Alex Behar, former vice president at Cultivian Sandbox, a food- and agriculture-focused venture fund, will continue to work to address climate change in his next role.
He joined Buoyant Ventures last month where he will focus on sourcing, diligence and leading investments for the early-stage Chicago-based VC firm.
Buoyant invests in climate tech and entrepreneurs using digital tech to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
In 2023 the firm closed more than $80 million in total assets in its first climate-focused fund. The fund, which is the largest first-time female-owned venture fund outside the East and West Coasts, is half deployed with recent investments in Chicago-based tech startups like HData and Ocient.
Behar expects to make seven or eight more investments out of the fund.
Amy Francetic, co-founder and managing general partner at Buoyant Ventures, said Behar's "international perspective" on climate change will help the firm find investments that can grow into global businesses. Behar joins Buoyant as a principal investor as Chicago continues to see new and exciting investments and developments in the sector locally through both private and federal initiatives.
Behar spoke to Chicago Inno about what climate tech-focused startup founders should know about Buoyant's newest investor. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What made you want to make the switch to Buoyant Ventures?
It allows me to open the aperture in terms of what I'm looking at to climate tech more broadly. I'll be coming in and taking a deliberate approach about investing in food and agriculture for the fund, but then also having an opportunity to get exposure to other areas of climate tech like energy, built-environment, water, etc. It's also exciting to be investing in software and digital as a focus. I think there's a lot of opportunity for faster scale-up of startups, which suits the venture asset class nicely.
What makes a good investment to you?
The first filter is that they're addressing a meaningful challenge. With our climate-tech lens, that means that they're addressing an area that can have a significant improvement on the planet. From there, it gets more into the business side of things. Do they have a solution that addresses a real pain point for customers? Have they found product-market fit? Are they on the path to some meaningful traction, and can they grow efficiently?
Will there be a particular focus on Chicago startups for you?
We invest across the U.S. and in Europe as well. In terms of scope, it is broad, but we do like the idea of investing in Chicago. We also like the idea of other big metropolitan areas that are maybe not the typical ones associated with venture, so we have a presence in Denver. We have a presence in Los Angeles. We generally like the idea of investing in I wouldn't say overlooked but maybe under-looked areas in the U.S. That being said, it's hard to avoid the Bay Area and New York.
