Firemark Ventures, the VC arm of Australia’s IAG, has announced a joint venture with Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and Margalit Startup City (MSC) to discover and develop emerging technologies and startups to measure and mitigate risks resulting from the impacts of climate change.
JVP is an international venture capital firm that specialises in investing in startups, while MSC is an innovation centre that collaborates with investors, municipalities, universities, and others to change the future of cities. The joint venture, called the International ClimateTech Center, will be supported and funded by IAG Firemark Ventures.
Scot Gunther, General Partner at Firemark Ventures, said IAG sees first-hand the impact climate change is having on their customers, communities, businesses and the industry. “For this reason, IAG Firemark Ventures has ClimateTech as a key startup investment focus area for the future and why we have entered this important partnership. We look forward to working with the International ClimateTech Centre to help ClimateTech start-ups’ scale to help deliver on our climate and environmental goals.”
Erel Margalit, founder and chairman of JVP and MSC, said insurers have been searching for new technologies as the impacts of extreme weather events and climate change worsen. “As extreme weather conditions and climate change are increasingly impacting the livelihood of individuals worldwide, insurance companies are actively searching for new technologies, including AI predictions and analytics, with the aim of providing secure coverage for challenging climate conditions,” Maraglit said.
The venture capital fund is expected to focus on AI prediction and analytics technology as insurers attempt to map better climate risk where extreme weather events, like cyclones, floods and wildfires, become more frequent and lead to more property damage.
Gunther said talks about putting more resources towards climate-related investments started late last year after meeting the founder of JVP and Margalit, Erel Margalit, in Israel. “Without giving away too much, we are actively working on investment deals as we speak,” he said. “We have been in the preliminary steps of launching the program for the last six months, but for the last few weeks we have been focused on assessing and seeing the opportunities available here.”
The joint venture is expected to make its first investment this year, and it is hoped that the International ClimateTech Center will encourage collaboration with corporations, startups, and emerging businesses to help insurance companies achieve their global energy, environmental, and sustainability goals.
