Highlights
- California continued to invest substantial amounts of money into Clean Technology in 2020, with $7.8 billion in venture capital spent in the state. Despite making up only around 15 percent of the United States’ GDP, California accounted for over 76 percent of the $10.2 billion in venture capital in Clean Technology in the United States in 2020. The United States as a whole invested roughly the same amount of venture capital in 2019 as California did in 2020 ($7.8 billion). This represents a 29 percent increase from 2019 to 2020 in Clean Tech venture capital investment in the United States.
- Nine of the top 10 2020 Clean Tech venture capital deals occurred in California, with the other taking place in Massachusetts. These nine deals account for $5.7 billion of California’s $7.8 billion venture capital in 2020. Rivian completed the largest deal in 2020, when they brought in $2.5 billion in funding for electric vehicles.113 This is not the first time they have secured major funding—they have raised around $10.5 billion to date, with funding being led by Amazon, Ford Motor, and T. Rowe Price.
113 Palmer, A. “Rivian raises $2.5 billion in new funding round led by Amazon, Ford.” CNBC. July 23, 2021. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/23/rivian-raises-2point5-billion-in-new-funding-round-led-by-amazon-ford.html