Held at Barclays global headquarters in Canary Wharf, London, the event provided the perfect platform for circular economy, low carbon transportation, and alternative energy start-ups to showcase their amazing cleantech solutions.
With the venue packed to the rafters, Cleantech Venture Day opened with an overview of private capital market trends from Henry Waite, Director of Private Capital Markets at Barclays.
Vicky McIvor, an Investment Associate with the €350m climate tech World Fund, told delegates about the trending term ‘patient investing’ and why it is important to invest in transformational not transitional technologies.
The investor-only session concluded with a great discussion between Carolyn Hicks, Co-Founder of Brill Power, and Cath Wong, Vice President, Principal Investments, Barclays, on how to nurture CEOs from different backgrounds to enable a fairer society and easier access to investment for their innovations.
After the interval Mark Daly, Tech and Innovation Analyst at BloombergNEF, pointed to the increase in energy prices as the main catalyst for driving more money into climate tech during 2022. China and the US accounted for 60% of global climate tech funding with the UK ranking third (£4.1billion) last year.
Then came the second part of Cleantech Venture Day, the main attraction. Each startup was given a strict five minute time limit to deliver their investor pitch with a further five minutes to answer questions from a panel of experts.
Hannah Scott, Network Manager of Oxfordshire Greentech, and Partner of Cleantech Venture Day, said the calibre of firms pitching was of an exceptional standard. “It’s great to see so many burgeoning climate tech clusters around the country developing innovative solutions that could have such a positive impact on the world.”
“Cleantech Venture Day is now in its sixteenth year, during that time 250 companies have pitched and more than £600 million has been invested,” said Martin Garratt, CEO of Cambridge Cleantech.
According to figures released by Dealroom for the Digital Economy Council, part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the UK has more high-growth technology companies than its European peers, having created 144 unicorns and 237 futurecorns.
For the innovators, change-makers and future pioneers, the cleantech scene is an attractive place to be and who knows where the next futurecorn will come from, perhaps one of our Cleantech Venture Days.
For more information, contact auriane.cirasuolo@cambridgecleantech.org.uk
