"When we started in 2011, I would have never imagined that a decade later, Cambridge Cleantech would be the UK's longest standing and most successful business network for cleantech companies," said Martin Garratt, CEO of Cambridge Cleantech. “In the last couple of years, we have seen climate tech move to the forefront of solutions needed to combat the climate crisis. Governments across the world, including in the UK, have adopted green growth as the key goal for the next decade. Our Cleantech Futures conference looks at how far we have come and what needs to be done in the coming decade to ensure we have the best chances to achieve the 1.5C target.”
The Cleantech Futures conference is an opportunity to meet and network with the changemakers of the cleantech world, and to learn from the very best in the sector. On the first day of the conference, Cambridge Cleantech will be hosting a series of talks celebrating climate tech innovation in the past decade, followed by an in-person reception and exhibition at the Bradfield Centre in Cambridge.
On the 21st, it will be running the pre-COP 26 edition of its popular pitching-and-investment event, Cleantech Venture Day, in a virtual format.
Success stories
Cambridge Cleantech has been running Cleantech Venture Day in London since 2017 and last year it successfully pivoted to running this popular event to a virtual format. Here are some companies that have won big at previous pitch events:
Cambridge Cleantech member Echion Technologies, who were invited to pitch by DIT East, won investment this year from Zero Carbon Capital and a group of other investors. Echion makes patented innovative battery anode active materials for a superfast charging in six minutes or less. The Series-A funding round has been led by CBMM – the world’s leading supplier of niobium products and BGF – the UK & Ireland’s most active and dynamic investor of equity capital in growth economy companies.
“Cleantech Venture Day is a great opportunity to meet like-minded investors and partners. We pitched at the March 2021 event and one of the judges’ VC fund ended up investing in our Series A,” said Dr Jean Villiepere, Echion Technologies.
It's been a happening year for smart ventilation company Airex, whose founder Agnes Czako won the Woman Innovator of the Year award from Innovate UK. The company won investment from Barclays after an introduction via Cambridge Cleantech, having pitched at Cleantech Venture Week in November 2020. RADPropulsion is another Cleantech Venture Day pitch company that's done exceptionally well this year, winning investment from One Planet Capital and a slew of other investors.
Companies that have pitched in previous years and grown massively since include bamboo hygiene products company Cheeky Panda, which is aiming to become the first crowd funded company to be listed on the stock index; and Propelair, who successfully crowdfunded in the middle of the pandemic last year.
Increased investment in climate tech
All this points to a greater trend of increased investment in the cleantech sector. In an analysis of climate tech investments over the past 18 months where they tracked 1,000 investors funding climate tech deals, San Francisco-based Climate Tech VC found that investment in the sector was at an all-time high with no sign of abatement. In the first half of 2021, climate tech start-ups raised $16b across 250 venture deals.
Pitching events like Cleantech Venture Day offer start-ups a leg-up by introducing them to climate tech investors who have substantial knowledge and experience in this sector. At the last edition in March, Cambridge Cleantech facilitated over 60 one-to-one meetings between investors and start-ups, all of which were requested by the investors.
The Cleantech Futures conference would not have been possible without the support of partners Oxfordshire Greentech, Clean Growth UK, Business Isle of Man, J A Kemp, Granted, Allia Future Business Centre, Birketts, Consensus Business Group, KISS, Wallonia and GreenWin, Catax, Cheeky Panda, S-Tech, and Yangzhou Innovation Centre.
“J A Kemp attorneys have been providing advice and support to the Cleantech Venture Day teams for several years. The event provides a great opportunity for cleantech businesses to find collaborators and investors and is useful for keeping up with trends and developments in green technologies,” said Joseph Simon-Brown, Associate, European and UK Patent Attorney at J A Kemp LLP.
If you are interested in attending the conference and pitch event, book your tickets today http://cleantechday.com/london
Image: Martin Garratt, CEO (third left) and the Cambridge Cleantech team