AI CAPITAL INTELLIGENCE
Convective Capital | Institution profile
Institution at a glance
Convective Capital invests in hardware, software and financial services that manage physical-world risk and disaster resilience. It began with wildfire technology and says it is expanding across the broader resilience market, including infrastructure, supply chains, manufacturing, forestry and grid resilience.
Source verification date: · Fund II size, planned investment count, Updraft membership and portfolio-company revenue are founder-reported in a May 2026 post. USD 85 million is the fund size, not a single company investment. The registry also contains a WindBorne Systems Series B attribution whose linked report is about a Series A; that mismatch is flagged and excluded as a verified Convective investment.
Names follow their disclosed form. Descriptive English renderings of Chinese names are not verified legal names. Original quotations are shown in their source language.
Key facts
| Investment focus | Disaster resilience、Wildfire and forestry、Electric grids and utilities、Insurance and risk management、Physical infrastructure |
|---|---|
| Fund II | On May 21, 2026, founder Bill Clerico announced an USD 85 million Fund II, with around 18 investments and larger checks from pre-seed through Series A. The fund expands the focus from wildfire to disaster resilience. |
| Founder network and support | The firm reports that Updraft connects 10,000 practitioners and has generated over USD 100 million in revenue for portfolio companies; these are self-reported figures. |
| Leadership experience | Bill Clerico — Founder and Managing Partner; co-founded and led WePay, acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2017; also an angel investor and former part-time Y Combinator partner.、Kat Mañalac — Partner; spent more than a decade as a Y Combinator partner building programs and founder communities.、Mike Trapanese — Partner focused on operations and strategic capital; prior private-equity and operating roles.、Jay Ribakove — Principal; previously invested at Munich Re Ventures in climate and built-environment risk. |
Organization background
The team reports experience spanning fintech founding and acquisition, founder programs at Y Combinator, private-equity and operating roles, and climate and built-environment risk investing.
Milestones
- 2026-05-21
Bill Clerico announced USD 85 million for Fund II and a wider focus on disaster resilience.
Public record
- Selected portfolio companies include Burnbot (robotic fuels management), Gridware (grid protection), Pano (early wildfire detection), Seneca (firefighting drones), Stand (insurance for resilient homes) and The Lumber Manufactory. This is not a complete list or return measure.
- Data-quality note: the registry links Convective to WindBorne Systems’ 2026 Series B, but the attached report covers a Series A from 2024. Because the round and source dates conflict, this item is excluded from verified Convective investment examples pending correction.
Official contact details
- Official website and portfolio: Convective Capital
Sources
- 1. Convective | Investing in a More Resilient World
Convective invests in hardware, software and financial services that manage risk in the physical world.
- 2. The Team | Convective
Prior to Convective, Bill was co-founder & CEO of WePay, a fintech company that was acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase in 2017, an angel investor in over 60 startups and a part-time partner at Y Combinator. … Previously, Kat spent more than a decade as a partner at Y Combinator, where she built programs and communities that helped thousands of founders scale their startups into companies worth billions. … Mike is a partner at Convective Capital focused on operations and strategic capital. Previously, Mike held diverse private equity and operating roles. … Prior to Convective, Jay was an investor at Munich Re Ventures, backing companies reducing risk in climate and the built environment.
- 3. Portfolio | Convective
Our companies protect the systems that keep the world running. … Robotic Fuels Management Burnbot Protecting the Grid Gridware Early Wildfire Detection Pano Firefighting Drones Seneca Insurance for Resilient Homes Stand Sawmills of the Future The Lumber Manufactory
- 4. Fund II: $85M for Disaster Resilience | Bill Clerico
That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’ve raised $85M for our second fund. We’ll make a similar number of investments (~18) as in Fund I, but we’re writing bigger checks across pre-seed, seed and Series A and expanding our focus from wildfire to the disaster resilience market. … Updraft, our network of practitioners in the physical world, is now 10,000 people strong and has generated over $100M in revenue for our portfolio companies.
- 5. WindBorne Systems Takes Flight with $15 Million in Series A Funding
existing investors such as Footwork VC, Pear VC, and Convective Capital also participated in this round