What stage does Lichen Ventures invest at?

Lichen Ventures invests at the Seed, Growth, Late Stage stages.

What is Lichen Ventures's typical check size?

Lichen Ventures typically writes checks of $200K.

Where is Lichen Ventures located?

Lichen Ventures is headquartered in Baltimore, US.

Does Lichen Ventures lead rounds?

Lichen Ventures typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.

Who does Lichen Ventures co-invest with?

Lichen Ventures most often shares deals with Aera VC, Azolla Ventures, FREEFLOW, among 5 tracked co-investors.

Lichen Ventures

Venture capitalActively deploying

Baltimore · Seed–Late Stage · 2 people tracked

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Find your way into Lichen Ventures

271 people in our graph share verified history with the Lichen Ventures team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Alain le Louxunlockedknows Justin Brodie-Kommit · together at Top Tier Impact (overlapped)

×3knows the team · via The Johns Hopkins University

knows the team · via Top Tier Impact

×6knows the team · via Genentech

knows the team · via St. Mark's School

✨ Fox Verdict

Investment thesis

Lichen Ventures invests in climate hard-tech companies that deliver scalable, physical solutions with superior unit economics for long-term planetary benefit. The firm focuses on five areas: biomanufacturing (turning microbes into sustainable fuels and biochemicals), industrial decarbonization (helping heavy industry cut emissions while improving performance and resilience), adaptation and resilience (solutions for a market emerging as billion-dollar disasters increase), critical minerals (secure and sustainable access to essential minerals), and methane management (reducing super-pollutant emissions at scale). It positions itself as a symbiotic network connecting humanity to science, prioritizing companies that disrupt with discipline for measurable real-world climate impact.

Invests inAdvanced Manufacturing AgTech Biotech Cleantech Climate Tech Deep Tech Energy Hardware Impact & Social Good New Materials Baltimore Global United States

Source: firm website, verified Aug 7, 2026.

Stage

Seed–Late Stage

Check

$200K

Baltimore, US

Leads rounds

Follows

Instruments

Equity

Founded

2025

Tracked investments

Team · 2 people

from the firm's website & curated

Justin Brodie-Kommit· Managing Partner, PhD· Baltimore, Maryland, United Statesin

Managing partner of Lichen Ventures and a leader in climate hard-tech investment.

Shayan Naouri· Founding General Partnerin

Shayan Naouri is Founding General Partner at Lichen Ventures, where he invests in climate hard-tech companies across areas including biomanufacturing, industrial decarbonization, critical minerals, and methane management. He holds a PhD in Cell Biology from Johns Hopkins University and previously served as a Clinical Science Fellow at Genentech and co-founded Green Spear, a company focused on converting CO2 into battery materials. He has made 86 angel investments over five years and is a lead organizer of DC Climate Week.

What they invest in

from 2 of 2 portfolio companies

Cleantech ×2Energy ×2Advanced Manufacturing ×1Biotech ×1Deep Tech ×1

HQs:United States×1

Investments · 2 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

Calectracalectra.com in

Calectra develops electrified, high-temperature industrial heat systems designed to reduce costs and emissions for industrial applications.

Advanced ManufacturingCleantechDeep TechEnergy

Pauliina Meskanen(Co-Founder & CEO)in Nate Weger(Co-Founder & CTO)in

Partner Justin Brodie-Kommit· solo GP

Co-investorsAera VC Lifeline Ventures

Erg Bioergbio.com

Erg Bio converts waste biomass into fermentable sugars and intermediates for synthetic aviation fuels and chemicals, using an advanced solvent process and a proprietary yeast that produces enzymes and ferments sugars.

BiotechCleantechEnergyDublin, US

Vineet Rajgarhia(Co-founder & CEO)in Blake Simmons(Co-founder & CTO)inMichael Rabson(Co-founder & Strategic Advisor)in

Partner Justin Brodie-Kommit· solo GP

Co-investorsAzolla Ventures FREEFLOW Juniper Chevron Technology Ventures

Portfolio news

latest coverage across their companies

Venture For ClimateTech Announces Cohort 6 of High-Impact Startups Advancing Climate Innovation | The Manila Times

Calectra · manilatimes.net · May 19, 2026

Erg Bio Closes $6.5 Million Seed Round to Scale Flexible Feedstock Technology for Manufacturing Synthetic Aviation Fuels and Critical Chemicals - Azolla Ventures

Erg Bio · azollaventures.com · Dec 10, 2025

Frequently asked questions

What stage does Lichen Ventures invest at?: Lichen Ventures invests at the Seed, Growth, Late Stage stages.
What is Lichen Ventures's typical check size?: Lichen Ventures typically writes checks of $200K.
What sectors does Lichen Ventures focus on?: Lichen Ventures focuses on Advanced Manufacturing, AgTech, Biotech, Cleantech, Climate Tech, Deep Tech, Energy, Hardware, Impact & Social Good, New Materials.
Where is Lichen Ventures located?: Lichen Ventures is headquartered in Baltimore, US.
Does Lichen Ventures lead rounds?: Lichen Ventures typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
Who does Lichen Ventures co-invest with?: Lichen Ventures most often shares deals with Aera VC, Azolla Ventures, FREEFLOW, among 5 tracked co-investors.

Media · Podcasts & interviews

featuring the team

Justin Brodie-Kommit: General Partner at Lichen Ventures

Sutton Capital: THE INVESTOR with Joel Palathinkal · Justin Brodie-Kommit

Images

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