Leonardo DiCaprio-backed fund Regeneration.VC has taken over Sky Ocean Ventures' climate portfolio

• Regeneration.VC is taking over the management of Sky Ocean Ventures' climate portfolio.
• The US-headquartered fund now counts nearly 50 companies in its global portfolio.
• Regeneration.VC is also expanding in Europe amid US policy shifts, adding a new partner.

Climate tech fund Regeneration.VC, which is backed by Leonardo DiCaprio as a limited partner, has taken over the management of Sky Ocean Ventures' climate portfolio.

Launched in 2022, Regeneration.VC bills itself as a consumer climate fund backing companies that are making industries such as food, apparel, and electronics more sustainable, partner Jamie Rowles told Business Insider in an interview.

Its portfolio includes the likes of recycling startup Greyparrot and textile dyeing company Colorifix.

Sky Ocean Ventures, the impact investing arm of British telecoms company Sky, had backed early-stage climate and cleantech startups working on everything from recycling technology to combatting the plastic pollution crisis. Regeneration.VC will take over the management of these companies, but Sky will still retain a financial stake in them.

Regeneration.VC now counts nearly 50 companies in its global portfolio.

"We are backing these consumer companies because those categories of climate have received less funding than energy and mobility," said Rowles. "And we're seeing a really exciting trend of some of the world's biggest corporates wanting to make changes in their value chains and their supply chains."

Trump 2.0 is spurring climate funds to invest in Europe

Along with the expansion of its portfolio, Regeneration.VC is adding a new partner to its European office. Narina Mnatsakanian, who was UBS' former head of impact investment, will also be the fund's new chief impact officer. In 2023, Regeneration's founding partner, Michael Smith, moved to the Netherlands.

Rowles also joined the firm in November 2024 in a bid to double down on its presence in the UK, and raise capital from limited partners for its second $150 million fund.

Europe is fast becoming an attractive hotspot for climate VCs amid a change in the US administration. Trump has been vocal in his support for oil and gas initiatives and has threatened to push back on the Inflation Reduction Act, which facilitated investment in clean energy. A potential shift in climate policy has encouraged some climate tech investors to look to Europe for more investment opportunities, Rowles said.

In the past year, US-based climate tech funds such as Voyager Ventures and Energy Impact Partners have also grown their European footprint with new appointments on the continent.

"The concept of sustainable and impact investment will have better tailwinds in Europe for the next few years," Rowles told BI. "Can sustainable investing survive Trump 2.0? For us, it's strategic to have a European presence, even though the DNA of the firm is the US. We have to be aligned with EU systems."

Regeneration.VC will still be investing in the US because of its "great pools of capital and risk appetite," — but Rowles emphasized that being aligned with the European Union on climate was a huge priority for the fund.

"We will see more climate tech funds with more of a presence in Europe," he said. "The reality is, you need to be in both markets to do the type of work we're doing. But in Europe, there's better regulation and better mechanisms to avoid greenwashing," he added.