Bill Gates-Backed Breakthrough Pauses New Climate Tech Funding

Breakthrough Energy, the climate-focused group backed by Bill Gates, has stopped making new investments from its Catalyst fund, a key initiative created to help scale early-stage green technologies.

The Catalyst fund was launched in 2021 and raised more than $1 billion. It was designed to support first-of-their-kind clean energy projects, which often struggle to expand because they are expensive, unproven, and hard to finance through traditional investors.

According to a Breakthrough Energy spokesperson, the fund has already supported 10 startups and spent “high hundreds of millions of dollars.” The organization has now shifted its focus away from new deals and will instead manage and support the companies it has already funded.

The spokesperson said Catalyst is no longer evaluating new funding opportunities and has moved into a phase of supporting existing investments. They also said it is too early to say what the future of the fund’s deployment work will look like.

Breakthrough Energy also confirmed there is currently no immediate plan to raise more money for the Catalyst fund. The spokesperson did not clarify what will happen to the remaining unused capital.

As part of this shift, Catalyst has also laid off some employees, including its former leader Mario Fernandez. The spokesperson said the fund’s evolving work now requires a smaller team.

Catalyst is different from most project-financing funds because it is structured as a hybrid model, combining philanthropic funding with return-generating investments, which makes execution more complex.

This move comes at a time when climate tech startups are facing increased pressure, especially in the United States. Political and economic headwinds have made it harder for companies developing new clean technologies to secure long-term funding.

Bill Gates has previously said the market alone cannot solve climate change. In a memo published in January, he warned that stronger government support is needed to scale major climate solutions.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the venture-capital arm of the organization, has invested in around 150 climate startups. Gates has said that 30 to 40 of those companies have failed, adding that many climate solutions will face dead ends before success is achieved.

The funding slowdown also comes as major climate policy rollbacks in the US have reduced financial support that was expected for green technologies under previous government programs. This has made it even more important for startups to find alternative sources of capital.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures has also joined other venture firms in climate-focused funding initiatives, including a coalition launched in September that aims to raise $300 million for early investments.

Catalyst operates separately from Breakthrough Energy Ventures and is funded independently.