【-】2024年四季度碳与排放技术风险投资趋势_12页_22mb

Carbon & Emissions Tech VC Trends Summary

Core Content

This document provides an overview of venture capital (VC) activity and trends in the carbon & emissions technology sector as of December 31, 2024. It includes insights into the market landscape, deal activity, valuations, and exit trends, highlighting the challenges and opportunities in the space.

Main Segments of the Carbon & Emissions Tech Landscape

The carbon & emissions tech ecosystem is divided into four main segments:

1. Carbon Tech

   • Includes direct air capture and point-source carbon capture.

2. Industry

   • Focuses on technologies that support low-carbon industrial processes.

3. Built Environment

   • Encompasses green construction and building energy efficiency.

4. Land Use

   • Involves ecosystem health and monitoring, as well as land use technologies.

Key VC Activity in 2024

Overall Deal Activity

• Total deal value in 2024: $12.2 billion, the lowest since 2020 and 40% below the 2023 peak.
• Deal count: 267 deals in Q4 2024, with a slight decline from Q3 2024.
• Q4 2024 deal value: $3.9 billion, the highest quarterly deal value in the past five quarters and a 91.1% increase from the lowest quarter of the year (Q2 2024, $2.1 billion).

High-Value Deals in Q4 2024

• Crusoe: Raised $685.7 million in Series D funding, expanding into high-performance cloud computing.
• AMP: Raised $194.9 million in Series D to accelerate waste sorting systems.
• ICEYE: Raised $158 million in later-stage funding for satellite observation tech.
• 1KOMMA5: Raised $157.6 million in early-stage funding for residential energy systems.
• Heirloom: Raised $150 million in Series B2 funding for direct air capture facilities.
• Elyse Energy: Raised $126.9 million in early-stage funding for green chemicals and materials.
• Sylvera: Raised $92.3 million in Series B for carbon accounting and voluntary carbon market infrastructure.
• Terradot: Raised $54 million in Series A for voluntary carbon market infrastructure and biological carbon removal.
• Again: Raised $41.4 million in Series A for biological carbon removal.
• Vaulted Deep: Raised $23 million in Series A for biological carbon removal.
• Solarcycle: Raised $31.6 million in Series A for metal recycling.

Pre-Seed/Seed Deals in Q4 2024

• Atmo AI: $17.6 million in Seed funding for climate/Earth data.
• Lithios: $12.0 million in Seed for green mining.
• tozero: $11.9 million in Seed for lithium battery recycling.
• Airforestry: $11.4 million in Seed for ecosystem health & monitoring.
• Pathways: $10.0 million in Seed for green construction.
• Carbon Ridge: $9.5 million in Seed for point-source carbon capture.
• Transaera: $8.2 million in Seed for heating & cooling.
• Vamo: $7.7 million in Seed for heating & cooling.
• Neutreno: $6.6 million in Seed for carbon accounting/analytics.
• Rock Rabbit: $6.0 million in Seed for building energy efficiency.

Valuations and Deal Value

• Median pre-money valuation: Increased slightly from $15 million in 2022 to $15.2 million in 2024.
• Median deal value: Rose from $3.5 million in 2023 to $4.1 million in 2024.
• Deal value bias: The increase in median deal value may be due to higher valuations being more likely to be reported, with lower valuations and down rounds less visible.

Exit Activity

• Exit value in 2024: Only $0.5 billion, significantly lower than the $1.9 billion in 2022 and 2023.
• Exit count: 25 exits in 2024, up from 21 in 2022.
• Notable exits:
  • Synspective: IPO in December 2024 at $274 million valuation.
  • Sustain.Life: Acquired by Workiva for $98.3 million.
  • Voltan Lähienergia: Acquired by InfraRed Capital Partners via an $81.2 million leveraged buyout.

Challenges and Opportunities

• Political Uncertainty: The US political environment, especially under the Trump administration, has introduced uncertainty regarding the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), affecting VC activity.
• Datacenter Growth: Datacenters are a significant driver of investment in energy efficiency technologies but also compete for clean energy resources.
• Exit Trends: Exit activity has been limited, with a focus on data-driven and analytics-based subsectors such as climate/Earth data, building energy efficiency, and carbon accounting/analytics.

Market Outlook

• Future M&A Trends: Expected to focus on data-centric categories with broad applications across multiple sectors.
• Industry Segment: Typically the largest by deal value, with $4.6 billion raised in 2024, surpassing carbon tech's $3.6 billion.

Conclusion

Despite challenges, the carbon & emissions tech space remains active, with a focus on innovation and sustainability. The industry segment continues to dominate in terms of deal value, while the carbon tech segment saw significant growth in Q4 2024. The sector is expected to evolve with more emphasis on data and analytics, and the potential for M&A in these areas is anticipated to rise.