Superorganism raises $25M to back biodiversity startups

The Core Story

Superorganism launched in 2023 as what it claims is the first venture capital firm focused on biodiversity, aiming to serve as the conservationist on the cap table for nature-friendly startups. Now, the firm has closed its first fund, securing $25.9 million in capital commitments from Cisco Foundation, AMB Holdings, and Builders Vision, among others, along with individuals like Jeff Jordan, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Superorganism backs companies across three categories: tech that slows or reverses extinction, startups that operate at the intersection of climate and biodiversity, and tools that enable conservationists to do their work more effectively. The firm writes checks of $250,000 to $500,000 in size for pre-seed and seed-stage companies and donates 10% of its profits to future conservationist efforts. “You could think of us a lot like a climate tech fund, but instead of thinking about, where can we emit less carbon dioxide or avoid emissions in the first place, we’re doing the same thing for nature loss,” Kevin Webb, a managing director at Superorganism, told TechCrunch. Superorganism portfolio company Spoor illustrates the type of startup the firm is looking to back. The company’s software uses computer vision to track bird movement and migration patterns, minimizing damage from wind turbines on local bird populations. This benefits both biodiversity and wind farm developers, who face strict regulations around their impact on birds — regulations that can delay construction or even shut down projects. Webb and co-founder and managing director Tom Quigley, described their introduction as “kismet” to TechCrunch back in 2023. Webb had begun making angel investments focused on biodiversity to see if it could be viable as a venture capital fund strategy. While he was doing this, he reached out to Quigley because he was impressed with his background. The two started talking and eventually began working on the firm in 2022. The political climate around protecting nature and the climate in general has changed a lot — in the U.S. at least — since the pair started working on this a few years ago. But it didn’t really hold the firm back from reaching its $25 million target.

Quigley said some potential LPs needed guidance in understanding what makes Superorganism different than a climate fund, but that becomes clearer when you look at the firm’s portfolio, he said. Their portfolio companies span different categories and attract different types of follow-on investors and customers. “We are purposely building a diverse portfolio,” Quigly said. “It allows us to show what the best biodiversity companies look like across all industries, across all tech types. We think that there’s a showcase portfolio for a fund — one that’s a really powerful thing, and it’s a really stable portfolio that’s not too [affected] by different headwinds in different industries or different government policies of the day.” Many of these biodiversity issues transcend partisan battles over climate change too, he said. Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis recently gave a shout out to Inversa, one of Superorganism’s portfolio companies that turns invasive species into leather goods, for helping tackle a python problem in the Everglades, he added. Thus far, the firm has invested in 20 companies and plans for a portfolio size of about 35 companies for this fund. “We recognize that we’re the first and we need to be there to sort of bring others along where they might be interested in taking their first bet on biodiversity, helping them find and support the right ones that can move the needle,” Quigley said. Becca is a senior writer at TechCrunch that covers venture capital trends and startups. She previously covered the same beat for Forbes and the Venture Capital Journal. You can contact or verify outreach from Becca by emailing rebecca.szkutak@techcrunch.com. Plan ahead for the 2026 StrictlyVC events. Hear straight-from-the-source candid insights in on-stage fireside sessions and meet the builders and backers shaping the industry. Join the waitlist to get first access to the lowest-priced tickets and important updates. Google announces a new protocol to facilitate commerce using AI agents I met a lot of weird robots at CES — here are the most memorable OpenAI to acquire the team behind executive coaching AI tool Convogo Anduril’s Palmer Luckey thinks the future of tech is in the past Yes, LinkedIn banned AI agent startup Artisan, but now it’s back OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health, says 230 million users ask about health each week

Key Analysis & Details

Future Implications

Conclusion

To summarize, this event marks a significant moment in the industry. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as more information becomes available.