Landscape of climate tech


· 4 min read
Mapping the 4 Pillars of Climate Tech with 130+ Startups (early-stage with recent / ongoing fundraising)
Hello from San Francisco, Climate Tribe! I’m Diane, ex-M&A investment banker on my journey to break into Venture Capital (VC) Climate Tech. Eager to “learn by doing”, I decided to leverage my connector skills to build my own network within climate and create my deal sourcing. Since the beginning of 2021:
To better understand “who” is investing in “what” in climate tech, I created Market Maps compiling the portfolios of 20+ VCs, showing 400+ VC-backed startups and categorizing them within the 4 Pillars of Climate Tech (recap of all market map images at the end of this post):
II. Energy Transition
III. Mobility & Urbanization
IV. Sustainable Systems
After the fantastic inbounds from VCs and startups on these market maps (30,000+ views and 100+ inbounds on LinkedIn!), I am now ready to conclude this chapter: one Market Map summarizing all 130+ startups that I’ve met so far in all 4 Pillars of Climate Tech. In a nutshell: a big picture of my work throughout this crazy year of 2021 😉
First, I got SUPER-active on 20+ climate tech networking platforms, cold-emailed some founders, got warmly introduced to many others, which led me to meet with 130+ startups presenting the following profile:
Then, I mapped the 4 Pillars of Climate Tech (each including 5 categories) with these 130+ startups… and voila! ;D
Market Map of Climate Tech: 130+ startups (early-stage with recent / ongoing fundraising)

Taking a further step back on the above map, I used the 3 following lenses to bring further insights on my group of startups:

Climate Tech could be considered the most exciting treasure hunt of our time: searching for the most disruptive startups who can have a massive impact on the environment and solve the biggest issue of our world today – climate change. In my journey, I was able to find 130+ fascinating startups and introduce 20% of these “gems” to VCs with confirmed interest, fingers crossed for the best outcome!
Energy Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Energy & Sustainability writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.
Recap with deep-dive Market Maps of the 4 Pillars of Climate Tech (mostly early-stage and VC-backed):




illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Energy & Sustainability writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.
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