World Fund is Berlin's climate-tech venture capital fund — launched in 2021 and initiated by green search engine Ecosia, it set out to become Europe's largest dedicated climate-tech VC. Its mission is unusually explicit: save 2 gigatons of emissions by 2040, the equivalent of 4% of all global emissions.

Thesis: climate performance potential

World Fund invests only where the climate maths is compelling. Every company must demonstrate climate performance potential (CPP) — the capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100 megatons of CO₂ per year. To assess this, the firm built its own methodology in exchange with Project Drawdown, Crane and TU Berlin. The operating belief: climate returns are an early indicator of financial returns.

Fund size, sectors and stages

The fund targets €350 million, backed by more than 60 investors including current and former European tech founders. It invests from early to growth stage across energy, transport, food and agriculture, manufacturing and buildings — from alternative proteins to energy storage and smart charging infrastructure. Per-company cheque sizes are not publicly disclosed.

Notable portfolio

World Fund's portfolio includes IQM (which became the first Nasdaq-listed European quantum company — and World Fund's first portfolio company to go public), CYLIB (next-generation battery recycling), Juicy Marbles, Aedifion (decarbonising buildings), Planet A Foods, Treecard, Space Forge, Freshflow, QuantumDiamonds (which raised €91 million), Farmless and barocal.

Key people

The founding partners are investor and entrepreneur Tim Schumacher, VC investor Daria Saharova, sustainability investor Craig Douglas and climate-tech thought leader Danijel Visevic — a team deliberately mixing entrepreneurs, investors, engineers and communications experts, incubated inside Ecosia by its founder Christian Kroll.

Programs and perks

World Fund publishes deep climate-tech research — including reports such as "Europe's Power Play" — and runs a knowledge platform for founders building decarbonisation technology. Portfolio founders benefit from the fund's credibility with climate-focused LPs, its CPP measurement framework (useful in later fundraising), and a network spanning European industry and policy.

How to apply for funding

World Fund runs an open pitch process: the "Pitch us" link on worldfund.vc routes founders to the firm's application form. Before applying, sanity-check your venture against the 100-megaton CPP bar — it is the fund's hard filter.

Why it matters for founders

If your startup's technology can plausibly cut 100 megatons of CO₂ a year, World Fund is the most mission-aligned capital in Europe — and its CPP methodology gives you a quantified climate story for every future round.