A/O State of Built World Tech

Decarbonising the Built World

As the need for energy resiliency becomes ever more urgent, we deep dive into the innovation trends that are shaping built world climate technology in 2023, across retrofit installers, renewable energy procurement, earth observation, grid storage and many more. Our research tracks global venture capital deal trends across more than 8,000 deals in 2023 for the latest insights into how the VC and technology sectors are enabling the digitisation and decarbonisation of the built world.

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$83tn

Global spend to achieve a net zero built world by 2050, across buildings and infrastructure assets

Source: McKinsey

$21tn

Residential + commercial real estate value at risk without climate resiliency + adaptation measures

Source: World GBC

70%

Of built world tech venture funding is in climate themes, up from just a fifth five years ago

Source: A/O Research

Market Overview

2019

$36.6B

4851 deals

2019

$36.6B

4851 deals

2019

$36.6B

4851 deals

2019

$36.6B

4851 deals

Innovation

Tracker

Retrofit installers stand out this year as the strongest built world investment theme – both in terms of total venture dollars invested and early stage deal count growth. Other fast growing themes include: earth observation, grid storage, infrastructure monitoring and renewable energy procurement. Meanwhile, building water efficiency, building design and heat pump hardware remain significantly underinvested relative to potential climate impact.

Legend

Digitisation

Building Materials

Industrial Automation

Building Electrification

Building Efficiency

Building to Grid

Climate Management

Hover for data

Innovation

Hubs

For the first time, the top three innovation hubs are all European, with London, Berlin and Munich taking the lead when it comes to dollars invested. Notably, Toronto has also seen record dollar growth, while US cities have moved significantly down the rankings.

Top three cities are European and represent a fifth of dollars invested

London, Berlin and Munich take the lead when it comes to dollars invested, with Toronto also seeing record growth. US cities moved significantly down the rankings for dollars invested, while there was little movement in overall deal volume ranking.

Investment, $

Deal Volume, #