BEC sets up US$1 bn investment fund for future energy technologies
An influential group of 28 investors and institutions from 10 countries all over the world, called the Breakthrough Energy Coalition (BEC), has recently committed to invest US$1 billion in Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), an investor-led fund that will finance emerging energy breakthroughs to deliver affordable and reliable energy with the goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to near-zero.
Breakthrough Energy Ventures will collaborate with other investors, governments, research institutions and corporate partners, bringing to the table an investor-led fund with internal scientific expertise, a long-term horizon, and a tolerance and understanding of the investment risks required to transform energy markets.
The mission, experience and global networks of BEV investors will allow it to attract the best scientists, entrepreneurs, and private sector experts to guide the fund’s trajectory. BEV is not confined to any segment of the investment pipeline—it will build companies, engage in traditional venture investment, and have the ability to invest for growth as innovations mature.
The investment fund announcement continues the commitments made by these investors when the BEC was launched in 2015 alongside Mission Innovation, an international collaboration to accelerate the pace of clean energy innovations through smart government investment.
BEV will help build companies based on the promising technologies that come out of these countries’ scaled-up public research pipelines.
In addition to the formation of the BEV, the BEC today shared its “Landscape of Innovation,” which illustrates the universe of technologies that public and private investors might support in order to lead us to a world of zero carbon emissions.
The Landscape will serve not only as a tool for the BEV to guide investment focus, but also as a guide for other public and private investors committed to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The scale of the challenge and the size of the opportunity presented by the global energy market will require investments far beyond the resources of the BEV. It will take the efforts of governments and investors from around the world.
Because of the size of the challenges and opportunities, the launch of the BEV and sharing of the landscape is just the initial step for Breakthrough Energy. In the future it will explore how the coalition can help organize an ecosystem of investment by engaging strategic corporate partners to coordinate expertise and capital to move these technologies forward.
“It is extremely exciting for us to launch this fund as the next step in the commitment made by the Breakthrough Energy Coalition last year,” said BEV Chairman Bill Gates. “I am honored to work along with these investors to build on the powerful foundation of public investment in basic research. Our goal is to build companies that will help deliver the next generation of reliable, affordable, and emissions-free energy to the world.”