⚡Emerging Climate Tech themes and companies in 2023
As a recent entrant into the space, I've seen these climate themes as most notable amongst startups.
2023 Climate Tech Areas & Companies List
Hi all -
I’ve been a surprising convert to the climate tech space in 2023 and wanted to share some of the exciting areas and startups/companies that have caught my eye in case it would help the budding enthusiast, aspiring jobseeker, or anxious macro-aware VC. A little background on myself:
Product and Ops leader in startups small and large the past 10 years; before I was in finance and government.
Most recently at Instacart before taking a short sabbatical.
Now jumping into climate tech as a first-time founder with an LA-based technical lead (say 👋 Nathan).
Lastly, we’ve been working on an MVP for a renewable energy savings platform for consumers and communities called GreenDeals. More to come.
Without further ado…
I started created this Airtable list of 52 software-related climate areas and 269 companies that caught my attention in April 2023 as I was attempting to make sense of this burgeoning ecosystem. I drew inspiration from wonderful Slack communities (Work On Climate, My Climate Journey), informative websites (Climate Tech List - Steven 👊, Climate Tech VC), and even tech-friendly blogs / Substacks (Build in Climate - Matt 👊, YC Request for Climate Startups). This helped me map out what themes were nascent, active, or saturated as I was looking to build my own thing. I do note some hardware companies and areas in the list but since it’s out of my wheelhouse, I hesitated to include them (would love to add later as I understand them more thoroughly).
Interestingly enough, unless you’re a dedicated climate tech VC or enjoy compiling lovely, Lumascape logomaps for a living, the average entrant into climate tech isn’t usually presented with an eagle eye’s view.
My general modus operandi before creating this list was to 1) read a climate tech newsletter or listen to a well-regarded podcast where a compelling company was discussed and then 2) perform an unstructured mental catalog of its existence, stage, and placement within the climate universe. While this was helpful for my edification, I wanted a bit more rigor and thus this inchoate list was born. Note that it’s still a living document so expect more evolutions if warranted.
One last note or notes: consider this more of an “oral history” or an “overheard…” type list vs. a more professional, McKinsey-esque one (looking at you, Climate Tech VC 🙏) that you would get from your svelte VC friend. This is only a sliver of the thousands of climate tech startups, growth companies, and public behemoths or unicorns that exist.
First, a more general picture:
Source: Climate Tech VC, State of the State of climate tech funding 1/13/23
Second, my software-oriented list: Geared towards energy, industry and climate management.
2023 Climate Tech Areas & Companies List
Trends I’m noticing:
☀️ 🔌 Incumbent direction: Solar is a large TAM area but I’d make sure to not forget about battery storage given the adjustment in net metering laws (most recently in California). EV charging isn’t new but consumer interest is high there with more broadbased car adoption this year. We’re seeing this even in our paid marketing data for our startup launch.
🌿💸 I’m bullish on: Green fintech whether through making it easier to finance a project or lowering the cost appear to be clearcut problems that will spur consumer or commercial adoption.
🏠 👥 Up next: Expansion of home electrification startups along with heat pumps / VPP in 2023. Community solar? Permitting streamlining? Will these take off as more states adopt them?
📒 Lukewarm: Carbon accounting and credits were hot in 2021/2022 but seem to be waning.
🤖 TBD: Haven’t seen any generative AI-specific ones that have seemed promising but with recent hackathons and momentum, I expect to hear more very shortly. I’m not sold on personalizing your carbon footprint yet, but I find the appeal of the circular economy to be growing.
👷🏛 Policy problem? Would love to see workforce enablement or electrician shortage issue be solved but I’m leaning towards this as a society issue and not a core technology one. You can’t automate hardware.
TO DO: If you find the Airtable list helpful, I’d encourage you to SHARE it so other curious people in climate tech can start to get a lay of the land. Email hello@greendeals.io if we’re missing any climate areas, new/existing companies we should add, or modifications to the list to make it more effective. All suggestions welcome.
Best,
Peter Vu