VC Spotlight: Third Sphere
Climate is not a vertical, it is the operating system of the new economy. Third Sphere funds the engineers who treat it that way, hardware first, data as gravity, software to scale. In a market that often rewards stories over physics, this team insists on techno-economic proof: faster, cheaper, better solutions that can compete in the real world. That is how climate companies graduate from decks to dominance.
The firm started in 2013 as Urban Us, reemerging in 2024 with a name that reflects its orbit. Co-Founders and Managing Partners Shaun Abrahamson and Stonly Baptiste set the thesis in motion. Partner Shilpi Kumar builds international scale. Chief Financial Officer Yana Klimova anchors financial oversight and governance. They helped launch URBAN-X from 2017 to 2021, incubating more than 50 startups, then expanded into a Slack community of 12,000 plus founders, investors, and operators where customers and capital meet in real time.
Third Sphere writes checks of $250K to $1M at pre-seed and seed, with up to $2M reserved for follow-ons. Roughly two thirds of its portfolio targets mitigation through electrification and decarbonization. The rest builds resilience and adaptation. Eighty percent of bets are hardware enabled, paired with AI or software that transforms devices into defensible data platforms. While the United States is the hub, the firm seeds companies in Switzerland, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, then hands them a playbook for scale.
Their approach is disciplined and transparent. The Sync platform tracks deal flow with precision. MATCHA and ALIGN automate investor matching and introductions. Shared deal memos set expectations with founders before a dollar moves. Techno-economic rigor overrides hype cycles every time.
The portfolio delivers proof. Bowery Farming scales controlled-environment agriculture by beating conventional costs. Cove Tool helps architects cut energy demand before concrete is poured. Third Sphere spotted resilience and adaptation before they became buzzwords and has introduced the next lead investor in half of portfolio rounds. Multiple exits to strategic and financial buyers confirm the model.
Selection is sharp: founders must have domain depth, technical conviction, and radical honesty about risk. After the check, support is hands-on, OKRs, investor updates, growth-profitability balance, and round-the-clock counsel during critical moments. Pro-founder terms apply: SAFEs pre-Series A, equity plus credit, and project finance options when capital stack decides speed.
Community amplifies it all. The Third Sphere Update has shipped weekly for more than 500 issues. Webinars, meetups, and Slack exchanges compound into opportunity flow. The firm backs underrepresented founders while growing an ecosystem designed to scale climate solutions faster than the crisis unfolds.
Portfolio companies are hiring now. Explore roles and partnerships on the Third Sphere portfolio page, link in comments.
Bowery Farming — https://boweryfarming.com/farm-careers
Cove Tool — https://cove.inc/careers cove.inc
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