On October 25 and 26, we brought the SOSV Climate Tech Summit back for 2022, and once again it was virtual and free to all attendees.
Our goal was to deepen the climate tech startup ecosystem by surfacing the perspectives of top founders and investors across the enormous spectrum of disruptive innovation that the climate challenge demands. If 2021 was the year of accelerating investment and the first major climate tech scale-ups, 2022 is already clearly emerging as a year of existential challenges as a result of war in the Ukraine, global economic instability, and a less certain funding environment. The panel and fireside chats at this year’s event brought those critical topics to the forefront, as well as highlighted the continuing momentum from 2021.
Check out our welcome session below to hear the highlights of of the event.
While it will take time to see the “8 to 10 Tesla, Microsoft, Amazon, Google”-sized climate tech companies envisioned by Bill Gates at last year’s summit, or the 1000 climate tech unicorns predicted by both SOSV’s Founder Sean O’Sullivan and BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink, there are many encouraging signs that we are on the right track:
- More specialized climate tech funds are active than at any time in history, with about 70 new firms started in 2021.
- Many large rounds were raised by companies such as Northvolt (EV batteries, $2.8B), Commonwealth Fusion Systems (nuclear fusion, $1.8B), Redwood Materials (battery recycling, $700M), Perfect Day (milk protein, $350M), and many more.
- There are now 46 climate unicorns, more than the 39 global unicorns when the term was coined in 2013 by Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy Ventures. Their collective valuation exceeds $50B.
- Notable companies have gone public such as EV maker Rivian (currently valued at $38B) and milk alternative company Oatly ($3.4B).
- The valuation of the SOSV Climate Tech 100 reached an aggregate value of $10 billion, based on $123 million in SOSV investment and $3 billion total capital raised.
The summit offered breakout sessions from top early stage climate investors as well as networking specifically for founders and investors.
