US-based software provider Microsoft has appointed Brandon Middaugh to manage the $1bn Climate Innovation Fund it announced in January this year, sources have told TechCrunch.
Microsoft pledged $1bn for the vehicle as part of a wider goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, and to remove the equivalent of the excess carbon it has emitted since its launch by 2050, through actions that will also involve switching to renewable energy use and electric vehicles across all its campuses.
The fund will invest in developers of carbon reduction and removal technology, though the corporate – which already owns venture capital unit M12 – has not revealed details of a timeframe for that capital nor how wide the range of its portfolio is likely to be.
Middaugh will manage the fund and investment strategy, having spent four years at Microsoft as a senior program manager, leading its distributed energy strategy as part of the company’s energy and sustainability activities.
Microsoft hired Middaugh after stints at fuel cell system provider Bloom Energy and as a vice-president at energy utility Sun Edison, bookending roles as a venture fellow at impact investing network Investors Circle and an internship at venture capital firm Prelude Ventures.
Photo of Brandon Middaugh courtesy of LinkedIn.
