TLDR:
- Australian VCs are struggling to keep up with climate tech innovation from local universities
- Funding gaps remain a major challenge for startups in the sector
Australian VCs Catching Up on Climate Tech Innovation
Australian venture capitalists are facing challenges as they try to keep pace with the rapid innovation in climate tech coming out of local universities. Startups like Hydgene, a company focused on scaling up production of synthetic hydrogen from biomass waste, are gearing up for Series A raises to further develop their technologies. Co-founder Louise Brown acknowledges the difficulties faced by “hardware” climate tech businesses, as deep tech solutions tend to struggle more in winning over investors compared to software solutions.
Brown expresses optimism for the future fundraising rounds, as her company avoided the overvaluation issues that plagued the market post-Covid. However, she anticipates challenges in attracting both domestic and global investors, given the limitations in the deep tech capital space in Australia.
The climate tech sector in Australia is seeing a surge of innovative solutions, but the path to commercialization remains difficult due to funding gaps and investors’ preferences for software over hardware solutions. Companies like Hydgene are navigating these challenges as they strive to bring their deep tech innovations to market.
