Convective Capital Raises $85M Fund to Fight Natural Disasters With Tech
As wildfires creep closer to communities across California and natural disasters grow more frequent worldwide, one venture firm is making a very deliberate bet that technology can fight back. Convective Capital, the early-stage fund led by Bill Clerico, has raised $85 million to back startups focused on disaster resilience more than doubling its first fund of $35 million raised in 2022.
While the first fund was mainly backed by wealthy individuals, including Clerico himself a co-founder of WePay who sold the startup to JPMorgan for $300 million in 2017 this latest Convective Capital disaster resilience fund is largely backed by institutions, including insurance companies and asset managers.
From Firetech to the Full Spectrum of Risk
Convective’s original mission centred on “firetech,” backing firms such as Pano, which builds AI-powered cameras to detect fires early; Raine, which develops autonomous aircraft to dump water on blazes; Burnbot, which creates robots for clearing brush; and Stand, an insurance startup helping homeowners harden their homes against flames.
The new fund signals a broader shift. Convective is now expanding its mandate to resilience across all physical-world risks, with Clerico pointing out that $60 trillion of real estate sits at high risk from disasters and the US spends a trillion dollars a year mitigating and recovering from them.
The first four investments from the new fund include The Lumber Manufactory, Drafted, Voltaire a Y Combinator-backed drone firm inspecting power lines and Edge Technologies, which builds insurance products to hedge volatile commodity prices.
Clerico also noted that AI’s rapid data centre buildout is straining energy and water systems, creating additional market demand for exactly the kind of solutions his portfolio companies provide.
