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New Wave | Hugo Rauch | Substack

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🌊 Building Cities Without Breaking the System

Why urban climate tech must be faster, better, and cheaper to truly scale.

We’re joined by Jacob Bro, General Partner at 2150, one of Europe’s most thoughtful urban climate investors, fresh off the close of €210m Fund II.

In this episode, we dive into what it really takes to fund the next generation of urban climate infrastructure, and why climate tech is no longer a “vertical,” but a defining layer of the global economy.

Jacob shares hard-earned lessons from Fund I, how LP expectations have evolved, and why sustainability only matters if the economics work.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why raising Fund II took longer, and why that’s actually healthy

→ What LPs are really worried about in today’s macro environment

→ Why “climate tech” is maturing into an economic reality, not a niche

→ The danger of business models that rely too heavily on regulation

→ Why team > idea, even in deep tech and Series A–C investing

→ How AI + energy + industry are colliding into a once-in-a-generation opportunity

→ Why 80% of global GDP, and emissions, are urban. And how to fix it.

→ When price matters in venture, and when it really doesn’t

Jacob also unpacks 2150’s evolving definition of urban climate tech, their growing exposure beyond Europe, and why emerging markets matter if you believe in future prosperity at scale.