Lilypad Venture Partners

this is where solutions start

Climate adaptation isn't optional.

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Lilypad was founded to address the urgent need for climate adaptation solutions as the environmental crisis escalates.

With federal funding still tied to outdated industries and the market slow to price in these risks, we focus on investing in innovative technologies that will be essential for survival—such as heat-resistant materials, advanced water infrastructure, and distributed energy systems. Our mission is to support founders building these critical solutions now, ahead of the market shift, to drive both impact and returns in a rapidly evolving landscape.

We specialize in pre-seed and seed investments. Backed by a family-office with a strong history in cutting-edge investments, we move quickly to execute deals and confidently support first-of-a-kind (FOAK) technologies and companies at the earliest stages.

Investment Areas

01

Climate Intelligence

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Technologies in this sector measure and model climate risk to support better decisions. Solutions include wildfire and flood detection, satellite-based mapping, climate forecasting, and geospatial APIs. These tools serve insurance, infrastructure, agriculture, and emergency response. As climate volatility increases, localized data and predictive models are essential for proactive planning and real-time response. Climate intelligence supports all other adaptation sectors by providing visibility into environmental threats and enabling smarter, faster decisions.

02

Home & Personal Resilience

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This category includes consumer products that help individuals adapt to extreme weather and system disruptions. Examples include air purifiers, portable batteries, smart thermostats, personal water filters, and energy meters. These tools improve safety, comfort, and autonomy in increasingly unstable conditions. As more people seek reliable, self-sufficient solutions, this space blends climate adaptation with user-centered design. These products can reduce reliance on centralized infrastructure while offering practical day-to-day resilience for households.

03

Built Environment

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Built environment innovation focuses on making homes and structures more climate-resilient. Examples include fireproof materials, flood-resistant foundations, modular housing, or passive cooling designs. Solutions span new construction and retrofits, aiming to reduce vulnerability while improving energy efficiency and longevity. This sector plays a key role in physical adaptation by protecting people where they live. Scalable, durable, and affordable design is critical as climate conditions reshape the built world.

04

Infrastructure

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Infrastructure adaptation addresses large-scale systems under climate stress—power, water, transportation, and more. Solutions include decentralized energy, reflective roads, stormwater systems, urban cooling, and grid resilience tools. These technologies often combine physical upgrades with monitoring or optimization software. As cities face more frequent disruptions, infrastructure resilience enables long-term continuity and safety. Startups in this space may work with municipalities, utilities, or private providers to modernize and future-proof critical services.

05

Nature-Based Solutions

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Nature-based solutions use ecosystems to enhance climate resilience. Examples include wetland restoration, urban tree planting, coastal mangroves, and green corridors. These systems reduce flood, heat, and storm impacts while supporting biodiversity and carbon storage. Startups may combine ecological design with data tools or scalable deployment models. Nature-based infrastructure often complements hard infrastructure, offering lower-cost and regenerative benefits for both urban and rural settings in the face of climate stress.

06

Water Resilience

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This sector includes technologies that secure water supply and manage flood risk in a changing climate. Startups build rain capture systems, filtration tools, desalination units, and drainage infrastructure. Solutions may serve homes, farms, or cities facing droughts and water contamination. Water resilience technologies also help adapt agriculture, support public health, and stabilize infrastructure. As climate shifts water availability and quality, these innovations are essential for both basic survival and economic continuity.

07

Food & Agriculture

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Climate-adaptive agriculture includes drought-tolerant crops, regenerative farming, precision irrigation, vertical farms, and resilient distribution systems. These solutions help maintain productivity and soil health amid heat, water stress, and unpredictable seasons. Startups may work on biological inputs, on-farm technology, or supply chain innovation. Food resilience is critical to global stability as climate disruptions threaten yields and access. Adaptation ensures long-term food security while reducing the environmental footprint of food systems.

Lilypad Venture Partners

Climate Adaptation Isn't Linear

Current projections predict carbon emissions to follow a linear growth rate with iterative technological improvements. At Lilypad, we believe that the capital inflow towards climate adaptation will be more similar to disaster funding. This means that there will no investment towards these technologies until they are absolutely vital. When this shift happens, we'll be ready with the technologies to help these communities adapt.

What We Look For

We back early-stage teams building adaptation technologies with two core qualities.

Immediate Relevance

We look for startups solving problems people are facing right now: extreme heat, water scarcity, food instability, infrastructure breakdown. The best adaptation solutions don’t wait for policy or consensus; they meet urgent needs with real-world application from day one.

Scalable Resilience

We back solutions that are built to scale. That means solutions that are replicable, accessible, and designed to grow as demand rises. Whether through technology, distribution, or business model innovation, we look for resilience that can expand to help more people as the climate crisis deepens.

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