On Earth Day, April 22, 2021, SOSV published its SOSV Climate Tech 100 list, a collection of the top climate tech companies in our portfolio. The list was notable because the companies up to that point had raised $1.85 billion from investors (including $89 million from SOSV), and had a market cap in aggregate of $5.65 billion.
Techcrunch reported on those numbers and commented that SOSV’s “planetary health’ mission was “paying off.” We subsequently published detailed analyses of the list’s founders and investors, and we announced an Oct. 20–21 event called the SOSV Climate Tech Summit, aimed at helping the climate ecosystem move faster.
Now it’s nearly five months later, and the Climate Tech 100 list financials are due for an update. Thanks to the strength of the companies on the list as well as a powerful surge in climate tech venture investing, the financials for the 100 have taken a big step forward.
- The SOSV Climate Tech 100 aggregate value has jumped from $5.7 billion to over $8.1 billion, an increase of 44%.
- Total investment in the 100 increased $508 million to reach $2.36 billion, an increase of nearly 28%.
- SOSV topped off its investments with $13.8M to reach $103 million, an increase of 15.5%.
25 startups on the list raised new funding. The largest contributors to the jump in valuation were major raises at NotCo, Formlabs, and R-Zero.
- NotCo is a food technology company that uses AI to create new food formulations for animal-based product replacements like milk, mayonnaise and more. They raised $235 million in a round led by Tiger Global. NotCo graduated from SOSV’s IndieBio and is the program’s first unicorn.
- Formlabs is a pioneer in 3D printing and has been growing steadily, developing new products, materials and market opportunities. It raised $150M in a Softbank-led round.
- R-Zero provides UV-based disinfection systems for buildings that dramatically reduces the use of chemical disinfectants. It raised $41.5M in a round led by World Innovation Lab. R-Zero graduated from SOSV’s hard tech program HAX.
Aside from those three frontrunners, SOSV’s food and ag portfolio continued to grow quickly, and manufacturing-related startups picked up momentum as well. The Climate Tech sector in 2021 overall has been on a tear, with more money invested in more startups than ever, about $16b across close to 250 venture deals in 1H2021, according to research from Climate Tech VC.
We look forward to watching all the companies in the climate tech category continue to grow strongly in the months ahead. Please join us at the virtual (and free) SOSV Climate Tech Summit to hear from the top investors and founders across the ecosystem who are working hard to make a difference for our planet’s well-being.