General Atlantic raises $3.5B for climate fund

Private equity firm General Atlantic has raised $3.5 billion for a venture fund that will invest in growth-stage climate-tech companies.

Why it matters: The fund, known as BeyondNetZero, plans to target $100 million to $150 million investments across the space.

What's happening: The GA fund has so far invested $826 million into five companies:

• 80 Acres Farms, a vertical farming company; RoadRunner Recycling, a commercial recycling provider; O9 Solutions, a supply chain data provider; Sun King, a solar products supplier; and EcoVadis, a sustainability ratings provider that went unicorn this spring.

Context: $3.5 billion is a significant raise. But it's not the biggest.

• TPG, based in Fort Worth, Texas, raised $7.3 billion for its Rise Climate Fund.
• Brookfield Asset Management, based in Toronto, raised $15 billion for its Brookfield Global Transition Fund.

What they're saying: "This is growth equity, not venture capital. These are proven businesses that are not dependent on public subsidies or regulatory assistance," Graves Tompkins, global head of capital partnering at General Atlantic, tells Axios.

• "It does speak to how this is more a secular opportunity, not a cyclical one."

What's next: Down markets are prime time for acquisitions. We'll be watching General Atlantic's moves.

Separately: Axios' Megan Hernbroth interviewed BeyondNetZero CEO Lance Uggla this spring.