Clean Energy Ventures Hires Aruna Ramsamy as Managing Partner

Clean Energy Ventures has appointed Aruna Ramsamy as Managing Partner, betting on a veteran of more than $2.8 billion in climate-focused funds to lead its expansion into European growth-stage investing. The Boston-based venture firm announced the move on October 27, 2026, from its London offices, where Ramsamy will now run European operations.

CEV, which invests in climate technologies across North America and Europe, framed the hire as a strategic step on three fronts: building out early-growth and growth-stage investment capability, deepening its European presence, and adding operating depth for its expanding portfolio in what it calls a rapidly evolving market.

Ramsamy arrives with a resume built on capital-intensive climate investing. Most recently she was a Venture Partner focused on Growth Equity at Extantia. Before that, she served as Managing Director of Just Climate, the investment business established by Generation Investment Management with a $1.5 billion fund to scale solutions for the industrial sector. Earlier, she held senior leadership roles at Climate Investment (formerly OGCI), a $1 billion-plus fund backing advanced energy and climate technologies across Europe and North America. From 2010 to 2017, she led investments at the Soros Economic Development Fund, a $300 million vehicle supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in frontier markets — roughly seven years of deploying capital into hard-to-finance markets.

What does the hire change for CEV?

In practice, Ramsamy takes on three jobs at once. She will identify, assess and structure new investments, guide portfolio companies through critical growth inflection points, and help build out CEV's asset management platform. That last item matters most for practitioners watching the firm: it signals CEV wants to move beyond its seed-stage identity as a company builder and develop larger investment vehicles.

Daniel Goldman, Managing Partner at CEV, said the hire addresses the firm's next phase directly. "Aruna's experience spanning venture capital, growth equity, and project finance will be a tremendous asset to CEV as we deepen our support for companies entering their next phase of growth. Having helped navigate the financing of large-scale, first-of-a-kind industrial projects, she understands what it takes for companies to transform from technological innovations to commercial enterprises," Goldman said.

That transformation — from lab-stage innovation to commercial enterprise — is where climate venture capital has historically struggled. First-of-a-kind industrial projects carry financing and deployment risks that traditional venture capital rarely absorbs. Goldman is effectively saying CEV now has someone in-house who has structured that kind of capital before.

Ramsamy also brings board-level operating experience across the climate tech spectrum, with seats held at Svante, Stegra, Metron, Econic Technologies, Ontruck, and Ascend Elements, among others. Her network across Europe's climate investment ecosystem, plus hands-on experience with capital-intensive industrial technologies, positions her to advance CEV's investment strategy and new fund development, the firm said.

Why Europe, and why now?

Ramsamy's own statement points to the market logic behind the London posting. "For the last decade, CEV has built a differentiated portfolio of deep-tech companies tackling some of the toughest challenges in the energy transition. Now, it's time to build on CEV's strong foundation to accelerate the commercialization of its portfolio and develop investment platforms that can provide the capital these companies need to scale," she said.

She added a sharper macro framing: "Europe's decarbonization priorities are increasingly aligned with industrial competitiveness, energy security, and economic growth, creating a powerful market for the technologies CEV backs. I look forward to positioning the firm to capitalize on new opportunities across Europe and North America."

That alignment — climate policy merging with industrial policy — is the opening CEV is chasing. European governments now treat decarbonization as a competitiveness issue, which widens the funding pool for portfolio companies well beyond traditional climate investors.

The backdrop

Clean Energy Ventures invests in climate tech solutions with potential for multi-gigaton CO₂ reductions over the next three decades. The firm positions itself as a company builder rather than a passive check-writer, often serving as the first partner to founders and supporting companies from seed stage through commercialization.

For founders and limited partners tracking the firm, the signal is clear: CEV is assembling the team to raise and deploy larger pools of growth capital on both sides of the Atlantic, and Ramsamy's track record across EMEA suggests Europe will get the first push.