Elemental Impact

Investment decisions are led by Managing Director Mitch Rubin, who oversees the portfolio and investments team, alongside Founder and CEO Dawn Lippert. The senior investment group includes Gabriel Scheer, Senior Director of Investments & Innovation, and Sabin Ray, Director of Investments & Innovation, supported by a cadre of senior investment managers.

Elemental runs an open application process through its website and cultivates partnerships with local entities — schools, farmers, homeowners, government agencies, and workforce providers — to identify entrepreneurs. Its four-pronged approach embeds deal sourcing in community relationships, while its investor-mobilization network surfaces later-stage referrals from co-investors and project funders.

Elemental is a 501(c)3 nonprofit investor, not a traditional venture capital firm. It deploys catalytic capital — flexible, often sub-market funding designed to de-risk early commercial projects. It also launched Earthshot Ventures, a $94M venture fund, in 2021 to pursue market-rate returns within the same climate-technology domain.

Elemental provides flexible funding that can include equity, but the specific instrument depends on the investee's stage and capital stack. The model emphasizes filling gaps that would otherwise stall first-of-a-kind projects, paired with project expertise and connections to follow-on funders. Public filings do not specify a standardized equity-grant mix.

Elemental invests across energy, industry, food and agriculture, nature, water, and transportation. Its portfolio includes geothermal (Fervo Energy), critical-minerals recycling (Nth Cycle), AI-powered recycling (Glacier), and carbon removal with freshwater production (Capture6). It recently expanded into data center infrastructure through an initiative with major hyperscalers.

Earthshot Ventures is a $94M venture fund launched by Elemental Impact in 2021. It operates as a for-profit vehicle designed to deliver market-leading returns while making a significant climate impact, while the nonprofit Elemental platform continues to provide catalytic capital and project support. The two entities share thematic focus but deploy capital on different return profiles.

Yes, Elemental Impact is organized as a 501(c)3 nonprofit supported by more than 40 philanthropic and government funders. Donations support its operations and catalytic capital deployments. Earthshot Ventures sits outside the nonprofit structure, allowing donors and limited partners to participate according to their respective return and impact mandates.