E8 Angels Launches 2025 Fund For Climate AI Startups

E8 Angels, a nonprofit association of qualified investors dedicated to accelerating cleantech innovation, launched its 2025 Decarbon8-US Philanthropic Fund Request for Applications (RFA). This year's RFA focuses on software and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions with significant contributions to climate action and decarbonization.

With the climate crisis gaining growing urgency, the fund aims to spur early-stage ventures that have scalable and capital-efficient technological solutions. Decarbon8-US is a philanthropic investment program overseen by Realize Impact and is specifically interested in funding climate and technology intersecting startups. The program does not only invest capital but also strategic mentorship and far-reaching visibility into emerging climate-tech innovators. This year's application period is open and will be accepted until June 20, 2025.

Karin Kidder, E8 Executive Director, highlighted the promise of digital technologies to drive solutions to environmental issues. "Software and AI are great instruments to solve the climate crisis, providing scalable, capital-light opportunities to make a difference," she stated. "With Decarbon8-US, we are eager to find and support innovators who are working towards a sustainable, decarbonized future."

Since its founding, Decarbon8-US has made itself a driver of clean innovation. Past awardees have been granted an average of $300,000, comprising direct investment from the Decarbon8-US fund and co-investments from individual E8 members. In addition to capital, chosen startups enjoy mentorship, follow-on investment opportunity, and promotional assistance in E8's strong investor and partner network.

The fund aims at firms operating in the pre-seed to Series A growth stages. Eligible applicants should be developing software or AI solutions that drive decarbonization and climate innovation. The firms should be either generating revenue in 2025 or having signed Letters of Intent (LOIs) that reflect revenue on the horizon within the year. In addition, they must have ongoing investment rounds — equity, convertible notes, or debt — that will be open for investment from September to November 2025. Only U.S. or Canadian for-profit companies are eligible to apply.

The emphasis is wide but focused, inviting broad solutions across opportunities in energy system optimization, infrastructure efficiency, resource management, transport innovation, materials science, and climate-oriented finance technologies. They are all the critical leverage points for a shift to a net-zero economy, where data and digitization have the potential to deliver quantifiable emissions reductions.

Finalist firms will get to pitch directly to E8's screening committee and investor base over the summer. These pitch sessions are not just investment decision platforms but also great networking opportunities. Investment decisions and co-investment allocations will be made in early September, giving firms timely capital to keep scaling their climate solutions.

E8's sustainable innovation commitment is supported by a robust coalition of partners and stakeholders from throughout the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Among them are Microsoft, the University of Washington, Washington State University, K&L Gates, CleanTech Alliance, JP Morgan Chase, VertueLab, and the Stolte Family Foundation. Each has joined out of a collective recognition of the need for urgent action on climate through technology and the value of early-stage financing in developing transformative concepts.

Decarbon8-US is governed by Realize Impact, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on philanthropic impact investing. Both mission-driven investment and financial returns are possible in this structure, making for an innovative model whereby charitable capital is used to scale market-based solutions to environmental challenges.

As the deadline for submissions draws near, E8 invites startups throughout the U.S. and Canada who have a climate-centric digital product or service to take advantage of this opportunity. By bridging innovation and earth stewardship, the Decarbon8-US Fund seeks to foster a new generation of entrepreneurs who will leave a quantifiable mark on the future of the planet.

Those who are interested can download the complete Request for Applications and apply by the deadline of June 20, 2025.