What if we grew 1,000 startups to decarbonize, adapt, and electrify everything?
What If
TL:DR
Coral is a first-check venture firm that invests in the future of adaptation, mitigation, decarbonization, and electrification. Yes, that’s a lot of '“tions'.“ We also write, podcast, hike, float rivers, and are currently traveling the world to meet builders. You should probably say hi.
Interests. No, we’re not going to say “theses” or “themes,” because we try to not sound like douchebags.
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If your product feels like sci-fi, takes upwards of ten focused minutes to explain, and has the potential to seed entire industries, you’re our people.
We don’t care about elevator pitches, reductive tag-lines, or precise industry labels. Boring.
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There are people who will tell you that climate-centric companies can’t turn a profit. These people are idiots and best avoided.
Founders, you have a responsibility to make your company scalable by making it profitable. It’s ok if you don’t know exactly how. We’ll help.
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We love startups that apply absurd amounts of time and intellectual capital to developing beautiful technology that anyone can use and make impactful. Think sunlight-driven desalinization, drones dropping plants from the sky, CO2 bubbles in concrete, and so much more.
How to pitch us.
It’s not a pop quiz. The email is at the bottom of this page. We love cold pitches, read and respond to all of them, and require no intros or social proof. Just email us and explain, in plain English, why this is a generationally impactful + profitable company. Attach a deck or model with all the data and demonstrations of traction you have. It doesn’t need to be perfect, and no points off for lack of graphic design chops.
Stuff we don’t care about
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Actually, please do not have gone to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford. Or if you did and you somehow aren’t an asshole, just don’t tell us until after we invest.
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We’ll figure this out over time. Don’t try to make your company fit into a neat, outdated, VC-pleasing box. We’d rather get weird and help you build the best version of whatever it is, not follow a script.
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We would actually explicitly prefer you not have taken money from anyone who has ever mentioned “9-9-6” on Linkedin, or still uses twitter. You know the ones.
Other than that, we don’t care. Coral forms our own opinions and is delighted to be your first, and hopefully last, check.
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Great science takes a while. We structure deals precisely to align our incentives with the company, and pass if we can’t. We’re happy to work with folks who need a year or three before commercial launch.
Stuff we don’t invest in
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We think these are deeply flawed and fragile business models in the current climate. Feel free to persuade us otherwise if you have something compelling but, generally, this is a pass.
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Raising money is neither a goal nor an outcome. We’re totally fine investing in companies that will need to raise a bunch to become viable, as many climate companies do, just not in those who think raising is the whole game
If you don’t understand the difference, we’re not going to explain it to you.
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No, we don’t need carbon accounting on the blockchain, thanks.
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AI as accelerant for another business is very welcome, pure-play LLM companies are not.
About Us
We met at work, fell in love in the mountains, and started working on climate because our kids deserve better than this disaster. We became investors because smart, patient, mission-aligned capital is the missing link in the climate value chain, and someone needed to do it. Coral is the result; something that looks vaguely like a VC firm, with the only differences being that we actually deliver returns, and hopefully aren’t jackasses along the way.
Writing, podcasting, socials
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Writing & podcasting
Warning, may contain hints of thought leadership #ew
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Bluesky
Here every sometimes
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Linkedin
Do people still use Linkedin?
