Former Meta CTO Launches $250 Million Climate Investment Fund Amid Contrarian Market Trends.

Gigascale, the venture capital firm founded by former Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer, announced Monday that it has raised a new $250 million fund to support entrepreneurs focused on rebuilding what the firm calls the “physical economy.”

The latest fund will focus on sectors such as energy, grid infrastructure, and critical minerals, all within the broader climate technology landscape. By maintaining a strong climate-focused investment strategy, Gigascale is taking a path that contrasts with broader investor sentiment, which has become increasingly cautious about the climate-tech sector in recent years.

The new vehicle represents Gigascale’s second fund and largely continues the investment approach Schroepfer — widely known as “Schrep” — has pursued since launching the firm three years ago. During that period, Gigascale has invested in several prominent climate-tech companies, including Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Heron Power, Mill, and Form Energy.

The firm grew out of Schroepfer’s exploration of climate technology opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This latest fund is also notable as the company’s first early-stage fund backed by institutional investors.

Climate technology has always covered a broad range of industries, and Gigascale’s portfolio reflects that diversity. However, in recent years,  the sector has increasingly centred on energy production and infrastructure, a trend that has accelerated alongside growing demand for artificial intelligence technologies.

As a result, energy has become a major priority for the new fund. Rising electricity consumption is creating opportunities for companies developing both new power-generation technologies and improved methods for delivering energy to businesses and consumers.

Schroepfer highlighted solar power as a recent example of a clean-energy technology that has succeeded because it is both cost-effective and efficient, allowing it to gain market share rapidly.

While solar energy and battery storage dominate many discussions around clean power, Schroepfer believes additional opportunities are emerging across the sector. The rapid growth of AI, combined with broader electrification trends, has increased pressure on existing grid infrastructure and made it more difficult for businesses to secure power connections. As a result, many organisations are exploring self-generated power solutions. Even there, however, supply remains constrained. Demand for natural gas turbines, for example, has created waiting lists that stretch into the early 2030s.

That growing power shortage is creating opportunities for startups. Speaking on the Inevitable podcast last year, Schroepfer said that in energy-intensive industries, the ability to provide independent power sources could become a major competitive advantage. Companies capable of delivering electricity more cheaply, more flexibly, or both may gain a significant edge.

Gigascale’s investment strategy extends beyond power generation alone. The firm identified grid infrastructure, critical minerals, and physical AI systems as additional areas where it expects to find attractive opportunities.

“The companies we back win because they’re cheaper, faster, and more reliable,” Schroepfer said in a statement. “That’s how adoption scales. Climate impact is the result of better-performing systems.”

As investment trends continue to evolve, Gigascale is betting that businesses solving real-world infrastructure, energy, and industrial challenges will remain attractive opportunities, regardless of changing attitudes toward climate-tech investing.