If wind is so hot, why the venture slump?

We mapped 140+ wind energy companies in this landscape view. Take a look.

With the UN climate conference COP26 coming up in November, wind energy is set to shoot up global agendas.

• An abundant and rapidly cheapening renewable energy source
• A need to for installations to increase 4x to reach 2050 Net Zero
• And government backing via climate pledges.

There seem to be a lot of tailwinds for wind energy innovation.

And yet you wouldn't know it from venture capital. VC investment into wind energy startups has stalled in recent years, with startups raising just ~€50M per year.

In the broader finance world, both public and private investors meanwhile have raced to bet on wind. According to Bloomberg: “Private equity funds that invest solely in renewable energy assets raised about $52 billion last year." 

But a decline in startup funding is both in stark contrast to other renewable energy segments, and comes as global wind power capacity continues to grow rapidly. Global wind capacity reached 743 Gigawatts last year, and accounted for 42% of all new utility-scale generation capacity added in 2020 (U.S. Energy Department).

Yearly VC investment into wind energy startups (global)

Meanwhile solar startups are raising 10x that of their wind energy peers.

Yearly VC investment into solar energy startups (global)

So what's going on? 

• Is wind a mature technology, with little scope for fundamental innovation? We think not, based on the range of players and their evolving supply chains. Just take a look at the diverse landscape of 140+ wind energy startups.
• Has wind power settled into more of an infrastructure play, where mostly big private equity, project finance and listed companies get involved? And is this a missed opportunity of venture capital?
• Are government subsidies still a swing factor, or is wind energy investment being crowded out by rival renewable energy options?
• Or is it just the calm before the storm? 💨

Let us know what you think.

In other news

🎓 Gen Z members flock to climate careers and Climate and sustainability classes expand at MIT. Surely no coincidence?

♻️   Siemens Gamesa claims the first recyclable wind turbine blade, made from balsa wood, glass, and carbon fiber. Vestas also unveiled a new technology for blade recycling a few months ago. As early generations of turbine blades and rotors start to be retired, is waste management a factor holding back the industry?

☀️ MIT-designed superconducting magnet prototype paves way for practical, commercial, carbon-free power using nuclear fusion, while separately, US lab stands on the threshold of key nuclear fusion goal.

🥩 Industrial animal farming is responsible for up to 21% of climate-damaging emissions, according to the Meat Atlas, from Friends of the Earth Europe

🏥 A Call for Emergency Action to Limit Global Temperature Increases, Restore Biodiversity, and Protect Health - The New England Journal of Medicine and other 200 medical journals released their joint editorial.

Latest impact deals:

The largest this week:

🇺🇸 Cityblock Health - a community-based virtual health care provider raised $400M in a round led by Softbank. It is currently the most valuable startup tackling SDG 10: Reducing inequalities, with a $5.7B valuation. 

🇺🇸 Solugen - a company that aims to turn sugar enzymes instead of petroleum into chemicals, with zero air or wastewater emissions, has raised $357M at a $1.8B valuation. It is the #136th impact unicorn.

🇯🇵 Spiber - a Japanese firm that creates “Brewed Protein” materials - synthetic spider silk - for use in clothing and other products has raised JPY24.4B in a round led by Carlyle Japan, it’s the first-ever non-buyout growth investment.

Other promising impact deals from around the globe: 

🇬🇧 OLIO raised $43M in a round led by Swedish investor VNV Global, among others, along with repeat backer Accel. It ranks as the #4 most valued startup in the Reuse: distribute soon-to-expire food category.

🇺🇸 Plantible Foods - a B2B food technology company - raised $21.5M. It is one of 90+ enablers of alternative protein companies.

🇸🇪 Stockeld - a plant-based cheese company raised a €16.5M Series A from Northzone, Norrsken VC and other investors.

🇬🇧 Nova innovation - a tidal energy company - raised £6.4M from the Scottish National investment bank.

🇮🇱 ECOncrete - a sustainable cement startup - raised $5M Series A from Barclays. 

🇨🇦 Audette - a B2B platform for energy retrofits of commercial property - raised $5M Series A from Powerhouse Ventures and other investors.

🇫🇷 Greenly - a carbon accounting platform for SMEs - raised €2.5M. We mapped out 200 other recent finance for good startups here. 

🇬🇧 Keeping with our wind energy theme this week, Perceptual Robotics, a turbine inspection startup spinout from the University of Bristol, raised £1.6M.

Read up on all the latest impact deals in Dealroom.co

💡 Tip of the week

Discover 90+ founders with an environmental science degree. They include Ali Parsi, the CEO of Babylon Health, which is behind the “GP at Hand” smartphone app, where UK residents hold consultations with NHS doctors via their smartphones. The ex-investment banker turned medical entrepreneur studied civil and environmental engineering at University College London in the 80s.

Dive in

📈 7,400+ impact startups and 11,000+ funding rounds on https://impact.dealroom.co

♻️ Sort by the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals: https://impact.dealroom.co/curated/taxonomy/sdgs

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