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The Venture Codex

Third Derivative

2490 JCT Pl 200, Boulder, CO, 80301, United States

Overview

Third Derivative finds, funds, hones, and scale technologies that achieve larger, faster reductions in global carbon emissions. It is a partnership of the Rocky Mountain Institute and New Energy Nexus, which aims to commercialize and scale climate solutions more quickly by providing startups tackling hard climate challenges with access to funding, corporate partners, and policymakers. Third Derivative was founded in 2020.

Total investments
7
Lead investments
0
Investments · 12mo
0
Active investors
5

Sector focus

  • Energy
  • Non Profit
  • Renewable Energy
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Investment portfolio

  • Capture6

    Participated · Series A · Mar 2025

    Capture6 develops integrated carbon dioxide removal and brine-to-freshwater recovery technology that captures atmospheric CO2 emissions, converts brine waste into usable freshwater, and produces green chemicals. Its Monarch project, currently in demonstration in Palmdale, California in partnership with the Palmdale Water District, is designed to process brine from a 0.68 MGD purification plant. Once scaled in Phase 2, Monarch is expected to remove about 25,000 tons of CO2 per year and recover roughly 400,000 m³ of freshwater annually, while lowering regional brine disposal costs by up to 40%. The company has secured project-level, non-recourse financing to advance Phase 2 and previously raised $27.5 million in earlier funding. Beyond Monarch, Capture6 is pursuing a global pipeline of projects including sites in Western Australia, South Korea, the U.S. Midwest, and the United Arab Emirates. The company positions its offerings to address both climate targets and regional water stress through commercial deployments.

  • Blitz Electric Mobility

    Participated · Seed · Mar 2024

    Blitz Electric Mobility is an Indonesia-based electric vehicle logistics enabler that offers B2B same-day and instant delivery, integrated white-label logistics, and delivery management under clients’ brands. Its asset-light, tech-first model leverages a growing pool of thousands of gig couriers and embedded EV financing for drivers to scale delivery without clients owning fleet assets. The company has completed over 14 million deliveries, deployed more than 1,000 EV bikes, and logged 220 million electric kilometers. In 2024 Blitz tripled its revenue while cutting its burn rate by over 70 percent, achieving substantial profitability improvements and optimizing operational costs. Blitz has integrated its EV fleet with Grab’s platform and was selected for NVIDIA’s Inception program for AI tools in routing and driver analytics. The firm plans disciplined expansion to 30 cities across Indonesia, focusing on efficiency, quality clients, scalable operations, and stronger unit economics as it moves toward profitability. Blitz provides a white‑label logistics platform that combines AI-powered driver management, operations, and EV fleets for enterprise clients. Its core product is an asset-light, driver-optimisation last-mile delivery stack that guarantees 99%+ delivery SLA completion, up to 16% shorter delivery times, and 33% higher income for couriers versus traditional gig work. Blitz operates nationally in 20 Indonesian cities, serves 30+ enterprise clients across eight industry segments, and has completed 6 million green deliveries to date while cutting more than 10 million kilograms of CO2 emissions. The company reports 27x year-on-year revenue growth and has raised a total of $2.6M to date. Blitz plans to expand to 40 Indonesian cities, target 2 million green deliveries per month, pursue Southeast Asia expansion, and develop capabilities to trade certified carbon credits locally and internationally.

  • Mootral

    Participated · Seed · Dec 2023

    Mootral develops feed additives (branded Enterix and a Ruminant supplement) manufactured in Wales that aim to lower methane emissions from dairy and beef cattle. The company says trials on commercial farms and academic publications show its current supplement can reduce methane by up to 38%, and it claims up to 50% reductions by 2025. Mootral plans to scale to feeding 300 million cows by 2033 and is developing a next-generation product it says could achieve even higher reductions at milligram doses, potentially approaching 90%. It runs a "CowCredits" scheme to enable farmers to monetize methane reductions via carbon-credit markets, with ClimatePartner signed up as a portfolio option. The company is led by founder and CEO Thomas Hafner. To date Mootral has raised $48.9 million across multiple financings.

  • Kazam

    Participated · Equity · May 2023

    Kazam is a Bengaluru-headquartered startup that builds EV charging hardware and software, with a focus on two- and three-wheeler fleets and white-labeled chargers. It conducts in-house R&D and PCB design while outsourcing hardware manufacturing to limit capex, and provides a dashboard for telemetrics, connectivity and payments. Kazam reports more than 25,000 charge points, powering 15 million kilometers per month and 2.5 million charging sessions annually, and claims a 75–80% share of India’s three-wheeler charging market and about 40% of the two-wheeler charging space. The company employs around 160 people, has offices in Delhi and Pune and city managers covering 4,000 postal codes, and serves OEMs, oil and gas companies, fleet operators and e-commerce platforms. Kazam recorded $3.2M ARR in July and projects $4.5–5M ARR by year-end, and aims to become EBITDA-positive soon. It plans to expand into Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia using existing customers (with support from Petronas), deepen its Indian footprint, build fast chargers for two- and three-wheelers, and hire product and development staff. Kazam offers an agnostic EV charging software platform for charge-point operators, fleets, OEMs, RWAs and energy companies, managing hardware and electricity flows. The company currently manages over 7,000 charging points on its platform and handles about 150,000 kWh of electricity per month. Kazam enables more than 60 charge-point operators across India and has partnerships with large e-commerce firms, 2‑wheeler OEMs and third‑party logistics companies. It also has partnerships with two U.S. charge-point operators that together manage roughly 3,000 vehicles. The startup plans to integrate 60,000 charging and swapping stations with its operating system within the next 14–15 months and to expand into international markets such as the United States. Founded in 2021 by Akshay Shekhar and Vaibhav Tyagi, the company positions itself to build a large, software-driven EV charging network in India and beyond.

  • BasiGo

    Participated · Seed · Feb 2022

    BasiGo supplies state-of-the-art electric buses to public transport operators in Kenya and Rwanda and couples the vehicles with charging, maintenance, and a Pay-As-You-Drive battery financing model that separates battery costs from vehicle ownership. The company already has 100 electric buses on the road across the two countries and operates the associated charging infrastructure. By assembling the buses locally, BasiGo aims to keep costs low while creating local jobs. Management plans to scale local assembly, widen its charging network, and grow the fleet to 1,000 buses as it enters additional African cities. The model is positioned to deliver lower operating costs for bus owners, reduced CO₂ emissions, and an improved passenger experience. BasiGo raised a US$41.5 million Series A in late 2023 and has now attracted additional capital from Proparco to fund its next growth phase.

Team

  • Bryan Hassin

    Cofounder & CEO

    LinkedIn
  • Josh Agenbroad

    Co-Founder & Industry Sector Lead

    LinkedIn
  • Elaine Hsieh

    Co-Founder & Head of Corporate Partnerships & Marketing

    LinkedIn
  • Jon Creyts

    Co-Founder

    LinkedIn