Joshua Busamanter and Abe Yokel has spent the past seven years on the LP circuit, tirelessly promoting to LPs the financial and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) benefits of investing in climate technology.
“We’ve had hundreds — I don’t even want to say how many — but hundreds of conversations over the years,” said Yukl, managing partner at Identical projects” he told TechCrunch+. Some of those conversations ended with the limited partners investing in one of Congruent’s funds, but more often than not, they didn’t. “We’re used to being rejected. “This is part of our life.”
Well, the shoe is on the other foot now. When raising Congruent’s third round of funding, the hardest part wasn’t finding limited partners, but knowing who to turn down. The company originally hoped to raise $200 million, a small step compared to its second fund, which was valued at $175 million. Investors felt this was too modest, and instead offered $600 million, which was three times the subscription.
Congruent turned down $350 million of that amount, ultimately raising $250 million, TechCrunch+ exclusively reported in November. “This is the first time we’ve seen this complete abundance of interest,” Yukel said.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but the team felt they didn’t want to expand too quickly.