When it comes to cleantech investments, notoriously cold Canada seems an unlikely hotspot. However, recent funding trends suggest that their star is on the rise.

So far this year, nearly $1 billion (US) in seed capital has flowed through growth-stage financing to Canadian startups in sustainability-focused industries tracked in the Crunchbase dataset. Prominent sectors include carbon capture, geothermal energy and utility-scale solar energy.

With two months left, 2023 is on track to surpass last year’s record numbers. To get a sense of how investments are trending, we’ve listed the sustainability-focused Canadian startup investments from the last six calendar years below.

Largest Canadian Cleantech Investments

The upward momentum in Canadian cleantech funding is particularly notable as global venture funding has declined sharply since its peak in 2021. In addition, some of the cartridges are noticeably large.

Last week, in Calgary The tastea developer of technologies to access clean geothermal energy, raised its largest round of the year, closing $186 million in Series B financing led by a chemical company OMV.

Another larger round went to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia CarbonCure technologieswhich raised $80 million in July for carbon removal technologies that inject recycled CO₂ into fresh concrete to reduce its carbon footprint.

OYA Renewable Energy, headquartered in Toronto, is also expanding. The company, which develops distributed and large-scale solar projects, raised $71 million in March Monarch Private Capital in a so-called tax equity investment along with $145 million in debt financing.

Early stage action

We are also seeing some action in earlier phases, which bodes well for future growth.

More than half of Canada’s cleantech investments this year, per Crunchbase datawent to start-up companies via Series B. While not all recipients were newer companies, many larger rounds went to startups founded in the last four years.

Below is Cyclic materials, a developer of processes for recovering rare earth elements from difficult-to-recycle products. The Kingston, Ont.-based company raised $27 million in the year April Series A. Others are based in Calgary Orenniaa provider of analytics for clean energy and decarbonization investments that has raised $25 million July Series BAnd Novistoa sustainability software provider that closed on $20 million May Series B.

No coincidence

Despite making up just 0.5% of the world’s population, Canadians punch above their weight when it comes to clean energy. Per Cleantech groupCanada ranked fifth among nations Cleantech investment between 2021 and the third quarter of 2023, behind the much more populous US, China, UK and Germany.

Canada’s relative strength does not appear to be a coincidence. In terms of land mass, Canada is the largest country in the world that it does not control Wladimir Putin. Building and maintaining the infrastructure of this vast territory while maintaining one of the highest standards of living in the world speaks volumes about the talents and hard work of those who call it home.

Related Crunchbase Pro query:

Related Reading:

Drawing: Li Anne Dias