Three things veteran planetary health investors look for in a startup

Veteran planetary health investors Kyle Teamey and Brigid O’Brien, managing partners at RA Capital Planetary Health, emphasize three key criteria when evaluating startups for investment amid a challenging and cyclical fundraising market. First, they prioritize a short time to market, seeking companies that can generate revenue within five years. Second, they look for strong product-market fit, ensuring the startup is building something customers genuinely want rather than relying on the assumption that demand will automatically follow. Third, they assess capital efficiency, focusing on how quickly a company can move beyond venture capital funding, dispelling the misconception that deep tech startups cannot be capital efficient. RA Capital Planetary Health’s investment approach is flexible regarding funding stages, writing checks ranging from hundreds of thousands to $10 million across seed to Series C rounds, with the round name less important than the startup’s time to market and return profile. Their portfolio spans diverse sectors, including geologic hydrogen prospecting (Koloma), lithium-ion battery manufacturing (AM Batteries), AI