Accelerating Industrial Transitions to Scale
We support founders who are sustainably transforming the way we produce to meet the demands of tomorrow
TRANSITIONS First is
An International Seed-Stage Venture Fund based in the leading Innovation-Rich Clusters of Silicon Valley, Europe & Israel.
Bridging Deep Tech Founders and Corporates to Accelerate Sustainable Industrial Transitions.
Founded by a diverse team of Entrepreneurial Executives and Scientists with over a decade of experience with venture-backed startups.
Focused on Untapped Sectors
Over the past decade, the world has become more polarized. As we focus on sovereignty and drive towards a net-zero economy, sustainably manufacturing tomorrow's products will be crucial.
Despite significant venture funding in climate tech, vital sectors of Industry and Food — responsible for ~56% of Green House Gas emissions — receive only 21% of funding. We're here to address this $3T opportunity head-on.
01 NET-ZERO COMPLIANT SUPPLY CHAINS
We are undergoing a global supply chain reconstruction to meet net-zero requirements. Technologies that enable localized and modular industrial production processes will be necessary.
02 SUSTAINABLE PETROCHEMICAL ALTERNATIVES
The world is transitioning away from petrochemical feedstocks. Advances in bio-manufacturing and synthetic biology are reaching a maturity where scalable and predictable carbon-neutral or carbon-negative production can be achieved.
03 CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Natural resources are increasingly scarce. Novel technologies to create value from waste streams will be needed across all areas of industrial production ranging from chemicals to construction and food.
Portfolio
Our Founders are scientists and engineers from the top research institutions in the world. Driven but down-to-earth, they address the world’s most pressing challenges pragmatically.
Our Approach
Curated Innovation Ecosystems
As a spin-out from UC Berkeley, we work closely with a curated set of long-term relationships with founders, incubators and venture firms within our core innovations ecosystems.
More than 90% of investments are referred through our 150+ founders and advisors.
Targeted Due Diligence
Our selection criteria focuses on:
- Breakthrough Enabling Technologies
- Clear pathway to cost-parity
- Non-disruptive implementation
- Impact potential
- Coachable founders
Bespoke Support
We work with founders to identify clear product-market-fit and accelerate growth via commercialization instead of venture dollars. Leveraging our team’s experience in industrial finance and >40 M&A deals, we guide founders through early partnership opportunities.
Each investment is a commitment to support the founders and mentor them to become successful professionals.
Our DNA
We don't aim to disrupt. We're trying to help sustain it.
60+
Advised or Launched
$1B+
Invested
2
90%
Our Team
We are a diverse investment team with decades of experience in industry finance and technology management plugged into the leading deep tech innovation ecosystems
