Why Toniic members invested in Bay Bridge Ventures

Climate Technology at a Turning Point

The global transition to a low-carbon economy is increasingly framed not only as an environmental imperative, but also as one of the largest economic transformations of the coming decades.

According to Boston Consulting Group, achieving net-zero emissions could require roughly $120 trillion in global investment. At the same time, climate impacts are already becoming visible in economic terms. The number of billion-dollar climate disasters has increased sharply over the past two decades, while global energy demand is expected to rise significantly by 2050 as electrification expands and artificial intelligence drives new demand for data centers and digital infrastructure.

These forces are creating growing demand for technologies that reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency, and enable the transition to cleaner energy systems.

Although capital flowing into climate technology has increased significantly in recent years, many startups still face challenges accessing early-stage venture funding once they begin commercializing their products. Bay Bridge Ventures was created to focus on this stage of company development.

Bay Bridge Ventures: A Venture Strategy Focused on Climate Solutions

Bay Bridge Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in climate technology companies. The firm was founded in 2022 by Joe Blair, Kim Kolt, and Andrew Karsh, whose backgrounds span engineering, venture capital, and institutional asset management.

Before launching Bay Bridge Ventures, the partners built experience investing in and supporting climate-focused startups through roles at firms including Obvious Ventures, Cota Capital, and For Good Ventures, as well as through institutional investment roles. Across their careers, the partners have participated in dozens of climate-related investments, including several companies that later achieved large exits or billion-dollar valuations. In fact, a comprehensive analysis of their track record places their historical performance in the top decile of venture funds globally.

A distinctive aspect of the firm’s approach is its deep integration within the broader climate venture ecosystem. In addition to making direct investments, the partners are limited partners in more than twenty climate-focused venture funds. These relationships provide visibility into emerging trends across the climate venture ecosystem and help generate referrals, co-investment opportunities, and early access to new companies. These LP positions provide the team with visibility into emerging trends, relationships with other climate investors, and access to a broad network of founders and deal flow.

The firm’s investment thesis is that many climate solutions will be driven by companies that combine commercially viable technologies with strong economic incentives for customers.

Rather than focusing narrowly on one sector, Bay Bridge Ventures evaluates opportunities across a wide range of climate-related industries, including:

• Energy systems
• Sustainable supply chains
• Advanced mobility
• Carbon mitigation
• Built environment technologies
• Food, water, and agriculture
• Climate finance and insurance

Within these sectors, the firm prioritizes B2B companies that already demonstrate early commercial traction, typically with at least $1 million in revenue or contracted demand.

The team also focuses on companies built on proven technologies rather than untested scientific breakthroughs, reducing technical risk while allowing startups to scale more quickly. Many combine existing innovations — such as sensors, artificial intelligence, advanced materials, robotics, and electrification technologies — into products and services that help businesses reduce costs, improve efficiency, and lower emissions.

The fund typically invests from Seed through Series A and aims to build a portfolio of approximately 20 to 25 companies. The firm also regularly offers co-investment opportunities to its LP base through SPVs in its top-performing portfolio companies.

Beyond capital, Bay Bridge Ventures positions itself as an active partner to founders. The team leverages relationships across venture funds, universities, accelerators, and climate organizations to help portfolio companies secure customers, partnerships, and follow-on investors.

The Bay Bridge Ventures Climate Fund portfolio has already achieved 6 priced-round markups, with a MOIC ranking in the top decile among funds of the same vintage.

Portfolio Examples

The fund’s early investments illustrate the types of companies the team seeks to support.

Exowatt

Exowatt is a renewable energy company that develops modular energy systems designed to deliver reliable, low-cost, carbon-free power for energy-intensive applications like data centers. Its core technology captures solar energy, stores it as heat in long-duration thermal batteries, and converts it into electricity on demand, enabling 24/7 “dispatchable” renewable power. The company is focused on solving the rapidly growing energy demands of AI infrastructure by providing scalable, always-available clean power solutions, and already has $28+ Billion of backlog from the world’s largest hyperscalers and data center developers. Co-investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Sam Altman from Open AI. This investment already has 3 markups with another one expected shortly.

Sunstone Credit

Sunstone Credit focuses on financing solar installations for small and medium-sized businesses. While large-scale solar projects have expanded rapidly, access to financing remains a major barrier for smaller commercial installations. Sunstone aims to unlock this segment by offering financing products designed specifically for SMB customers, helping businesses adopt solar energy, energy storage, and other energy efficient products, while simultaneously lowering upfront costs. This investment already has 2 markups with another one expected shortly.

Solarcore

Solarcore develops advanced insulation materials derived from aerogel technology originally created for aerospace applications. These materials can dramatically reduce heat transfer while remaining thin and lightweight. Applications range from building insulation and electric vehicles to outdoor gear and technical apparel, where thermal efficiency and energy savings are increasingly valuable. Co-investors include Airbus Ventures, In-Q-Tel, and Jeff Jordan (retired a16z partner). This investment already has a markup, and the company continues to outperform its revenue goals.

Across these investments, the common thread is a focus on companies that combine strong unit economics with technologies capable of reducing emissions across large industrial sectors.

Bay Bridge Ventures and Toniic

Bay Bridge Ventures was recently introduced to Toniic members through the network’s investment programming.

At least four Toniic members have invested in Bay Bridge Ventures.

Toniic member David Broz shared:

I’ve been investing in emerging managers for a number of years, and Bay Bridge Ventures has been one of the firms that has stood out to me, especially given the volatility in the venture market. When I first met Joe, I was struck by both his optimism and his disciplined approach to climate investing.

In climate tech, there are many moonshot ideas and early-stage laboratory projects. What differentiates Bay Bridge is the bar they set for investment. They focus on companies that are already scaling and have demonstrated real traction, which puts them in a strong position to invest in businesses that are both de-risked and highly scalable.

I was also impressed by how the team works together. When they came to visit me in Santa Cruz, it was clear that they collaborate closely and each partner brings distinct strengths to the table. That dynamic reflects their long experience in climate venture investing and their ability to execute on a clear strategy.

Climate will be one of the defining industries of the future, and I believe the companies emerging in this sector will produce many of the next generation of successful venture-backed businesses. I’m excited to be part of Bay Bridge Ventures as an LP.

FJ Selosse also shared:

I’ve been investing for about 17 years, with the last seven focused primarily on climate-related opportunities. I first got to know Bay Bridge Ventures through Toniic and became an LP last year. Over time, I became more involved and now also work with the team as a venture partner.

What initially attracted me was the strength of the team and their solid track record, but also the level of transparency in their investment process. The documentation around their previous deals and the attribution letters clearly show the role they played in those investments, which is something you rarely see with emerging managers.

The partners also bring highly complementary backgrounds: Joe is trained as an engineer and a longtime climate venture capital investor, while Kim is a former investment banker who brings tremendous climate investment experience from her time at For Good Ventures. Those different perspectives show up in their investment process and lead to thoughtful decision-making. Having participated in a few investment committee meetings, I particularly appreciated the openness in which participants can share differing opinions and the productive conversations that follow.

I’ve also been impressed by the quality of their deal flow. Because the partners are LPs in many other climate funds and maintain strong relationships across the ecosystem, they receive referrals and opportunities that are difficult for most funds to access.

What ultimately convinced me to invest is that they combine a strong commitment to climate impact with a clear focus on building scalable and profitable companies. In my view, with Bay Bridge you don’t have to compromise between impact and returns.

About Toniic:

Toniic is a global community of private asset owners seeking to steward wealth and use influence to enable a thriving world. Our members — more than 500 high net-wealth individuals, family offices and foundations from more than 25 countries — are active impact investors and philanthropists, for whom Toniic provides education, investment opportunities, impact support, events, and community. Toniic also seeks to build the field of deep impact investing, moving money and mindsets and leading by example.

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