This fifth edition of the Cleantech 50 to Watch is a delight to us to share with you. I anticipate that we will reflect thoughtfully on this list and the analysis that came with it as our final edition of the first 2020s. The U.S. presidential election will be decided in only a few weeks, and there will be a lot of activity in the months that follow to respond to the reset expectations for the second half of this decade. The difficulties are getting worse, but early biotech innovation’s trend toward the more difficult problems and deeper problems is also growing.
The Deep Tech Dynamic is Continuing to Advance
The lowest hanging fruit had previously been picked, and deep tech innovation was slowly becoming recognized as the long-term growth frontier in clean tech, as we noted with enthusiasm last year. This trend has just gotten worse in the first half of 2024, with some regions now exceeding their 2023 totals.
Growth Investments by Deep Tech by Cleantech Ventures andamp;
In many of these spaces, the perception of risk is being reduced as a result of a wave of first-of-a-kind projects over the past few years. Take as an example the fact that strong tech innovators raise funds significantly lower TRL levels than recipients of funds in deals across clean tech. There is, of course, a degree of multicollinearity here ( only those with deep tech confidence will make the investments ), but it is unlikely that this trend will be matched by the fact that the last 18 months have been the strongest indication of it. Perhaps more important, as more deep tech innovations stand up in physical form ( pilots, demonstrations, first-of-a-kind commercial operations ), the financial risk profile will begin to soften as well – expect more in the spaces below in the coming years.
Venture funding recipients ‘ level of technological readiness
As evidence of the successes and failures of the latest “wave” of innovation, new positive policy environments have begun to encourage a leapfrog effect. Take hydrogen as an example: on-site electrolysis technologies have been gaining a lot of their attention in recent years due to their cost savings. While that is also important, we see some innovators cropping up that are pursuing other approaches:
- Hydrogen can be an unlocking agent for geologic hydrogen and other central sources, according to Cleantech 50 to Watch companies like Ayrton Energy ( converts hydrogen into room pressure carrier oils ) and Rift ( produces iron fuel with a hydrogen input for storage in standard steel tanks ).
- Ammonia for fertilizers ( and potentially shipping fuels ) is a major beachhead market for clean hydrogen with low or no hydrogen production.
- NitroFix and Swan-H, two Cleantech 50 to Watch companies, are able to create water without using an outside hydrogen source.
- Nitrovolt has developed a” Nitrolyzer” that pioneers the use of a lithium-mediated ammonia synthesis process, also with the goal of eventual ammonia production from air, water, and electricity
Grid Resilience Urgency Also Reflected in Innovation
 , As the world gears up to add an estimated 3, 700 gigawatts ( IEA ) of renewables through 2028 and serve a generational growth in power demand from data centers, electrification of industry, and EVs, there remains an overarching threat of weather events toward existing and future grid infrastructure. Innovationists are communicating this message loud and clear.
Venture &, Growth Investments in Power Resilience
Only in this year’s Cleantech 50 to Watch, we see innovation that ranges from improved grid planning and optimization to important grid hardware reinvention. The role of AI can be seen in every business that appears on this year’s list.
- A grid planning and monitoring tool called Rhizome can model resilience threats for up to 50 years in the future to significantly reduce grid investments ‘ risk.
- ThinkLabs is providing physics-based digital twins for important alternative energy and grid infrastructure
- Grid Raven uses digital twins to model wind impacts to the meter to produce precise fluid line ratings, improving grid capacity and resilience.
- Ionate uses high-precision electric power flow controls to reinvent the electronic transformer’s internal workings without reinventing the form factor.
Textiles &, Plastics – A New Innovation Cycle Begins
An accumulation of textile waste has become a worldwide challenge to be reckoned with after decades of e-commerce and the expansion of the rapid fashion segment. Policies are on the horizon, most evidently in the EU, with concrete plans to require more sustainable textile design and increase support for spiral supply chains. Innovators are responding to the challenge, and, while the absolute investment figures do n’t show it, this has quickly become a core area of waste and recycling innovation.
Companies looking to impact the recycling of textiles and the production of virgin textiles are featured in a dozen places in this year’s Cleantech 50 to Watch list:
- Refiberd uses artificial intelligence and spectral imaging to sort textiles.
- Simplifyber is flattening the leather manufacturing process by using cellulosic and recyclable materials in its manufacturing process.
By 2060, virgin plastic production and plastic-related emissions are expected to triple and twice, both, while depolymerization and recycling processes like depolymerization and dissolution are boosting plastic recycling rates. But, a look through this year’s Cleantech 50 to Watch shows an enabling diversity of approaches entering development, both on plastics supply and management:
- Mushroom Material transforms agricultural waste from mycelium into recyclable Styrofoam.
- To replace cheap packaging, FlexSea has created novel biomaterials made from green marine resources.
- Macrocycle Technologies has developed a plastics recycling-to-product process using synthesis of cyclic macromolecules ( macrocycles )
- To create biomaterials without biological feedstock restraints, Atacama Biomaterials is the first company to develop an AI-driven formulation engine.
We want to congratulate everyone who won this year’s Cleantech 50 to Watch awards. As always, we want to hear from the wider cleantech community as well. If you have any novel ideas that you think will have an impact on the world in the near future, please feel free to contact us.
