We've funded 180+ companies. Yours could be next.

The common thread isn't a sector, it's impact. We invest in companies that will have a significant positive impact on the environment, and that mandate is broader than most people expect.

Our portfolio spans clean energy generation and storage, the grid, transportation and mobility, the built environment, regenerative agriculture and food systems, water, ocean health, carbon, critical minerals, nuclear, and the industrial systems behind them. Treat that list as a sampling, not a boundary.

If your company's success would help build a thriving planet and you're early enough for angel capital to matter, you're in scope. When in doubt, apply; we'd rather see your company than have you rule yourself out.

Early stage: Pre-seed through Series A, with Seed as our sweet spot.

We invest early on purpose. The first checks are the hardest ones to raise: the technology is young, the story is still taking shape, and most institutional capital is waiting for proof. That's when backing matters most, and it's the stage we've spent twenty years working in.

An early yes does more than fund the next milestone. It's often what gives other investors the confidence to come in, and what turns a promising idea into a company.

Start with the online application. We've kept it simple on purpose: if you already have a pitch deck, most founders finish in under an hour, and we review it within a few weeks.

From there, our screening committee selects 3 companies to pitch to the full group. We hold eight meetings a year, and upwards of 60 members join on Zoom to listen. The format is simple: a 10-minute pitch and 10 minutes of Q&A, after which the group discusses and decides whether to continue into diligence.

We know you're busy building a company, so we've designed the process to take as little of your time as possible. We're here to find great companies, not to make you jump through hoops.

Not before you apply. We don't set up individual meetings with entrepreneurs until an application has been submitted and made it through an initial screening round. We receive far more applications than capacity to meet with each entrepreneur, so the application is where every E8 conversation starts.

Entrepreneurs sometimes tell us their company is easier to explain in person, and we understand the instinct. The answer is to make your application carry that conversation. Everything you'd want to explain in a meeting (the insight behind the product, the traction that doesn't fit neatly on a slide, why your team is the one to build this) belongs in your pitch deck or the supporting application fields. A complete application is what lets the screening team decide whether it makes sense to dig in.

Once you're through screening, the conversations begin: the pitch meeting, member Q&A, and a diligence process that works as a dialogue, not an audit. We work this way so we can give every application a fair read and give the companies we advance our real attention.

It varies. Checks can arrive in as little as 4-6 weeks after you pitch, and the honest answer is that it depends: on the time of year, on how well your data room is put together, and on how quickly conversations move.

What we can promise is that we won't drag it out. We want to either fund you so you can get to work, or give you a clear answer so you can go build without waiting on us.

We typically invest between $200K and $500K in a company. Investments are made by individual members, each deciding on their own, so the total reflects how many members believe in what you're building.

The Annual Fund can add to that: at the end of diligence, fund members vote on whether to invest alongside individual checks.

No, we do not charge companies fees at any stage of the process.

Over four to six weeks, a team of members digs into your company with you: product and competition, customers and go-to-market, team, finances and funding, and impact on the planet.

Some of that means conversations beyond the deck: with your customers, your partners, other investors who know the space, and investors who have backed you before. All of it happens in coordination with you. We never call anyone without your permission, and we understand how valuable those relationships are.

There's a rich dialogue throughout, because diligence isn't a box-checking exercise for us. It's where the relationship gets built. If we're going to be your investors, we're joining you in the pursuit, and this is how we get to know each other.

We hope you get real value out of applying either way. You'll have access to our screening and diligence teams' notes: how a group of experienced investors saw your product, your market, and your plan.

Entrepreneurs often use that feedback to sharpen the business and come back to us later with a different answer waiting, or to close their round with someone else. Entrepreneurs who are too early for us today are often the ones we back a few years from now.

We've been at this since 2006: twenty years, 180+ companies, over $75M deployed into the industries building a thriving planet.

Behind those numbers is a community of 180+ members: investors, scientists, engineers, and people who have built and backed companies in the sectors we fund. When you pitch E8, the questions come from people who know your terrain.

And we try to be good investors in the plainest sense. We fund companies, we make introductions, and we support entrepreneurs as they build: connecting you with customers, partners, and other funders, including the later-stage investors many of our companies raise from next.