Superorganism closes $25.9M fund for biodiversity startups

Superorganism, which launched in 2023, has closed its first fund with $25.9 million in capital commitments, surpassing its $25 million target. The firm claims to be the first venture capital firm focused on biodiversity, aiming to serve as a conservationist on the cap table—the list of equity owners—for startups. The fund secured capital from investors including the Cisco Foundation, AMB Holdings, and Builders Vision, alongside individual investors such as Jeff Jordan, a partner at the firm Andreessen Horowitz. Webb and co-founder Tom Quigley began working on the firm in 2022.

The firm writes checks of $250,000 to $500,000 for pre-seed and seed-stage companies. It also donates 10% of its profits to future conservationist efforts. Superorganism backs companies across three categories:

• Technology that slows or reverses extinction.
• Startups operating at the intersection of climate and biodiversity.
• Tools that enable conservationists to do their work more effectively.

To date, the firm has invested in 20 companies and plans for a portfolio size of about 35 companies for this fund. Its current portfolio includes Spoor, which uses computer vision for bird migration tracking, and Inversa, which turns invasive species into leather goods.

Managing directors Kevin Webb and Tom Quigley view the fund as a counterpart to climate investing. “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,” Webb said.

Quigley noted that some potential LPs—the Limited Partners who invest in venture funds—needed guidance to understand how biodiversity differs from climate tech. According to Quigley, this distinction becomes clearer through the firm’s portfolio, which spans different categories to attract different types of follow-on investors and customers. The founders emphasize that building a diverse portfolio across different industries and technologies helps insulate the fund from shifting U.S. government policies and industry-specific headwinds. Quigley explained that this approach allows the firm to showcase what the best biodiversity companies look like across all industries and technology types, creating a stable portfolio that is less affected by headwinds in different industries.

Why it matters

Superorganism is attempting to formalize biodiversity as a distinct venture asset class, moving beyond traditional climate tech by focusing specifically on nature loss and conservation tools.