Climate is too complex for siloed capital - Carmel Rafaeli, The Table

Carmel Rafaeli is the Founding Partner of The Table, a community of early stage equity investors at the intersection of Climate and Diversity. She supports and invest in early stage climate positive ventures that are mostly led by underestimated founders. She has extensive experience as an entrepreneur, in industries ranging from brick and mortar, to fashion, hospitality tech and IP tech. For the past 5 years, she’s been focusing on Climate and Sustainability.

Carmel says that looking at the impact ecosystem in 2026, we will see a shift - we are moving ut of the hype cycle and into a much more grounded phase of impact investing, which she calls a good thing.

“Capital is tighter, and that’s forcing harder questions: Does this solution actually work? Can it survive without subsidies? Does it create value in the real economy? 

We’re seeing less “impact for impact’s sake” and more focus on durable, efficient, revenue-generating businesses that also solve real climate and social challenges.

On the other hand, risk is still deeply mispriced. We talk a lot about price parity, but we rarely account for what climate externalities do to supply and demand — less water, degraded soil, fires, heat, instability. Those factors are no longer abstract; they’re starting to hit margins. That shift will push more investors toward climate-resilient solutions, whether they label themselves “impact” investors or not.

I think we’ll also see more collaboration - more co-investment, more blended capital supporting a variety of solutions - from incremental climate resilience & adaptation innovation to moonshots. Climate is too complex for siloed capital. The ecosystem is slowly catching up to that reality.”

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Being an entrepreneur for more than 15 years herself, she brings important insights in assessing startups for investment. She knows what it is like to try to make the payroll, negotiate with suppliers, face pressure from all sides - and looks at companies through this lens. 

“The three things I look at early on are:

1. The founder’s relationship with reality
Are they clear-eyed about what’s hard? Can they articulate the risks as confidently as the upside? Optimism matters, but grounded optimism matters more.

2. Execution logic
Not a perfect plan, but a coherent one. Do the numbers, strategy, and timeline actually talk to each other? I care less about polish and more about whether the story makes operational sense.

3. Why this team
Especially in climate, I want to understand why these people are uniquely positioned to solve this problem. Lived experience, sector depth, or a very strong learning curve all count.

I trust my instincts more than I used to because they’ve been formed by my failures and successes, not just theory.”

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A pitch will stand out to her if it is clear, Carmel emphasizes.

“The best pitches don’t try to impress me, they help me understand. I want to quickly grasp: What problem are you solving, for whom, and why now? If I have to work too hard to decode the story, it’s usually a red flag.

What really stands out is when the climate outcome is directly embedded in the business model, it is what drives the efficiency, resilience, durability and scalability. And when they can explain it in plain language, without hiding behind jargon.

Confidence without defensiveness is also rare — and powerful.”

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Climate-focused startups could pay more attention to storytelling - something many other impact or deep tech investors seem to see as a challenge. But, Carmel says, this doesn’t mean they should just improve their pitch decks.

“Many climate founders, especially technical ones, tend to undersell themselves. They often lead with how the technology works before anchoring the listener in why it matters — economically, systemically, and at scale.

What’s usually missing is translation: connecting the science or tech to real markets, incentives, and adoption pathways. Investors don’t need more rigor, they need a clearer bridge between innovation and execution.

That includes financials. The numbers aren’t a separate exercise; they’re part of the story. When forecasts, assumptions, and structure are clearly aligned with the business model, they make the vision tangible, even for someone who doesn’t live in the weeds of the company.

Climate founders don’t need to exaggerate. They need to contextualise.”

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In a world with so many possibilities to create something new, and with AI facilitating the launch of new software solutions, Carmel says that true innovation means to solve “real problems in ways that genuinely change outcomes — not novelty for its own sake, but progress that actually moves us forward.

Some of the most meaningful innovation shows up quietly: in supply chains, materials, infrastructure, and processes — the unglamorous work that makes systems function better. AI fits naturally into that picture. When used thoughtfully, it can be a powerful enabler — improving decision-making, efficiency, and reach. In climate especially, where complexity and data gaps are real and persistent, AI has the potential to accelerate progress and help build better, more resilient systems.

I also see innovation in how we organise ourselves around these solutions. Through The Table community, and now the foundation, we’re rethinking how capital flows, how investors collaborate, and how founders are supported. Changing those underlying structures creates space for more solutions to succeed — and that’s where system-level impact really begins.”

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To a new founder developing an impact-driven solution, she says that they should come to an early-stage investor really early on, but be prepared.

“You don’t need a perfect deck or full certainty. What helps is clarity on the problem, the customer, and your first credible path to revenue or traction.

The best time to reach out is when you’re still shaping decisions, not when everything is locked in. Angels and early supporters are most helpful before momentum hardens into inertia.

And one more thing: build relationships before you need capital. It changes the entire dynamic.”

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Finally, we asked Carmel to share some resources that help or inspire her:

“I’m inspired more by people than by frameworks.

Founders inspire me most, especially those building in complex, constrained environments. Listening to how they think through trade-offs, timing, and execution teaches me far more than any playbook ever could.

I also learn a great deal from the investors around me, fellow angel investors, particularly through the Alma community, and the investors I work with through The Table. Hearing how others think about the market, risk, specific solutions, and ventures and the fundraising landscape exposes me to different perspectives and lived experiences.

In terms of content, I tend to listen more than I read. Conversations and podcasts like EU.VC and New Wave help me stay close to how capital is moving, how decisions are being made, and how the ecosystem is evolving.

Curiosity and staying in dialogue are what keeps me grounded.”

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Thank you, Carmel Rafaeli!