🌏 A Sightline for the New Climate Economy

Our team is proud to unveil Sightline Climate, our new market intelligence platform for the new climate economy. Built on the foundation of this newsletter, Sightline Climate’s subscription intelligence product goes beyond the inbox with data, tools, and frameworks to bring clarity to industry professionals navigating climate transition decisions. More than 20 leading investors, corporates, and governments already use the platform including the US Department of Energy, BHP, and Galvanize Climate. 

(And don’t worry—the free CTVC newsletter isn’t going anywhere…well, except to get better and better 😉).

In May, we announced our $2M fundraise from John Doerr, Tom Steyer, and AccelR8 “to expand CTVC beyond the newsletter into a market intelligence platform for the new climate economy.” Sightline Climate’s subscription intelligence product is our answer.

Sightline Climate builds upon the foundation of what CTVC does best - bring clarity to the climate tech landscape. Sightline’s data on all layers of the climate capital stack powers deeper analysis like our reports on LDES, steel, and fuels. On the Sightline Climate platform, we go a step further with dynamic frameworks that evolve alongside the market to give users an unbiased view on climate tech deployment. 

After a year of behind-the-scenes product development at our new global HQ in London, we’re excited to announce the launch of Sightline Climate - a climate-first market intelligence platform that provides tactical insights and data to bring clarity to the climate transition.

The highlights: 

• 🚀 Launching the Sightline Climate platform. We’ve launched a new market intelligence product for investors, corporates, and governments building and financing the new climate economy. Use Sightline Climate to chart your path across the evolving climate landscape and spot when inflection points happen in climate sectors and technologies.


• 👋 Introducing “CTVC, by Sightline Climate”. We’ve rebranded our [parent] company name to Sightline Climate. After all, the new climate economy has grown beyond VC. But that’s all just an FYI, the name of this CTVC Newsletter won’t change.
• 🏁 The platform is live! The Sightline platform is already up and running, used daily by 20+ clients, from energy and industrial corporates, climate investors, major financial institutions, and governments, including the US Department of Energy, BHP, B Capital Group, Galvanize Climate, Global Infrastructure Partners, and Acario Tokyo Gas.

From climate venture to deployment

As climate and the capital stack extends beyond VC, so does our brand. When we started CTVC (or “Climate Tech VC”) back in 2020, there were only ~50 venture investors specifically allocating capital to climate. Now the same Climate Capital Stack list has sophisticated to over 350+ investors and counting, deploying project finance, debt, and strategic funding complements to VC that are fundamental to deploying climate tech at-scale. 

Alongside this capital stack shift, private and public sector sentiment towards climate tech is rapidly evolving from commitments to deployment. On paper, it’s easy to build forecasts decades into the future, where the deployment of climate solutions is up and to the right, and climate technologies like hydrogen, carbon capture, green steel, and battery recycling are ubiquitous.



In practice, it’s much harder to build a strategy for the now. Investors, corporates, and governments play key roles building and financing the new climate economy, but they want to be sure they’re making the right decisions for the climate and their stakeholders. They need to have a clear sightline into which new climate sectors and technologies hold real potential and when the inflection points will happen, as they have for solar and wind.

From there came the name Sightline Climate, which encompasses our mission to bring clarity to the climate transition. To lay it all out:

• Sightline Climate: The market intelligence platform for the new climate economy.
• CTVC: This free newsletter, which will continue to deliver more and more value powered by Sightline’s research and data engine.
• Note: Planeteer Capital is a pre-seed, seed climate venture fund run by Sophie and is independent from CTVC and Sightline Climate.

Launching a ‘Sightline’ for the new climate economy 

To build a “Sightline” for the new climate economy, we brought on a small group of clients as Launch Partners - investors, utilities, industrials, and banks - who would get first access while providing unvarnished feedback on how the product could solve their pain points. 

Across the board, everyone faced the same set of challenges: 

First, clarity.

• What race do I run? Our clients kept saying it was hard to know what they should focus on, and equally, what they should avoid. Having a view that spans climate, and simultaneously digs deep into each sector, allows clients to be on the front foot and choose the race they want to run.
• 🤷 Common questions: What are the opportunities in climate tech? How does this market work? Who are the key players? How do I make sure I’m not missing anything? What parts of the value chain are overcrowded vs. underinvested?

Then, inflection.

• When do I start? ‘Don’t be first, but don’t be last.’ You don’t necessarily want to build the FOAK projects, but you want to be there for the next or Nth round. Our clients and all professionals across the climate ecosystem are constantly looking for when something is going to commercialize – a company, a sector, a market. They don’t want to be too early, but also don’t want to be too late. They want to hit it just right and ride the wave, find a good supplier, a good opportunity.
• 🤷 Common questions: What is the demand signal I should be looking for? When is something going to commercialize? Is there a company that is progressing faster than its competitors? Could it be a good investment, acquisition target, or strategic partner?

Our mission is to enable the climate transition through better data, insights, and common frameworks. Investors, companies, and governments need to know how climate tech markets work (and how to think about them), and spot inflection by tracking climate tech funding and deployment. 

To help users chart their path through these critical questions, we designed the Sector Compass, a standardized framework for each key climate tech sector ranging from hydrogen to carbon markets (we’ve got a whole library of ‘em). Think of these not as static reports, but a constantly updating and dynamic-version of our sector deep dives, like the ones on LDES, Steel, and Fuels, giving you deeper tools and insights so you can be the sector expert. 

Each Sector Compass includes the same components, so when you go into one, you know exactly what you’ll find and can trust the information is up-to-date. Dip in, get your data, chart, or insight, and move on with your day.

Clarity 

• What are the opportunities in climate tech? How do I make sure I’m not missing anything? 
  • Data linked in a climate-first taxonomy. All the data you’ve seen in CTVC over the years – the raises, the exits, the companies, the investors – it’s all in here. It’s all relational, tied together with an overarching philosophy of no-datapoint-left-behind. It spans seven climate verticals, more than 60 sectors, and over 300 technologies.
  • Daily activity so you never miss a thing. Follow daily deals, company, and investor activity, all linked via the climate-first taxonomy so it all relates in the same way you think about climate. Know what’s happening in the areas you care about, then go deeper into the data.
  • Double click into the data. All the underlying funding, company, and investor data driving your favorite CTVC reports and articles (H1 funding report, Dry Powder, Capital Stack) is here inside the platform. You can look at the full dataset or chart, then cut it by technology, timeframe, or an array of additional filters, and download to your heart’s content for further analysis. 

• How does this market work? Who are the key players? 
  • Industry-leading market frameworks. Like the ones you know from CTVC…but better. They all start with a value chain, then visualize the layers and pathways to show how everything in a sector fits together, and where different sectors intersect.
  • A full picture of the market map. In a glance you can get a sense of the market and identify the leading players, including startups, tech providers, developers, investors, and customers. And see parts of the value chain that are overcrowded or ready for new entrants.

Inflection

• What is the demand signal I should be looking for? 
  • Context for the core KPIs in each sector. The cheat sheet of KPIs, drivers, limiters, and additional qualitative nuance to consider so you can go deeper in your conversations and more thoroughly evaluate opportunities.
• When is something going to commercialize? 
  • Keep score on commercialization with the Race to First. Mapped progress of companies, projects, and sectors so you know how close to commercial they are and when the time is right to make your move.

Sightline users are already finding it useful: 

‘Sightline's sector compasses are the first place I look when researching any new topic. Their well-researched, thoughtful perspectives are an invaluable contribution to the ever-evolving climate tech landscape.’

‘Sightline has the deepest and most to-the-point market insights in climate tech. The platform saves us hundreds of hours per year.’

🚀 And it’s live! Come see for yourself!

Drumroll… the platform is live! We’re already working with a growing list of clients, from energy and industrial corporates, climate investors, major financial institutions, to governments - including the US Department of Energy, BHP, B Capital Group, Galvanize Climate, Global Infrastructure Partners, and Acario Tokyo Gas.

To learn how hundreds of investors, corporate strategists, and government officials use Sightline Climate everyday for tactical and strategic decisions, we’d love to hear from you!