COP26 - We can do this!
At SJF Ventures we have been investing in climate tech companies for more than two decades. Our first fund in 1999 was $17 million and our fifth fund in 2021 is over 10X that size, as we have generated great returns for our LPs. Our message to all the new climate investors and entrepreneurs is 'jump in, the water is fine'... and we need to pick up the pace!
We have already backed many climate impact companies and looking for more! In solar, we have partnered with Nextracker (pictured), Community Energy, groSolar, PosiGen, and Terabase to help drive down the cost of solar, collectively deploying over 50 gigawatts to date globally. In less obvious climate impact sectors, like the circular economy, we have helped scale up fantastic ventures like TemperPack, Living Earth, Novinium, HYLA, and Optoro.
Beyond cleaning up the power grid with solar and wind and developing more sustainable products and materials, we also need to deploy energy storage, electrify mobility, and accelerate efficiency. Our portfolio companies Voltaiq, ENTOUCH, Ayla Networks, Waycare and TransLoc are all helping in those transitions.
Most of these companies were founded before a broad awareness of climate change and supportive policies were in place... and before we had many coinvestors joining us. That has all changed now, with the boom of new climate tech funds which I characterized as a 'Forest of Funds' in an article back in the summer of 2019, and the trend has only accelerated of late.
We welcome all these new funds who are rapidly capitalizing many more ventures... from early, deep tech breakthrough bets through late stage project finance. We certainly need for policy to catch up and the climate provisions in the Build Back Better bill are a good next step. Let's hope that commitments out of Glasgow by the US, China, India and other big emitters step up to the more aggressive steps needed to keep to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Time is of the essence and we can build many more ventures providing fulfilling jobs, resilience, and awesome investor returns... while continuing to push the policies needed to get us fully off fossil fuels.
Dave Kirkpatrick
领英推荐
Some of my prior articles along the way going back to a 2015 piece on 100% clean energy:
Partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
3 年Great work by you and your SJF team. Been a pleasure to provide support over the last 20 years with a lot more impact left to provide.
Thank you for your leadership and that of the SJF Ventures portfolio companies. You bet we can do this! Let’s keep leading!