GoKawiilClimate tech startups are capital intensive, timelines are long, and the technology is often considered “first of its kind.” What’s more, a key value proposition is addressing pollution — an externality that is, at best, poorly priced by the market. Those aren’t the qualities stock pickers tend to favor.
And yet, public markets appear to be warming to climate tech startups — or at least some of them.
This week, nuclear startup X-energy went public, raising $1 billion in an upsized share offering that appears to have delivered a windfall for its investors, including Amazon. Retail investors apparently can’t get enough, with the stock popping 25% in its first hour of trading. Also this week, geothermal startup Fervo said it filed for an initial public offering. The size of the Fervo IPO has yet to be disclosed, but private investors have valued the company at around $3 billion, according to PitchBook.
The move to go public aligns with what investors told TechCrunch at the end of last year. After years of tepid attitudes toward climate tech companies, they expected public markets to start welcoming energy-related startups. Nearly every investor that weighed in on the question said the startups with the best chances of going public specialize in either nuclear fission or enhanced geothermal. Fervo, specifically, was mentioned several times.
Thank data centers for that. The AI craze has taken a trend of rising demand for electricity and made it sexy and salable. Companies that were already betting on the upswing lucked into a trending narrative that coincided with their technological maturity. Fortune certainly favors the prepared.
The IPOs are also certain to please investors, letting them return capital to their LPs. The recent dearth of IPOs has kept a chunk of climate tech funding locked up, at a time when many funds would like to start cashing out.
But it’s not just about cashing out.
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