Climate-focused investment platform Clim8 closes down

CEO Duncan Grierson cited the changing economic environment and inflation as reasons for the fintech’s closure.

Sustainable investing app Clim8 is closing down.

The London-based fintech founded in 2019 with the aim of bringing sustainable investing to everyone, and with a focus on investing in companies with climate impact solutions, will close all accounts at the end of May and is no longer taking new customers.

In a customer message, CEO Duncan Grierson said the company has pursued a number of options over the past few months, with “a range of good interest”, but none have come to fruition.

In an email to AltFi, Grierson confirmed that Clim8 is solvent and has enough cash to cover all its costs, and said it is currently looking for a buyer for the company.

“The venture capital environment has completely changed in the last year and it’s extremely difficult for startups to raise new funding,” Grierson told AltFi.

“We started Clim8 to bring truly sustainable investing to anyone and we had strong portfolio returns in a challenging market, so proved that you can invest in companies with climate impact and still do well. Unfortunately we have not been able to scale our customer base fast enough to show strong enough traction to venture capital investors.”

Clim8 has raised £12m from institutional investors including Channel 4 Ventures, the British Business Bank, Evergreen Fund and 7Percent Ventures.

It also opened its doors to customers over Covid, raising more than £6.6m from nearly 5,000 investors over three fundraising campaigns on Crowdcube.

Now, all users will have 60 days to decide what they want to do with portfolios on Clim8.

The fintech is working with account custodians WealthKernel, who will ensure customers’ funds remain protected throughout the process as they withdraw or transfer funds, and all platform fees have been waived.

Clim8 has also partnered with online investment service Wealthify, which will offer customers a sign-on bonus when they move their portfolio/portfolios to their ethical plans, which aim to invest sustainably.

“We have seen a large amount of greenwashing in financial services around so-called ‘ESG’ investing and we wanted to offer a better product,” Grierson wrote on the Clim8 blog.

“Trying to disrupt an industry is a big mountain to climb. Coupled with dramatic changes in the economic environment and inflation, the appetite for investing in startups has changed over the last year. 

“We have been unable to secure further venture capital to fund the ongoing business.”

WealthKernel is a portfolio company of ETFS Capital, the owner of AltFi and ETF Stream.