Zerodha's VC arm bucks the climate-tech funding slack

Rainmatter’s stance comes when many Indian VC funds have grown cautious on climate tech

- Rwit Ghosh & Salman S.H.

Since 2016, Rainmatter has made 43 climate-tech investments.

(ISTOCKPHOTO)

Rainmatter Capital, the venture investing arm ofbroker-age platform Zerodha, is doubling down on climate technology even as many Indian venture capital funds have slowed their investment in the sector.

“All the climate tech bets we're backing, we have a 10-15 year lens on them. That's why we're not worried about the short term,” Dinesh Pai, who leads Rainmatter's venture investments, said in an interview.

Since it began investing in 2016, Rainmatter has made 43 climate-tech investments, investing a total of ₹350 crore. Rainmatter Foundation, which was set up in 2020 works as a different, nonprofit entity which provides climate-related grants.

While the firm's initial focus was on fintech, in the early 2020s, it ramped up investments to include industries like health and wellness as well as climate. Rainmatter's stance comes at a time when many Indian venture capital funds have grown cautious on climate-tech, a sector that, despite early optimism, has struggled to deliver healthy exits or meaningful scale.