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CleanTech Investment Continues To Grow

At the COP26 summit in Glasgow more than 40 world leaders committed to collaborate to turbo-charge the uptake of clean technologies.

However, it has taken the emotional impact of demands from younger family members and experiencing a pandemic to galvanise the investment community to go greener, according to leading figures in UK climate innovation.

“After a decade in the wilderness, we can finally say that green is the new black, to use a fashion analogy,” says Andrew Wordsworth, MD at Sustainable Ventures.

“The pandemic has focused people’s minds. We also meet investors who tell us they are getting a hard time over Sunday lunch from their teenage kids about why they aren’t using their prowess and capabilities to invest in green businesses.”

When Covid first hit the UK in March 2020, those working in climate innovation were already beginning to see a surge of interest from investors.

However, Professor Richard Templer, Director of Innovation at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College, London said the pandemic didn’t halt progress but sped it up.

“We’d been ploughing a lonely furrow, but then people started knocking on my door in 2019, and they’ve not stopped,” explains Professor Templar. “I’ve had enquiries from investors all over the world, and I’ve been to talk to several senior CEOs of big multinational organisations who are deploying capital for projects in ways I hadn’t seen before.

“I’ve been told by many of them that they have kids who are teenagers or at university who are saying, ‘You are playing with my future’. It’s a very human thing - it’s a story of emotions and gut, not economics. Also, the pandemic has reminded us that Mother Nature doesn’t care about ideology, politics or economics. Climate change only obeys the laws of Physics, Chemistry and Biology.”

For entrepreneurs trying to launch green businesses, this is encouraging news as real change opens up new possibilities.

CleanTech Companies

UK CleanTech companies attracting funding in 2022 include:

  • Onto, an electric vehicle subscription startup - $60 million, taking total funding to over $245 million 
  • Bramble Energy, an innovator of renewable energy technologies - $47 million
  • Greyparrot.ai, the AI startup using computer vision technology to monitor, analyse and sort tonnes of waste at scale - $11 million
  • Brill Power, an Oxford University spin-out to make batteries smarter, cleaner, safer and longer-lasting - $10.5 million
  • Oxwash, a sustainable on-demand laundry and wet-cleaning startup - £10 million 

“For high-risk early investment, investors like businesses with intellectual property - patented ideas,” says Professor Templer. “If the business goes bust, they can still sell off the patent and make some money back.

“Another thing they like is tech and digital stuff because the investment isn’t too large. But digital is simply an enabler, and if you are an impact investor, you know jolly well that isn’t going to solve the problem. You need hardware to solve problems in the real world, and a lot of it will take ten years to make an impact. It’s a rich and varied journey, but the return period is much longer."

VC investment in CleanTech companies has not seen the volume or value of deals which have gone to FinTech companies, however there are signs of progress in the UK CleanTech market as the number and value of deals continues to grow.

Richard Wheeler Associates works with technology-led companies in CleanTech

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