The SOSV Climate Tech 100

About Climate Tech 100

SOSV’s core mission is human and planetary health, and the Climate Tech 100 springs from that commitment. We published the list for the first time on Earth Day, April 22, 2021, and TechCrunch covered the event. The list helped demonstrate why Pitchbook has ranked SOSV the #1 climate tech investor since 2018.

The climate tech 100 startups cover every category in climate, from energy and transport to manufacturing and circular economy. SOSV is especially strong in the food and agriculture categories, which account for three (Perfect Day, NotCo, Upside Foods) of the five unicorns in the 2022 edition of the climate 100. The other two are car-sharing firm GetAround and 3D-printer Formlabs. Most of the companies on the list in 2021 and 2022 are alums of the HAX and IndieBio programs.

SOSV has been deeply committed to climate tech for over a decade. We find and fund pre-seed startups that are inventing a better future. The human race isn’t called a race because we’re standing still – we’re in a hurry and we can do it; and because we can do it, we must do it.

Closing address of Sean O’Sullivan, SOSV Managing Partner, at the SOSV Climate Tech Summit 2021 (Video)

The financial performance of the climate 100 between 2021 and 2022 is eye-opening. The aggregate valuation of the companies doubled to reach $11 billion, and the capital invested also doubled to $3.8 billion. SOSV’s capital deployed grew 55% to reach $138 million. 

In our view, the category should be expanding even faster, given the urgency of our climate problem. One challenge to faster growth is the fragmentation of venture support for the category. There are too few experienced, repeat investors in climate, an issue SOSV documented with ground-breaking research published in TechCrunch.

Partly in response to those insights, we launched the SOSV Climate Tech Summit as a means to bring together the climate tech startup ecosystem and educate investors. More than 2,000 people participated in the 2021  two-day virtual event that included speakers Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, Katie Rae, Bill Gross and many more. The Summit returns Oct. 25-26, and registration is open.

One clear lesson from the SOSV Climate Tech 100 is that the breakthroughs our future requires  are coming  from an incredibly global and diverse collection of highly educated founders. The companies on the list hail from 19 countries including Japan, Kenya and Indonesia. For 63 companies, the US was the location of choice for their headsquarters, followed by Singapore (7), Canada (5), then the UK and Mexico with 3 companies each. Also worthy of note, 38% of the companies have at least one female co-founder and 42% have at least one PhD among the co-founders.

To read a more comprehensive analysis of the lists, read our climate 100 posts for 2021 and 2022.

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