Back
The word on the 2022 SOSV Climate Tech Summit and Matchup
Back
Benjamin Joffe
Benjamin Joffe
The image ia text only and says The 2022 Summit Recap

The second annual SOSV Climate Tech Summit took place in a world far different from the first. Conflict in Ukraine, surging inflation, supply chain disruptions, and the rise in extreme weather events dimmed last year’s exuberance. At the same time, across the summit’s 20 hours of programming on Oct. 25 and 26 there was no mistaking the ecosystem’s continued energy and commitment.

The Summit presented 60+ speakers, including 20 investors and 25 founders, and more than 3,000 attendees turned up, which is a 27% increase over last year’s event. The sessions are available on the SOSV YouTube channel and in this post.

We were very proud of the agenda’s breadth, incorporating as it did great investors like Lowercarbon’s Chris Sacca, Khosla’s Rajesh Swaminathan and Vargas’ Carl-Erik Lagercrantz;  founders like Helion’s David Kirtley, Quaise’s Carlos Araque, and Notco’s Matias Muchnik; and government figures like US DoE’s Jigar Shah and Singapore Minister Grace Fu; and all around fascinating folks sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson and Princeton’s Jesse Jenkins.

In addition to the summit, more than 1000 founders and investors participated in SOSV’s first ever climate founder-investor Matchup, and they scheduled at least 1500 meetings on the platform and many elsewhere as well. We had more modest expectations from this invitation-only sidebar to the summit, but the viral response was a welcome surprise. Some 97% of the participants said they would sign up again, and our favorite comment came from a founder who said “We had more meetings with VCs in three days than in the prior three months.”

That was music to our ears. We produced the Summit and the Matchup in order to help the climate ecosystem develop faster, which means getting more money to more outstanding founders. We need all the well funded, innovative companies we can spin up to address climate challenges. SOSV’s own Climate Tech 100, the best of our more than 150 climate companies we nurtured from pre-seed onward, is testament to the range and quality of great climate tech founders in the world.

As a final note, the SOSV team was also delighted to have our founding and manager general partner, Sean O’Sullivan, co-host the summit with HAX’s chief science officer, Susan Schofer. from SOSV’s new HAX office in Newark, NJ. They showcased the new HAX space as well as the new IndieBio offices a short train ride away in New York City at 7 Penn Plaza. That NYC-Newark / IndieBio-HAX combo is at the heart of SOSV’s Deep Tech strategy for the region.


We look forward to bringing The SOSV Climate Tech Summit and Matchup back in 2023. We are open to ideas and comments. Please reach us here.

Did you know?