Four years ago, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink made a bold prediction: the next 1,000 unicorns — startups valued at over $1 billion — would come from the climate tech sector. Blackrock has since backtracked a lot on its commitments to the energy transition (and faces backlash and a greenwashing complaint!)

While we think many more climate tech unicorns will emerge over the coming years, it’s true the current market dynamics present a more complex funding landscape. According to CTVC, in the first half of 2024, climate tech companies received $11.9 billion from venture capital and growth investors, a 20% dip from the previous period in 2023—the lowest level since 2020. It’s also taking companies much longer to raise money compared to the much faster pace in 2021 and, according to CB Insights, not a single new climate unicorn emerged in the first half of the year. 

Yet, there are bright spots. Valuations have stabilized, signaling a maturing market with opportunities for both impact and returns only getting clearer. Moreover, it’s essential to note that the venture capital industry doesn’t show the whole climate tech picture. These numbers exclude support from government and institutional investors funding, grants or loans, and big project finance to get large-scale climate solutions up and running. Together, these extra sources of funding mean that the climate tech market is still growing and has more activity than it might seem at first.

In our recent whitepaper, we discussed the powerful economic drivers pushing climate tech into the mainstream far beyond its niche roots. From declining cost curves to geopolitical competition driven by energy security and to individuals simply caring more about sustainability in their work and daily lives; the main forces supporting climate tech growth remain.  

Read our full whitepaper to learn more about the long-term drivers of climate tech 

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At Carbon Equity, our mission remains clear: fund the game-changers. Help them become large companies that have the power to slash emissions and transform our industries. In fact, many climate tech companies are already driving substantial shifts across energy production, transport, heavy industry and more. Though they are more capital-intensive than traditional tech, these companies are making headway. This isn’t a fleeting trend—it’s a powerful movement toward low-carbon solutions that can have a material climate impact as well as deliver financial returns. 

In this article, we highlight some of the most impressive climate tech unicorns we’ve supported. These companies are setting new standards —from renewable energy storage to low-carbon steel—proving that even in challenging times, we continue to see rapid growth and transformative change. 

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9 climate tech unicorns we’re proud to support

Note: Yes, “unicorn” status doesn’t guarantee success but it’s still a strong signal of companies scaling towards market leadership and unlocking their full impact potential.

Form Energy: solving solar intermittency with iron and air (batteries)  

  • Headquarters: United States
  • Funding: Its latest $405M Series F financing round brings its total funding to more than $1.2 billion.
  • Top investors: Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, Energy Impact Partners*, TPG Rise Climate, Temasek, Capricorn, GIC and T. Rowe Price.

Form Energy is tackling a major hurdle in renewable energy: intermittency. Their iron-air battery, built on some of the world’s most abundant materials (iron, air and water), stores energy for up to 100 hours and at 1/10th of the cost of lithium-ion batteries. How does it work? The battery uses oxidation to release energy, and deoxidation to recharge. Form’s solution is making affordable, reliable energy storage that enables us to use clean electricity even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.  

Form Energy is scaling up fast, and broke ground on its first-of-its-kind multi-day energy storage project in Cambridge, Minnesota. The project, announced in August 2024, marks the first commercial deployment of Form Energy’s iron-air battery technology. But that’s not all. Xcel is set to install Form’s long-duration batteries at retiring coal plants. The project will provide 10 megawatts of instantaneous power for up to 100 hours, meaning it will store a total of 1,000 megawatt-hours. This makes this project among the largest in the world in terms of the amount of energy stored.

Form Energy’s tech could pave the way for a fossil-free electric grid around the clock, and further slash emissions from electricity production. 
 

Kobold Metals: low-carbon sourcing of critical minerals 

  • Headquarters: United States
  • Funding: Total funding amounts to $895M
  • Top investors: Andreessen Horowitz, T. Wore Price, Breakthrough Energy Ventures*, CPP Investments.

As explained above with Redwood Materials, critical minerals, like lithium, cobalt, and nickel,  are essential to clean energy. Kobold Metals is using AI and big data to rethink how we find and mine them. Their platform sifts through massive amounts of data about the earth to pinpoint new mineral sources faster and with very high environmental and social standards.

With over 60 projects spanning four continents, they’re already reshaping natural resource discovery. Earlier this year, KoBold Metals found what might be one of the largest high-grade copper deposits of all time, with the potential to produce hundreds of thousands of metric tons per year, the company’s CEO said.

Now, just eight months later, KoBold is close to raising over half a billion dollars. The funding should help the company develop the massive copper resource while keeping the momentum going on dozens of other exploration projects in their pipeline.
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Octopus Energy: combining technology and data to make renewable energy affordable and accessible everywhere.

  • Headquarters: United Kingdom 
  • Funding: Octopus recently raised new funds at a $9B valuation. It has entered this summer as one of the most valuable privately held startups in the world. Total funding is over $1.9B.
  • Top investors: CPP Investments, Generation Investment Management, Origin Energy, Tokyo Gas, Lightrock*.

Home electrification does not just require the deployment of new equipement and infrastructure, but also the technologies that efficiently manage the new energy system. Octopus Energy is UK’s most awarded energy supplier. They provide affordable and renewable energy by harnessing technology and data. 

Octopus does a lot: from helping customers install clean energy solutions like solar panels and heat pumps, investments in energy generation, to EV charging installation and EV leasing. To support all their operations their software platform manages customer billing and relationship management, distributed energy resources, and renewable energy generation. 

The company is now present in 18 countries serving 7M+ customers directly and 46M through other companies using their software around the world and their latest funding round will be used to fund their expansion in North America.

Last September, Octopus Energy launched a pioneering donation trial that allows solar customers to share the value of their excess energy with those facing fuel poverty. Octopus solar sharing lets households with surplus solar energy donate the value of their excess energy to the fuel poverty charity National Energy Action.

Stegra: building an electrifying future for steel 

  • Headquarters: Sweden
    Valuation: $4.1b (Public information from July 2024)
  • Funding: Total funding (including debt financing of €4.2 billion) for the Sweden plant amounts to €6.5 billion euros.
  • Top investors: Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Altor*, GIC, Just Climate and Temasek.

Steel is the single most carbon-intensive manufactured good on earth. By using green hydrogen instead of fossil fuels in the steelmaking process, Stegra is slashing emissions by up to 95%. 

In Boden, Sweden, Stegra is building a fully integrated near-zero-emission steel production facility: powered entirely by renewable electricity and using hydrogen to transform iron ore into nearly zero-emission steel, with only steam (just plain water) as a byproduct. It’s not just innovation; it’s a whole new standard for steel production backed by investments from the Swedish Energy Agency and the European Commission, totaling over €365 million. 

Offtake agreements are central to getting capital intensive climate technologies off the ground and key partnerships with companies like Mercedes-Benz and Lindab secure the future of green steel, with 159,000 tons set for delivery by 2026. 

With steel comprising over 90% of global metal use, Stegra’s breakthrough could transform decarbonization efforts worldwide.
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Electric Hydrogen: paving the way for green hydrogen

  • Headquarters: United States
  • Funding: Total funding amounts to more than $600M, including $65M from the Department of Energy.
  • Top investors: Fifth Wall, Energy Impact Partners*, Temasek, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Equinor Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures* and Rio Tinto.

As we’ve just established with Stegra, hydrogen is critical for decarbonizing heavy industries. Yes, concerns persist about production costs, infrastructure development, and the overall sustainability of hydrogen production but Electric Hydrogen is simplifying production process with its advanced electrolysis technology.

Its Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis tech is designed for green hydrogen production and to make it both cheaper and more efficient. This 100MW, pre-assembled solution lowers project costs and slashes industrial waste. And with up to 80% electrical efficiency, it outperforms traditional systems’ 65-68% by a mile. 

With a 1.2GW of electrolyzer factory in the works, Eclectic Hydrogen is scaling fast. And a  major offtake agreement with AES Corporation for 1GW of electrolyzers signals their commitment to driving real change.

Backed by advanced tech and the latest policies, Electric Hydrogen is making clean energy accessible for hard-to-abate industries. By addressing both economic and technical barriers, Electric Hydrogen is helping green hydrogen become a practical solution for low-carbon energy for the future.
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Redwood Materials: creating a circular battery supply chain

  • Headquarters: United States
  • Funding: In 2023, Redwood announced the completion of its $1 billion in Series D shares. This means that to date, Redwood has raised nearly $2 billion of equity capital along with an additional $2B loan commitment from the Department of Energy.
  • Top investors: Goldman Sachs, Capricorn, T. Rowe Price, Caterpillar Venture Capital and Breakthrough Energy Ventures*

Batteries will power our clean energy future, but their components, like lithium, nickel and cobalt, come at a significant environmental cost. By recovering these valuable materials  Redwood Materials reduces the need for polluting mining operations. 

Founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, Redwood Materials uses end-of-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries to create a low-carbon supply chain for a new generation of lithium-ion batteries. They are also localizing the supply chain by producing battery components in the US. This circular approach minimizes waste and cuts the carbon footprint of EVs, promoting cleaner transportation. 

Redwood’s Hydrometallurgy facility not only recycles battery manufacturing scrap into raw nickel and cobalt but also stands as the only commercial-scale source of lithium supply to come online in the US in decades. Their technology is able to reclaim 95% of lithium from scrap battery materials. Redwood recently announced a partnership with BMW to recycle lithium-ion batteries. This means they will recycle lithium-ion batteries from all electrified vehicles in the BMW Group, including BMW, MINI, Rolls Royce, and BMW Motorrad.

Twelve: turning air pollution into chemicals, materials and sustainable fuels

  • Headquarters: United States 
  • Funding: Latest funding round of $645M was a strategic mix of capital which includes $400M in project equity led by TPG Rise Climate, $200M in Series C financing, and an additional $45M in credit facilities. Total funding (including Series A and B) amounts to more than $850M.
  • Top investors: TPG Rise Climate, Capricorn, Fifth Wall, DCVC* and Carbon Direct*.

Aviation and chemicals are some of the biggest climate offenders, with aviation alone churning out 2% of global CO2 emissions. . Enter Twelve, a company transforming CO2 from the air into essential chemicals, materials, and fuels. Their proprietary catalyst and renewable energy setup creates low-carbon alternatives that seamlessly fit into existing systems.

The results speak for themselves: Twelve is breaking ground on a commercial-scale E-jet fuel facility in Washington, gearing up to churn out 40,000 gallons annually. Recognized as the #1 most innovative energy company by Fast Company and a BloombergNEF Pioneer, Twelve is offering a 90% reduction in lifecycle emissions compared to conventional jet fuel. Beyond fuel, Twelve’s tech is replacing traditional petrochemicals in everyday products, from car components to household items. Meaning, big-name clients like Alaska Airlines but also, Microsoft, and Shopify are already signed up, making this a game-changing moment. 

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Group 14 Technologies: transforming battery materials

  • Headquarters: United States
  • Funding: Total funding amounts to over $900M, including non-dilutive financing.
  • Top investors: Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Lightrock Climate Impact Fund*, Moore Strategic Ventures, Decarbonization Partners, Porche AG.

Group14 is supercharging the future of batteries with its specialized and drop-in-ready silicon material. Their patented tech replaces graphite in the battery anode, upping energy density by 50% compared to today's best conventional lithium-ion batteries. This means electric vehicles that can go the distance and charge faster than ever before.

By year-end, their first Battery Active Materials (BAM) plant in Moses Lake, Washington, will be up and running, making Group14 the world’s largest producer of this next-gen silicon-carbon battery material. And with a $200 million government grant backing, Group 14 is already planning a second facility to keep up with the demand. 

Group14 isn’t just about making batteries better; they’re strengthening the global supply chain from EVs to aviation and setting the stage for a more efficient, electrified future. 

1KOMMA5°: the one-stop shop for clean power homes 

  • Headquarters: Germany
  • Funding: In June 2023, the company raised a €430M Series B round. Total funding over $600M.
  • Top investors: G2 Venture Partners, Norrsken, Porsche Ventures, Hamilton Lane and 2150*.

1KOMMA5° is the one-stop shop for clean energy homes. They make it easy for homeowners to arrange the installation of rooftop solar panels, EV charging stations, and heat pumps—all while managing its energy generation and consumption through an AI-driven platform. 1KOMMA°’s Heartbeat system optimizes energy use, cutting electricity costs and emissions all at once. 

In January 2024, 1KOMMA5° announced that it had more than doubled its revenue to around €460 million in 2023 compared to €206M in 2022. It is also highly profitable: profit (EBIT) more than doubled to almost €50M in 2023 (compared to €19M in 2022). To date, 1KOMMA5° has installed more than 170,000 solar systems, heat pumps, home batteries and charging stations for customers. 

By simplifying access to carbon-neutral solutions, they’re speeding up the transition to low-carbon homes, one installation at a time.

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Help fund the next climate tech unicorns

From clean hydrogen breakthroughs to next-gen battery tech, these companies are scaling up fast and shaking up industries that have long been stuck in their old, carbon-heavy ways. As climate tech keeps evolving, one thing’s becoming crystal clear: impact and investment opportunities can work hand in hand—the world’s biggest challenges are also the biggest investment opportunities.

This presents investors with a powerful chance to join a movement that’s addressing one of the world’s most urgent challenges—while making a real, tangible difference. The future is here, and it’s powered by innovation that’s as good for the planet as it is for your portfolio.

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*For all top investors marked with an asterisk (*), Carbon Equity is a limited partner (LP) in the specific fund invested in that company. However, in some cases, Carbon Equity may be an LP in a different fund managed by the same investor rather than in the exact fund backing that company.