🧩 The Bulletin #70: Aligned Climate Capital Raises $85M, Google's $3B Investment in Anthropic, and Pokémon Go and More Sells for $3.5B
In this week's bulletin - Niantic agrees to sell its video game business for $3.5B, Google invests an additional $750M in Anthropic, and Aligned Climate Capital raises $85M! 🥳
Welcome to this week’s edition of the VWV Bulletin! 😁 The weather is beautiful, grades and midterms hopefully are beautiful, and VC is beautiful! VWV wishes you all a wonderful upcoming Spring Break! 🤩
‼️ For this semester, keep up with our content if you’re interested in:
Demystifying & breaking into VC
Finding opportunities in the start-up world
Keeping up with VC investment news at Brown & beyond (pro tip: this is essential to breaking in and finding opportunities)
Enjoy!💃
🌱 Aligned Climate Capital Raises $85 Million
On March 11th, Aligned Climate Capital announced the close of its second venture fund, Aligned Climate Fund 2 LP (ACF2), raising $85 million. ACF2 will exclusively invest in Seed through Series B companies, having invested in nine companies already. The decarbonization-focused investment firm founded in 2019 has raised $145M thus far.
Each of Aligned Climate Capitals company investments develop projects to minimize energy bills and increase clean energy production. CEO of Aligned Climate Capital, Peter Davidson, believes “the solutions needed to decarbonize the economy already exist.” It is the capital, expertise, and market access that creates formidable challenges, the exact part where his firm comes in.
Aligned Climate Capital uses two primary investment strategies: the Aligned Climate Fund and Aligned Solar Partners. Aligned Climate Fund provides capital to startup companies while Aligned Solar Partners handles distributed solar, energy storage, and other clean energy projects.
In 2024, the global investment in the clean energy transition reached $2.1 trillion, signaling the demand for clean-energy businesses. The market is expected to reach $5.42 trillion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 9.7%.
🚀 Google’s Investment in Anthropic
Anthropic is best known for its development of Claude, a top competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. They are one of the fastest growing AI startups, reaching an incredible $2 billion in revenue YTD already.
Despite the fierce competition for Google’s AI chatbot, the tech giant has now invested over $3 billion in Anthropic. The recent $750 million investment in convertible debt is set for September 2025. According to legal files, Google owns 14% of the AI company, but with no voting rights, board seats, or board observer rights.
Anthropic strategically takes on investors to avoid being owned or dominated by a single tech giant. In recent years, it has raised more than $14.8 billion from venture capital funding, including $8 billion in funding from Amazon specifically.
About Google’s investment in Anthropic:
Google invests in rival AI startups to innovate their AI models and tools. 🔨
With a 14% stake in Anthropic, Google spreads its influence on the AI race and the growing AI industry. 🍕
Anthropic’s post valuation is at $61.5 billion as of March 2025. 💵
😳 Niantic Sells Video Game Business for $3.5B
On March 12th, Niantic agreed to sell their video game business, including Pokémon Go for $3.5 billion! The acquirer is Scopely, a company under the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. The deal between Scopely and Niantic is the largest in years for games, since Savvy’s purchase of Scopely in 2023 for $4.9 billion!
Scopely currently manages almost $1 trillion in assets, investing in a wide range of industries: real estate, artificial intelligence, sports, entertainment, and more. It now operates Pokémon Go, alongside other games such as MONOPOLY GO! and Stumble Guys. With their new acquisition, Pokémon Go will immediately bring more than 20 million active weekly players.
Current players of the the games fear the deal is a “cash-out” for Niantic, despite Scopely’s title as a world leader in mobile games. Players fear there will be a constant form of monetization and no significant improvements. Pokémon Go, currently a free app, may begin to incorporate more microtransactions, similar to MONOPOLY GO! and other games under entertainment company.
🍐 Apply Today: Pear Competition
The Pear Competition is here! Grab your co-founder and apply by midnight March 21st for a shot at $100K in funding.
Got a startup idea? Apply to Pear VC’s Funding Competition for a chance to win up to $100K in an uncapped safe! At least one National team will receive $100K, and others may win $25 - $50K. Winners also unlock $350K+ in cloud credits and tech discounts. Past winners have included Federato, Glide, and Windborne.
Whether you have a rough idea or a fully-fledged venture, apply! No pitch deck needed, and the application takes as little as 30 minutes. Plus, every applicant chosen for an interview gets actionable feedback. Turn your startup dreams into reality!
Key Dates:
Applications open now!
Deadline: March 21
Round 1 Interviews (Zoom): April 1 - 2
Final Interviews: April 9 - 10
Winners Selected: April 11
Apply now and take your startup to the next level!
🆙 We’re Updating Our Website
We love our website, and want to make sure it is accurate and up-to-date. Please let us know through this form if you are a part of the VWV team (Investment Committee, Advisors, Alumni) and have changes you wish to make to your personal profile.
That’s it for this week, feel free to email me eason_zhang@brown.edu with any inquiries! 💌
Follow our socials:
Instagram: @vanwickleventures
Twitter: @VanWickleV