New research reveals total investment in European solar energy startups is up 398% compared to this time last year, with companies receiving $6 billion in funding in the first five months of 2023.
Avnet Abacus, an electronics distributor that consults engineers when they’re designing new products, analysed Crunchbase data for companies listed in the solar energy category to provide insight on the level of funding going into the sector. In doing so, they uncovered trends in the total investment and average funding round for solar startups in Europe, the United States and globally.
Key insights
- Total investment in European solar startups is up 398% compared to this time last year
- Globally, investment in the solar sector is up 47%, with funding down 7% in the US so far this year
- The average funding round for European solar startups is at a record high of $166.1 million in 2023
View the full research here: https://www.avnet.com/wps/
Total investment in solar startups: Global, United States and Europe
Total investment in European solar startups is up 398% on last year, with firms receiving $6 billion in backing by the end of May 2023 compared with $1.2 billion raised by the same point in 2022. Globally, investment in the category is up 47%, with funding of the sector down 7% in the US so far this year.
Average funding round for solar startups: Global, United States and Europe
Despite the continued uncertainty in the venture capital market, average investment in European solar is at an all time high at $166.1m, compared with an average of $88.3m in 2022 and $22.9m in 2021. The mean amount of venture capital flowing into European solar so far this year ($166.1m) eclipses the sector’s global average of $116.8m and the US average of $113.8m.
Dr Sara Ghaemi, Avnet Abacus’s Technical Director, comments:
“Even though solar technology is relatively mature, there is still a lot of room for growth and innovation. There is growing demand around the world, and government policies and incentives continue to support investment in this area, with engineers continually seeking new ways to make solar more efficient.
“Rooftop solar panels could potentially produce 25% of Europe’s annual electricity consumption. As well as the available rooftop surfaces, the facade of the buildings can also contribute to the generation of green energy. The fast deployment and decentralised integration of photovoltaic panels into the energy system are two main attributes that make them very attractive.
“When looking for a replacement to fossil fuels, however, rooftop and facade panels will not be enough. This will require large scale photovoltaic farms, where you’re talking about megawatts of power generation. At such high power and high energy density, recent developments in silicon carbide and gallium nitride technologies are enabling power to be converted with greater efficiency than traditional silicon-based components.”
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