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BUILDING TOWARDS A THRIVING PLANET

The 2026 Decarbon8-US Fund is focused on Climate Resilience: Grid, Water, & Food. Climate change is already reshaping where and how people can live, grow food, and access basic resources. As extreme heat, drought, flooding, and storms intensify, protecting access to energy, water, and food is becoming as essential to climate action as reducing emissions.

If you’re one of the 2 - 4 selected companies, you have the opportunity to receive:

  • Investment capital of ~$300k in combined funding from Decarbon8-US Fund, E8 Annual Fund, and direct investment by E8 members (Decarbon8-US shows up on your cap table as a single SPV investor to keep it clean).

  • Potential investment in future rounds by E8 investors.

  • Expert engagement and support from E8's expertise and networks.

  • Visibility and advocacy through E8’s member network, events, and media coverage.

Investment 
Details

Eligible companies must:

  • Demonstrate that your technology solves a hard problem that focuses on climate resilience in grid, water, or food in a meaningful way.

  • Have plans based on well-validated assumptions for scaling product and customer pipeline.

  • Have a clear path to building a durable competitive advantage (IP, trade-secrets, or other execution advantages that compound over time, etc.).

  • Have a leadership team that has the right domain / entrepreneurial experience, tenacity, and self-awareness to build a venture-scale business.

  • Be in Pre-seed to Series A stages of growth financing.

  • Have a funding round (SAFE/priced equity, note) that will accept investments at least through mid October 2026.

  • Incorporated in Canada or the USA (C-, B-corp, not an LLC).

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If you’re a former Decarbon8-US applicant or E8 portfolio company, we encourage you to apply. Our Decarbon8 Screening Committee and expert judges will evaluate your application, specializing in cleantech investing and climate resilience. The criteria used includes climate resilience and impact, problem/solution fit, including competitive advantage, team, traction and go-to-market plan, investment terms and likelihood of returns.

Criteria

TIMELINE

May 1, 2026

Applications open.

June 18, 2026

Applications closes.

Late June

Screening committee selects 12-16 companies for pitch round.

Early July

Companies present to the Screening Committee;

6-8 semi-finalists are selected.

Mid-July

Semi-finalists undergo deeper evaluation;

3-5 finalists are selected.

August

Due Diligence with finalists.

Early September

2-4 companies are selected for investment by Decarbon8-US Fund.

September 17, 2026

Selected companies pitch at the Annual Meeting in Seattle to the full E8 membership for additional co-investment by E8 members.

Late September / Early October

E8 Annual Fund votes to invest in selected companies.

Background

Decarbon8-US is an impact fund administered by 501(c)(3) Realize Impact that invests donations and grants into early-stage climate companies through equity and debt. Founded by E8 in 2020, the fund has deployed $10.4M in combined philanthropic and personal co-investment. Investors lead screening and diligence alongside sector experts to identify high-potential companies at early stages. Selected companies receive investment from Decarbon8-US and the opportunity to pitch E8's member community for additional capital, including through the E8 Annual Fund.

E8 is a membership community of impact investors dedicated to funding high-impact cleantech startups. Founded in 2006, E8 has facilitated over $75M in investments in 180+ cleantech companies. We’ve built an organization where investors learn, connect, and invest in early-stage companies that advance the sustainability and health of our planet.

LEARN MORE

For more information, please contact us at info@e8angels.com.  

 

Companies that apply to Decarbon8-US may also still be considered for E8's standard funding process, which runs from September to May.

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