Bill Gates has billions in green startups. He shares early winners & long shots
It is the blessing that can help determine a climate startup’s fate: backing from Bill Gates, one of the biggest investors in efforts to transform the world’s energy use. Since 2015, Breakthrough Energy, the climate-investment firm founded by Gates, has lavished $2.2 billion on more than 160 startups and other initiatives, seeking both returns for investors and emissions reductions. He has also made investments separately outside the firm.
Some of those startups are pursuing relatively straightforward solutions, such as sealants that make heating systems more efficient. Others are working on ideas that might sound far-fetched, such as burying plant waste to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In an interview, the Microsoft co-founder looked at the road ahead for the young companies he has invested in.
The surest bets, Gates said, are the companies that find ways to make existing systems more efficient. “They are, in a sense, just making a better product," Gates said. Among the examples he cited was TS Conductor, which makes a power cable that weighs less and carries more electricity than conventional wires.
That lets utilities add power to congested grids without building new transmission lines. As demand for TS Conductor’s technology grows rapidly, a company representative said it is deciding where to put a new U.S. manufacturing site with 10 times the capacity of its first one in Southern California.
Another startup Gates cited is Aeroseal, which identifies leaks in heating and cooling systems, then releases sealant-containing mist to plug them. The technology has been used in hundreds of thousands of homes and more than 10,000 commercial buildings, according to the company. Gates also predicted success for
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