Summit Carbon Solutions Selects Mangrove Nexus for Digital MRV

I've been monitoring the climatetech and decarbonization startups this year, and here’s what I learned.

International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global clean energy investment to hit $2 trillion in 2024.

According to the IEA, approximately 90% of cleantech startups, including venture-backed startups, fail within their first few years.

Many believe that one reason for the failure is the highly fragmented nature of the cleantech market. But that’s not 100% true.

Failed startups don't have customer or community pull. This is the primary reason most climatetech and decarbonization projects fail.

Here are some examples:

• Hyperloop One: Despite raising over $450 million from investors, it failed to secure customers and is now selling off its assets and laying off its staff. Dramatically changing transportation systems is hard.

• Running Tide: The company raised $54 million in September 2022 to tackle marine-based carbon removal suffered from low customer demand and MRV challenges.

• Universal Hydrogen: Hydrogen-powered fuel cell developer raised around $100 million but failed to raise additional funds for the early stage hydrogen aviation company.

• Bird: Once valued at $2 billion, the electric scooter startup filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2023.

• Zinc8 Energy Solutions: A flow-battery aspirant struggling to survive after losing its CEO and cutting most of its staff.

There is a fantastic opportunity to learn from these companies.

Push versus pull. The ones that do survive have two things in common: They focus on customers and community engagement! They have more customer pull than those that fail.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study found that startups with strong community engagement are 2.5 times more likely to succeed.

If you are new to the CO2 or low-carbon space, talking to everyone and building relationships is important. Creating customers and community around those relationships is key to building a business.

Connect with consumers, local communities, innovators, leaders, and EVEN your competition.

Find your customer and community early.

Last year, I met so many cleantech leaders, innovators, and industrial emitters. Amazing people building, learning, and iterating every day.

Despite common challenges like permitting delays and infrastructure limitations, the startups succeeding are creating and harnessing the customer and community pull.

Inside this Issue

🌐 Summit Carbon Solutions Selects Mangrove Nexus for Digital MRV
✈️ Avolon Partners With Airbus to Explore Future of Hydrogen Aviation
🤝 Navigator Gas, Bumi Armada and Bluestreak CO2 Announce Memorandum of Understanding with Uniper for Joint Study on Export Of CO2 Emissions from Proposed UK Carbon Capture Plant
☀️ SunHydrogen Announces Joint Development Agreement with Honda R&D Co., LTD
🌊 Netherlands: TotalEnergies Acquires a Stake in the OranjeWind Offshore Wind Farm in View of Supplying Green Hydrogen to Its European Refineries and Lowering Their Emissions
💡 Aurora Hydrogen Receives Over $4 Million from Natural Resources Canada, NGIF Accelerator for Development of Low-Carbon Hydrogen
🌍 Air Liquide Completes the Divestiture of Some Activities in Africa
🌱 FuelPositive's Green Ammonia Breakthrough: Revolutionizing Sustainable Farming