FCF CleanTech VC Report - FCF Fox Corporate Finance GmbH

FCF
CleanTech Venture Capital Report

The ‘FCF DeepTech Series’ is a quarterly series of reports tracking European venture capital funding trends within four main DeepTech verticals. We highlight deal counts, volumes, investor interests, subsector trends, geographic hotspots, IPO activity as well as M&A / trade sale activity. Each quarter one of the four verticals – CleanTech, Advanced Manufacturing, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Robotics – is examined individually.

Each report is a quick reference for investors, corporates and professionals for the funding trends within the respective vertical.

FCF CLEANTECH VENTURE CAPITAL REPORT

This edition of the inaugural ‘FCF DeepTech Series’ focuses on VC funding developments within the European CleanTech vertical. The European CleanTech vertical has been split into six main subsectors:

Alternative Fuels & Materials
E-Mobility
Energy Efficiency
Energy Generation
Energy Storage
Recycling, Waste & Environment

Key Findings:

The boom in the CleanTech venture capital sector is slowing down: although deal volume in 2022 in the relevant sub-sectors has once again increased significantly from €7.3 billion to €9.7 billion, the number of deals has decreased significantly (902 vs 1,110 in the previous year) – especially in the last quarter of 2022. Nevertheless, both values are still well above the volumes achieved in the past (2020: €2.4 billion with 676 deals)
Sweden leads the ranking by deal volume: With a financing volume of €6.4 billion in the period 2018-2022, Sweden is clearly ahead of the UK (€4.0 billion) and Germany (€2.8 billion). However, this is mainly due to Northvolt’s 4 megadeals (totaling €4.7 billion) – without Northvolt, Sweden would be ranked 4^th behind Germany (same as the ranking by deal count)
Megadeals dominate the CleanTech sector in 2022: The average size of a financing round has multiplied from €3.3 million in 2020 to €6.6 million in 2021 and €10.7 million in 2022. This is partly due to a higher share of late-stage financing and partly due to some megadeals in the triple-digit million range > €300 million: Northvolt, Climeworks, Rimac Automobili, Einride and Perpetual Next. In Germany, megadeals were contributed by Sunfire (€210m in 2022), Infarm (€177m in 2021) and Enpal (€150 & €100m in 2021)
Related sectors Energy Storage & E-Mobility attract the highest funding: With a deal volume of €6.8 billion, the energy storage sector leads the way, driven by the rise of e-mobility (€4.6 billion deal volume) and the expansion of renewables, which create additional storage demand. Without Northvolt, the segment Energy Storage would only be ranked 4^th behind Recycling & Environment, E-Mobility and Energy Generation.

DEEPTECH RESEARCH SERIES

The “FCF DeepTech Series” is a quarterly series of reports tracking European venture capital funding trends within four main DeepTech verticals. We highlight deal counts, volumes, investor interests, subsector trends, geographic hotspots, IPO activity as well as M&A / trade sale activity.
Each quarter one of the four verticals – Cleantech, Advanced Manufacturing, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Robotics – is examined individually.

Each report is a quick reference for investors, corporates and professionals for the funding trends within the respective vertical.