More than three dozen cleantech venture funds urge immediate action on pending legislation
WRAL TechWire reports that more than three dozen venture funds investing in climate-related start-ups recently wrote a letter to Congress and the Biden administration urging action on pending legislation to accelerate America’s move to a more affordable, secure, clean, and vibrant energy industry.
The firms include Clean Energy Ventures (CEV) which just led a $1 million seed funding round for Active Energy Systems (AES), an Oak Ridge-based cleantech company advancing an innovative cooling solution. As noted in this teknovation.biz article announcing the investment, other investors investors include Queen City Angels, based in Cincinnati, and Three Roots Capital, headquartered in deep West Knox County.
Boston-based CEV has also invested in Nth Cycle, a start-up that is disrupting the critical mineral supply chain necessary for electric vehicles, solar power, and energy storage through a groundbreaking recycling, mining and refining technology. Both Active Energy and Nth Cycle are alumni of the “Innovation Crossroads” program operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
In their letter, the venture leaders wrote, “Our funds and many others are speeding up the pace of investment in energy innovation. In 2021, $56 billion in venture capital was invested in over 1,600 Climate Tech companies in the U.S., increasing by more than 5X over the past six years. However, to confidently invest, we need consistent federal policy leadership. We appreciate the smart grid, electric vehicle, carbon capture and R&D measures in the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last fall. Now we ask you to proceed on the remaining pending legislation including clean energy tax credits, research support, domestic manufacturing incentives, resilience and mitigation investments, and electric vehicle incentives. We also encourage the Administration to remove barriers to building more clean energy infrastructure, such as rapidly settling the recent solar module trade case.”
