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An inflection point in tech investment has arrived
To date, the bulk of climate-tech investment has been channeled toward climate mitigation strategies aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
While this investment is crucial, there is a risk of developing ‘net-zero tunnel vision’ and neglecting climate adaptation solutions such as addressing water-related risks.
What exactly is the inflection point we are in?
Mazarine’s point of view is that while net-zero investments will still be important, we are now at an inflection point in climate-tech where we can expect a surge in climate adaptation investments.
This refers to backing innovations that increase the resiliency of companies, households, and the public sector in their efforts to manage water risks resulting from planetary warming.
Investors now recognise that there are venture and impact opportunities in technologies that address climate adaptation, especially in early-stage companies.
What are some of the water-related risks of climate change?
Though relatively stable for the last 12,000 years, the earth’s atmosphere is now warming. Despite best efforts to change the way humanity generates and uses energy, it’s a foregone conclusion that planetary warming will continue, resulting in fundamental changes to the hydrological cycle.
These water-related risks manifest in two main ways: changes in quantity and changes in quality. Too much or too little water carries significant economic risks for finance, insurance, real estate, agriculture, extractive industries, process, manufacturing, F&B industries, and tourism; virtually no asset class is untouched.
A warmer planet will cause water quality risks by affecting the water composition and biology, creating health and safety concerns, and making many water sources unsuited for their intended use, or forcing the use of alternative water sources.
How will tech help overcome these challenges?
Mazarine understands that hardware and software technologies play a growing role in helping various sectors in their efforts to adapt to changing water quality and/or quantity because of planetary warming.
Early-stage technology companies with solutions addressing climate adaptation risk can be placed in two main categories: innovations that proactively anticipate water risk and those that actively manage it. Both are important.
There are companies developing software and data science innovations to forecast precipitation and water levels, predict the availability of water both above and below ground, and anticipate changes in ecosystems and water composition using satellite, airborne and in-situ sensors.
On the flipside, there are companies developing hardware and software solutions to purify water, improve the efficiency of water usage, detect quality changes in real-time, and harness new sources of water - such as Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG).
What companies in Mazarine's Fund I could be considered "Climate Adaptation Tech?
While all of our Fund I companies have offerings that help their customers address climate adaptation risks in some way, AQUAOSO, Conservation Labs, EQO, Flume, SimpleLab, and WaterClick are particularly climate-adaptation competitive in the submarkets they operate in.
How does Mazarine help support these technologies?
Mazarine is a venture capital firm backing companies with innovations that generate social & environmental impact by supporting the climate adaptation needs of the private and public sectors, as well as of consumers.
Mazarine is tracking over 1,000 early-stage companies with innovations that address climate adaptation risk.
We invest in nearly all sectors of the economy where climate change is creating water-related risks, including transportation, energy, buildings & infrastructure, food & agriculture, manufacturing, and utilities.
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