Something I hear pretty often from venture investors these days is that they’re interested in clean tech. It’s certainly a good signal to the market that you and your firm care about the climate—and some of the technologies are downright cool (no pun intended), from carbon capture to climate-friendly food products. But recently I’ve also heard concerns over whether the sector, which infamously flamed out during the Clean Tech 1.0 boom and bust in the early 2000s, is a fit for the high-and-fast-growth expectations of VCs in 2023—especially now that we’ve come down from the dizzying heights of the last couple of years.
It’s a question some VCs like Tess Hatch, a partner focused on deep tech investments at generalist Bessemer Venture Partners, are wrestling with right now. VCs “are feeling good, because we're investing in impact and good for the world. But as venture investors, we've got to make a lot of money really quickly. So is that getting lost in this feeling-good narrative of climate tech?”
