Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Breakthrough Energy Ventures is a Kirkland, Washington-based venture capital firm founded in December 2016 by Bill Gates alongside a coalition of ultra-high-net-worth investors including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Richard Branson, and Mukesh Ambani, established with the explicit mission of funding, launching, and scaling companies that will eliminate greenhouse gas emissions across the global economy. The fund applies a distinctive investment criterion: each portfolio company must have a credible potential to avoid at least 500 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions annually by 2050, a threshold that rules out incremental improvements and demands genuinely transformative technological approaches. Breakthrough Energy Ventures operates with a 20-year investment horizon, significantly longer than conventional venture funds, reflecting the reality that breakthrough energy technologies require patient capital through long development timelines, regulatory approvals, and capital-intensive scale-up phases. The fund has raised approximately $3 billion across three vehicles: BEV I ($1 billion, closed 2016), BEV II ($1.25 billion, closed 2021), and BEV III ($839 million, partially closed in 2024). Breakthrough has backed more than 110 companies. Portfolio companies include Boston Metal, which is developing a zero-carbon steel production process; Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which is developing compact fusion reactors and raised $1.8 billion in Series B funding; Form Energy, which builds long-duration iron-air batteries for grid storage; Redwood Materials, the battery recycling company; QuantumScape, a solid-state battery company that completed a NYSE listing; Solugen, a molecule production platform; and Lilac Solutions, a lithium extraction technology company. Beyond its original investments in Form Energy, Boston Metal, Lilac Solutions, and Solugen, the portfolio spans nuclear, fusion, carbon removal, agriculture, and industrial decarbonization.