Europe is reeling under unprecedented droughts never seen before in history. The drying up of the Loire river in France had an unprecedented outcry world over, about the situation of the environment in the world. This has again led to increasing focus on the companies leading the innovation in green technology. Dream of carbon neutral Earth will be a pipedream until and unless we have people to fund such an ambitious goal. This is where the role of Venture Capitalists comes into play.
CleanTech is a term popularized in about 2002 as an umbrella term to describe the ‘green and clean technologies that venture capital investors were turning to in increasing numbers as the next big thing in technology investing after the collapse of the tech boom. Whereas, climate tech deals specifically with addressing climate change and thus, is defined as any new business model and technology that mitigates the impacts and drivers of global greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. climate change).
As we proceed with mapping the VC arena in the world of CleanTech, we have to keep in mind that the industry is expected to reach $423.7 Billion by 2026, with a combined annual growth rate of 6.9 percent. This presents a unique opportunity for the VCs to fund companies functioning in technologies and have a profitable rate of return as well. Furthermore, funding for SaaS startups continues to be a critical area of interest, given their scalable business models and potential for high returns. Being Humanitarian in terms of funding technologies while at the same time being a profitable opportunity is a win-win for all the stakeholders.
Venture Capitalist companies like Norrsken, Eurazeo, Rockstart, Ubermorgen Ventures, Boundary Holdings, Pale Blue Dot, and others are leading VC companies with their investments in the firms operating in the arena. Their investments are in sectors like Solar Energy, Electric Vehicles, Renewable Energy, Green Food, and Green Waste Management. Those investments have been instrumental in the adoption across the world even though the scope to adopt such technologies is enormous.
Boundary Holdings, a Venture Capitalist firm based in Luxembourg, founded by Rajat Khare, has been spearheading investments in firms across Europe. Skilancer Solar is a firm that specializes in providing permanent professional cleaning services for solar panels of commercial parks and establishments. Solar firms will be key to energy security as conventional forms of energy like Thermal energy take a backseat.
Founded in 2015, Japet is a French company known for pioneering wearable medicine and received VC capital from Boundary Holding. Japet supports companies across industrial, logistics, and personal care sectors in their attempt to improve health in workplaces and integration of exoskeletons.
These Venture Capital firms are playing an instrumental role in defining the CleanTech scene in Europe, seeing that the environment of Europe is changing for the bad. This is going to be a challenge going ahead, but a challenge that presents a unique opportunity in itself. Meeting those challenges successfully would ensure we as responsible humans leave a better world for the generations ahead.
