A report providing an overview of the Energy Technology startup landscape, graphical trends and insights, and recent funding and exit events. Contact info@venturescanner.com to learn more!
1. Venture Scanner is your analyst and technology-powered startup research firm
March 2017
Energy Technology
Startup Market Trends and Insights
2. Energy technology report outline
2
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
4. Energy tech startups are creating new businesses in 12 categories
4
Energy
Technology
Learn about our full 743 company
report with $44B in funding
The graphic above shows a sampling of companies in each category, stats as of March 2017
Solar Energy Wind Energy Geothermal Energy Hydropower Energy Bioenergy
Traditional Energy Enhancements Consumer Energy Efficiency
Energy Infrastructure Energy Storage Carbon Management Energy By-Product
Management
Fuel Cell Technology
5. 5
Innovation quadrant for energy technology
AVERAGE FUNDING ($M)
AVERAGEAGE(YEARS)
ESTABLISHED HEAVYWEIGHTS
PIONEERS DISRUPTORS
This quadrant shows a relative segmentation of the categories with respect to one another, March 2017
Fuel Cell
Technology
Hydropower
Energy
Wind
Energy
Geothermal
Energy
Traditional
Enhancements
Solar
Energy
By-Product
Management
Efficiency Tools
Carbon
Management
Energy
Storage
Bioenergy
Energy
Infrastructure
6. Energy technology startups play in many different categories (1 of 2)
6
Bioenergy
42 Startups, $2B Total Funding
Companies that generate energy from biomass,
including development, research, and
monitoring
Consumer Energy Efficiency Tools
104 Startups, $2.2B Total Funding
Companies 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 Funding
Companies that reduce and recover waste
created during energy production, such
treating waste water from fracking
Carbon Management
37 Startups, $1B Total Funding
Companies that aim to reduce carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gas emissions, including
sequestering and recycling
Energy Infrastructure
162 Startups, $10B Total Funding
Companies that enable the production and
delivery of energy, such as smart meters and
energy grid optimizers
Energy Storage
87 Startups, $6B Total Funding
Companies that develop new methods to store
energy for use at later times, such as storing
excess renewable energy
Category stats as of March 2017
7. Energy technology startups play in many different categories (2 of 2)
7
Fuel Cell Technology
26 Startups, $1.5B Total Funding
Companies that generate power by using
hydrogen and oxygen for fuel, including
development, research, and monitoring
Hydropower Energy
34 Startups, $384M Total Funding
Companies 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 Funding
Companies that improve the effectiveness and
sustainability of traditional energy sources,
such as methods to make fossil fuels cleaner
Geothermal Energy
21 Startups, $2B Total Funding
Companies that use geothermal power to
generate electricity, including development,
research, and monitoring
Solar Energy
165 Startups, $16.8B Total Funding
Companies that generate power by converting
sunlight into energy, including solar panel
manufacturers and installers
Wind Energy
57 Startups, $5.6B Total Funding
Companies that generate power using air flow,
including wind turbine manufacturers and
installers
Category stats as of March 2017
9. 9
Investing into energy technology happens in a variety of categories
The Solar Energy category accounts for 34% of venture funding and 21% of
total companies in the energy technology sector
Venture Investing in Energy Technology
Companies are categorized by function, and therefore can exist in multiple categories. March 2017
-
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
CompanyCount
TotalFunding($B)
VC Funding Count
10. 10
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
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
TotalFunding($B)
11. 11
Recent energy technology funding events tend to be mid-stage rounds
Energy Technology Funding Amount By Round
Series C and Series D rounds account for 58% of the energy technology funding
amount in 2016
Data as of March 2017
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
FundingAmount($B)
Late Stage Series D Series C Series B Series A Seed
12. 12
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
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
TotalFunding($B)
Year Founded
13. 13
Energy technology startups are a global phenomenon
Energy Technology Startup Count by Country
0 475
Companies
Data as of March 2017
14. 14
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
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
NumberofInvestments
Number of Investments Number of Companies Backed
15. 15
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
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
NumberofExits
Public Acquired
17. 17
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
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Seed Series A Series B Series C Series D Late Stage
FundingEventCount
18. 18
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
19. 19
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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