🔋 The Battery Boom (no, not THAT one!): VC Funding Surges as Renewables Demand Grows 💰
Intermittent renewables like 🌞 solar and 🌬️ wind need batteries to keep the lights on when the sun isn’t shining, and the wind isn’t blowing. And now, it seems that renewables have finally grown big enough to draw serious investment into stationary battery technologies.
In Q2 2024, the grid infrastructure segment saw a record $2.6 billion in VC funding, making up 60.1% of all clean energy investments for the quarter. Within this, battery energy storage stood out, overtaking solar photovoltaics as the largest category with $2.3 billion in VC deal value, compared to $1.1 billion for solar. ⚡
Interestingly, alternative energy storage technologies also made waves, becoming the third-largest category for the quarter. This puts all three major categories in the grid infrastructure segment—battery energy storage, alternative energy storage, and solar photovoltaics—among the top five by total funds raised. 📈
Here are the quarter’s largest deals:
- Nexamp: Raised $520 million in later-stage VC funding as a renewable energy developer. 🌱
- Highview Power: Secured $381.9 million in later-stage VC funding for its liquid air energy storage technology. ❄️
- Sila: Pulled in $375 million in Series G funding for its lithium-ion battery development. 🔋
The message is clear: as renewables scale up, so does the demand for the technologies that support them. And investors are paying attention. 👀
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Source: PitchBook INC.