Gates-led Breakthrough Energy Ventures—which counts 24 other billionaires as co-investors—has put money in some 40 startups that are developing clean energy technologies for everything from lithium extraction to steelmaking.
Four years ago, Bill Gates launched a $1 billion fund, called Breakthrough Energy Ventures, that brought together more than 20 (now 28) like-minded investors to invest in scientific breakthroughs that have the potential to deliver cheap and reliable clean energy to the world. The ultimate goal is to shepherd new zero-emissions technologies to market.
Since then, it’s backed dozens of startups developing green technology innovations that range from replacing fossil fuels with carbon-free equivalents to inventing meat alternatives. “We’re only focused on investments that will have a substantial effect on climate change,” Gates told Forbes earlier this year. So far one of the startups it’s backed has gone public via SPAC: solid-state lithium-metal…