Sector Snapshot: Cleantech Startup Funding Stabilizes As Energy Demand Grows
Crunchbase News — cleantech isn’t the hottest space for startup funding these days. That title obviously goes to AI.
Nonetheless, amid a period of soaring electricity demand, rising EV adoption rates, and accelerating progress in fusion and other fields, cleantech investment activity isn’t slowing down. In the first half of this year, investors poured $15 billion into seed- through growth-stage rounds for companies in Crunchbase cleantech, EV and sustainability-focused categories. That puts funding on track to slightly exceed the 2025 tally, which was the lowest in several years. On a quarterly basis, funding is also on the rise. Around $8 billion went to companies in cleantech and related categories in the second quarter of this year, the highest quarterly total since 2024. Even taking into account recent gains, however, cleantech funding remains far below its former peak in 2021 and 2022. Given that overall venture funding has risen with the AI boom, cleantech also accounts for a smaller share of total investment. Where funding is concentrating That’s not to say megarounds aren’t getting done in the sector. A look at the largest funding rounds of 2026 paints a varied picture of where capital is concentrating. Stockholm-based green steel producer Stegra scored the largest financing of 2026, securing $1.6 billion in a round led by Swedish asset manager Wallenberg Investments. Stegra plans to use the money to complete the construction of its large-scale steel plant. The next-biggest round went to Slate Auto, a Jeff Bezos-backed startup that has been generating buzz and reservations for a flagship electric pickup starting at around $25,000 that can be converted to an SUV. Troy, Michigan-based Slate raised $650 million in Series C funding in April and plans to deliver its first trucks to customers later this year. The third- and fourth-largest financings were fusion deals. The latest of those went to Helion Energy, which raised $465 million in a June Series G funding to go toward building a fusion power plant.
