability.
Denise Miller — Partner Denise is an energy transition strategist with deep experience across utilities, oil & gas, and management consulting. She served as Manager of Corporate Development, Strategy & Planning at Aera Energy from October 2019 to January 2023, and as a Strategy Manager at Accenture from 2017 to 2019. Earlier in her career she worked at the Clinton Health Access Initiative and in corporate social responsibility. Denise holds an MBA and MS in Environmental Policy and Planning from the University of Michigan.
The team is complemented by four additional staff members and expert senior advisors.
LP Base & Institutional Partners
WovenEarth has attracted a strong institutional LP base:
- University Endowments: Boston University, Northwestern University, Pennsylvania State University
- Wealth Management: Glenmede
- Family Foundations: Mortenson Family Foundation
- Corporate: M.A. Mortenson Companies
Geographic Focus
Primarily United States. All 13 underlying fund managers in Fund I are US-based, with the firm headquartered in Palo Alto, CA (Silicon Valley).
Lead Tendency & Investment Model
As a fund of funds, WovenEarth does not invest directly in portfolio companies and therefore does not lead company-level investment rounds. Their investment decisions are made at the fund manager level — selecting which VC funds to back. The firm is selective, backing only 13 fund managers out of a large universe of climate tech VCs.
Decision Process
Decisions appear to be made through a partnership model among the three founders. As a boutique FoF with a focused team, investment processes likely involve thorough manager due diligence, LP advisory input, and consensus among partners.
Market Position
WovenEarth positions itself as the first dedicated US early-stage climate tech fund of funds — a category claim that distinguishes it from direct VC investors, ESG public equity funds, and later-stage infrastructure climate funds. The firm's all-women leadership team, Stanford ecosystem connections, and endowment-caliber LP base give it a distinctive brand in the climate investing market.