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March 2017
Energy Technology Startup Market Trends and Insights
Energy technology report outline
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This report provides an overview of the energy technology sector and is broken down into three sections
Sector Description
High-level sector metrics with sub-category
definitions
Trends & Insights
Infographics and data points for the energy
technology sector
Quarterly Activity
Major funding and exit events from the previous
90 days
Venture Scanner reports are built by analysts utilizing our startup database and research platform
Energy Technology Sector Description
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Energy tech startups are creating new businesses in 12 categories
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Energy Technology
Learn about our full 743 company report with $44B in funding
The graphic above shows a sampling of companies in each category, stats as of March 2017
Solar Energy Wind Energy Geothermal Energy Hydropower Energy Bioenergy
Traditional Energy Enhancements Consumer Energy Efficiency
Energy Infrastructure Energy Storage Carbon Management Energy By-Product Management
Fuel Cell Technology
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Innovation quadrant for energy technology
AVERAGE FUNDING ($M)
AV
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EA
RS
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ESTABLISHED HEAVYWEIGHTS
PIONEERS DISRUPTORS
This quadrant shows a relative segmentation of the categories with respect to one another, March 2017
Fuel CellTechnology
HydropowerEnergy
WindEnergy
Geothermal Energy
TraditionalEnhancements
SolarEnergy
By-ProductManagement
Efficiency Tools
CarbonManagement
EnergyStorage
Bioenergy
EnergyInfrastructure
Energy technology startups play in many different categories (1 of 2)
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Bioenergy42 Startups, $2B Total FundingCompanies that generate energy from biomass, including development, research, and monitoring
Consumer Energy Efficiency Tools104 Startups, $2.2B Total FundingCompanies that help consumers be more efficient with their energy use, including monitoring devices and predictive analytics
Energy Production By-Product Management 21 Startups, $186M Total FundingCompanies that reduce and recover waste created during energy production, such treating waste water from fracking
Carbon Management 37 Startups, $1B Total FundingCompanies that aim to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, including sequestering and recycling
Energy Infrastructure 162 Startups, $10B Total FundingCompanies that enable the production and delivery of energy, such as smart meters and energy grid optimizers
Energy Storage87 Startups, $6B Total FundingCompanies that develop new methods to store energy for use at later times, such as storing excess renewable energy
Category stats as of March 2017
Energy technology startups play in many different categories (2 of 2)
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Fuel Cell Technology26 Startups, $1.5B Total FundingCompanies that generate power by using hydrogen and oxygen for fuel, including development, research, and monitoring
Hydropower Energy 34 Startups, $384M Total FundingCompanies that generate power from the energy of moving water, such as wave energy converters and run-of-the-river systems
Traditional Energy Enhancements 40 Startups, $2.5B Total FundingCompanies that improve the effectiveness and sustainability of traditional energy sources, such as methods to make fossil fuels cleaner
Geothermal Energy 21 Startups, $2B Total FundingCompanies that use geothermal power to generate electricity, including development, research, and monitoring
Solar Energy 165 Startups, $16.8B Total FundingCompanies that generate power by converting sunlight into energy, including solar panel manufacturers and installers
Wind Energy 57 Startups, $5.6B Total FundingCompanies that generate power using air flow, including wind turbine manufacturers and installers
Category stats as of March 2017
Energy TechnologySector Trends & Insights
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Investing into energy technology happens in a variety of categories
The Solar Energy category accounts for 34% of venture funding and 21% of total companies in the energy technology sector
Venture Investing in Energy Technology
Companies are categorized by function, and therefore can exist in multiple categories. March 2017
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VC Funding Count
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VC funding into energy technology spiked significantly in 2016
Overall energy technology VC funding grew at a CAGR of 34% from 2011-2016, large funding events in 2016 included Gas Natural and Tesla
Energy Technology Funding Over Time
Data as of March 2017
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2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
To
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Recent energy technology funding events tend to be mid-stage rounds
Energy Technology Funding Amount By Round
Series C and Series D rounds account for 58% of the energy technology funding amount in 2016
Data as of March 2017
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2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
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Late Stage Series D Series C Series B Series A Seed
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Energy technology startups founded in 2007 lead in VC funding
Startups founded in 2007 account for 28% of the sector funding over the last decade, and include companies like Terra-Gen Power, Sunrun, and View Glass
Energy Technology Funding By Vintage Year
Data as of March 2017
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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
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Year Founded
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Energy technology startups are a global phenomenon
Energy Technology Startup Count by Country
0 475Companies
Data as of March 2017
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Top VC investors are making bets into the energy technology sector
Selected Investor Activity in Energy Technology
The above count represents a subset of overall investor activity, March 2017
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Nu
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Number of Investments Number of Companies Backed
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Energy technology exit activity has been steady in recent years
Exit events within energy technology are equally split between acquisitions and IPOs over the last decade
Energy Technology M&A and IPO Events
Data as of March 2017
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2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
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Public Acquired
Energy TechnologyQuarterly Notable Events
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Recent energy technology funding statistics
There have been 50 energy technology funding events since Dec 2016
Recent Energy Technology Funding Round Counts
Graph shows only the funding types listed therein, March 2017
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Seed Series A Series B Series C Series D Late Stage
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Recent energy technology funding events
Notable Recent Energy Technology Funding Events
Company Funding Type Amount Date
Debt Financing $390,000,000 Jan 17, 2017
Post-IPO Funding $303,000,000 Jan 11, 2017
Post-IPO Funding $240,000,000 Feb 22, 2017
Post-IPO Funding $210,000,000 Jan 17, 2017
Debt Financing $200,000,000 Feb 28, 2017
Energy tech startups raised $2.3 billion since December 2016
Data as of March 2017
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Notable recent energy technology exit events
Notable Recent Energy Technology Acquisitions
Company Acquirer/IPO Amount Date
IPO $110,000,000 Mar 14, 2017
Unknown Jan 13, 2017
Unknown Jan 11, 2017
Unknown Jan 10, 2017
Unknown Dec 21, 2016
There have been 5 exit events since December 2016, 4 acquisitions and 1 IPO
Data as of March 2017
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