Pangaea Ventures, a venture capital firm headquartered in Canada with an office in Phoenix, has just closed its largest fund to date, reflecting growing investor interest in tech companies with solutions to improve global sustainability.
Pangaea Ventures this week announced closure of its fifth fund, which secured $85 million in investor commitments. The firm has allocated about half of the fund and plans to make a total of 10 to 12 investments, said Janelle Goulard, partner at Pangaea Ventures.
Goulard attributes the fund's successful capital raise to the firm’s established team and prioritization of hard tech solutions in advanced materials, chemistry and biology that drive change while delivering good returns.
“We're focused on solving big challenges that are resilient to market ups and downturns,” she said. “There's always going to be a need to reduce CO2. We do not have enough food for the world. We need more fresh water. Health care is a big challenge, systemically, so all these four areas where we're trying to make an impact are essentially recession proof."
The Pangaea Ventures Impact Fund provided undisclosed investments in five startups, including pH7 Technologies, Ardent Process Technologies, Versogen, Kanvas Biosciences, and Biodel AG, a company headquartered in Maricopa that makes products to help farmers improve soil health. The firm’s investment in Biodel AG was made with participation from Arizona Venture Development Corp., the Business Journal previously reported.
“Pangaea's experience in hard tech has enabled us to see around corners and think strategically about how we approach markets and business building questions," Erica Nemser, CEO of Ardent Process Technologies, said in a statement. "They get the challenges and nuances of what we do — in a world where we are trying to climb high mountains, it’s great to have true partners on the journey.”
Pangaea Ventures aims for more growth in Arizona
In addition to closing its fifth fund, Pangaea Ventures is expanding its global presence with the recent opening of an office in Tokyo, complementing the firm’s existing operations in Vancouver and Phoenix.
Founded in 2000, Pangaea Ventures has garnered a large network of limited partners worldwide. The firm relocated its New Jersey office to the Valley in 2019. Since then, the firm has expanded its Valley team with the addition of Tara Nietzold as an associate. Nietzold holds a doctoral degree in materials science from Arizona State University.
“We'll be looking to grow the team over time. We have a physical office here near 40th Street and Camelback,” Goulard said. “Every other year, we host our limited partner event here. We bring in 25 of our corporate (partners) to Arizona, show them some of the companies we invest in as well as the landscape of startups here.”
Pangaea Ventures sees a bright future for the Arizona tech ecosystem because of the amount of people helping to accelerate business and workforce growth, especially in the semiconductor industry, Goulard said.
“We're backing hard technologies that make an impact for planetary health and it's very important to us that we see this Arizona ecosystem grow with hard tech solutions as well, especially at the epicenter of semiconductors, where we are,” Goulard said.
