Headline, October 11 2024/ ''' CLIMATE'S TECH CLIMBERS '''

''' CLIMATE'S TECH

 CLIMBERS '''

GREENER PASTURES 2021 : CLIMATE TECH NOW MAKES up about a tenth of new investments made by Sequoia Capital - a legendary Silicon Valley VC firm.

August 2021 - Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital, a high-flying internet investor known for early bets on Uber, Instagram and Twitter, said he would launch climate-tech VC funds worth $800 million.

Nancy Pfund of DBL Partners, another VC veteran, reports that whereas in 2004 she barely scraped together $75 million for a clean-tech fund, her new climate-tech vehicle raised $600 million - and was oversubscribed.

Just as significant, Mr Yokel's listeners have grown more diverse. Besides VCS they include states, philanthropists, Wall Street and big businesses. And the newcomers are investing in new ways.

Take governments first. On August 12th America's Department of Energy [DOE] announced a $1.5 billion partnership with Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, part of Network founded by Bill Gates [ which includes Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $2 billion plus blue-sky investment fund the billionaire has set up with few chums, including Mr Khosla].

It aims to accelerate development of novel technologies in sustainable aviation fuel, green hydrogen,  direct air capture and long-term energy storage. This augments the $20 billion-plus loan programme that the DOE has available to boost clean energy and transport.

If Joe Biden's infrastructure and climate proposals win final congressional approval, more funding for deployment and scale-up of projects may be on the way.

Europe's governments are splashing out, too. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has teamed up with Breakthrough Energy Catalyst on a $1 billion initiative to build large-scale demonstration projects for clean technologies.

Britain has unveiled plans to invest $235 million in climate-related technologies. Climate is a sensitive issue in China. Nonetheless, says Peggy Liu of JUCCCE, a clean-energy NGO, it is the world's leader in climate tech. Much of its official spending on ''smart'' technologies for more efficient factories, better batteries and motors is green-tinted.

States are not the only converts to climate-investing. Charities and family investment firms are channelling capital into early-stage firms and offering patient capital willing to stick with '' tough tech '' for longer than a typical VC.

By one estimate, family offices of the super-rich account for roughly 10% of total climate-tech VC deals, up from perhaps 5% a decade ago.

Elemental Excelerator, a Hawaii-based outfit part-funded by the Emerson Collective, a philanthropically minded firm set up by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple's co-founder, Steve Jobs, looks to fund '' first of a kind, transformational projects.''

Elemental's early-stage investments of $43 million have garnered $3.8 billion in follow-on funding, says Dawn Lippert, its CEO ; 20 of its 117 portfolio firms have gone public or found private buyers.

Ampaire, which develops hybrid-electric aircraft, was acquired in February 2021, for $100 million. Stem, an energy-storage firm, went public via a $1.3 billion SPAC deal that April.

WALL STREET wants a look-in. Early that year JP Morgan Chase, America's biggest bank, said it would commit $2.5 trillion to sustainable investing over ten years.

Of that, $1 trillion, which includes the bank's own capital and money raised from bond issues and flotations, is aimed explicitly at clean technologies. '' Five years ago, we didn't have the cpability to invest in such firms or their VC sponsors,'' says Brian Lehman of JPMorgan.

Now the bank has dedicated employees like him who focus solely on climate and green issues. It is making smallish loans to pre-revenue firms in the sector and will expand into bridge financing between VC rounds and project finance for capital-intensive initiatives like indoor farms and solar-power plants.

The Honour and Serving of the Historical Operational Research, as a bench mark, Climate Tech present and future, continues. The World Students Society thanks The Economist.

With most respectful dedication to the Global Founder Framers of The World Students Society - for every subject in the world - and then Students, Professors and Teachers.

See You all prepare for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter X !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

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