Systemiq Capital makes two significant hires

Systemiq Capital, the climate-focused venture capital firm, has made two significant hires. Matthew Goldstein, who co-founded M12, Microsoft’s venture capital fund, has joined as a general partner, and Lydia Guett, a sustainable investment specialist from Cambridge Associates has joined as head of growth.

Goldstein, who was a managing director at M12, helped to found the venture unit in 2016 in San Francisco and went on to open its European office in 2019. During his time at M12, he racked up exits for SuperAwesome (acquired by Epic), Nanofabrica (acquired by NNDM), Markforged (NYSE: MKFG), Bakkt (NYSE: BKKT) and Vertical Aerospace (NYSE: EVTL), among others, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In a LinkedIn post about his new position, Goldstein wrote: “Climate tech has graduated. Between energy security, food costs, collapsing biomes, power-hungry AI models, supply chain shocks and the occasional flood… every business is impacted by climate. And so climate investing is simply investing in the companies best positioned to address these universal, urgent challenges.”

Guett’s role at Cambridge Associates involved due diligence on funds with a sustainable or impact focus as well as helping Cambridge clients align their portfolios with sustainability trends. At Systemiq she will “grow and nurture [the firm’s] climate ecosystem, connecting investors, portfolio companies and the wider community”, according to a press release.

Systemiq Capital spun out of Systemiq Ltd, a climate and systems change company, in 2022. The venture firm has said it has $125 million in AUM and that its Fund I deployed $30 million of capital and achieved three exits as of July 2022.

It is targeting $200 million for its sophomore fund, Systemiq Capital Fund II, which held a first close on $70 million last July. LPs for Fund II include fund of funds manager Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie and The Grantham Foundation, according to affiliate title Venture Capital Journal research.

Systemiq founding general partner Irena Spazzapan said of the new hires: “Since the start of Systemiq Capital, we have had an incredible team who have been crucial to our success. Matt [Goldstein] has been an invaluable adviser since we began our second chapter, and I’m so glad to have him join me as a partner in driving this next growth phase. Lydia [Guett] brings a new and valuable lens to our work and will be a game-changer for our portfolio and our increasingly large network of mission-aligned LPs.”

Additional reporting by Toby Mitchenall