Climate-tech sector sees surge in venture capital investment

A solar power plant in Khanh Hoa province (Photo: VNA)

The report has been jointly released by New Energy Nexus Vietnam, RMIT University and the Advancing Innovation, Growth & Leadership for Enterprises (AGILE) project.

According to the CT-FE 2025 report, from 2015 to 2024, a total of 78 climate-tech enterprises in Vietnam raised nearly 205 million USD with 217 deals. In 2024 alone, the raised amount reached almost 100 million USD.

However, the investment landscape remains heavily shaped by large-scale transactions. This is reflected in the Series A deal worth 70 million USD secured by the Investment Cooperation and Technology JSC (TECHCOOP), which accounted for 71% of total climate-tech capital in 2024. This indicates that the climate-tech ecosystem continues to rely on milestone transactions rather than broad-based market growth, and also reflects the early-stage nature of Vietnam’s emerging climate-innovation economy.

Another notable shift highlighted in the report is the way new energy policies are reshaping Vietnam’s investment landscape, driving a fivefold rise in capital for energy-transition projects.

The adoption of the 2024 Law on Electricity and Decree No. 135/2024/ND-CP on mechanisms and policies encouraging self-produced, self-consumed rooftop solar power has triggered a wave of new investment activities, lifting the value of energy-transition deals to 15.5 million USD in 2024, five times higher than in 2023. This marks one of the most significant investment surges driven by supportive policy frameworks.

The report also shows that the success rate of climate-tech enterprises moving beyond the post-seed stage has dropped to 11.11%, compared with 32.2% across the broader tech sector. Meanwhile, the number of impact investors participating in Vietnam’s climate-tech space increased from just one in 2020 to ten in 2024, accompanied by stricter requirements on impact measurement, gender equality and Health – Safety – Environment Standards (HSES).

Grant funding continues to play a key role as a primary early-stage capital source for climate-tech start-ups amid limited participation from domestic VC funds. Ho Chi Minh City remains the largest fundraising hub, followed by Hanoi and Da Nang.

According to Thao Tran, Country Director of New Energy Nexus Vietnam, the fact that a single large deal accounts for over 70% of total VC investment indicates that innovation is taking place, but the supporting ecosystem remains underdeveloped.

Organisations such as New Energy Nexus play a vital role in strengthening this ecosystem by providing capacity-building for founders before fundraising, enabling access to grants and long-term capital, and offering essential data and insights to help domestic investors make informed decisions.

Notably, the CT-FE 2025 report also introduces, for the first time, a four-tier ecosystem map that clearly defines the roles of climate-tech enterprises, support organisations, capital providers and local authorities—an important step toward clarifying “who does what” in Vietnam’s climate-innovation landscape./.

VNA

Source: https://en.vietnamplus.vn/climate-tech-sector-sees-surge-in-venture-capital-investment-post333871.vnp