2022年城市科技报告（英）

Cities are booming, and so is sustainable urban tech

Urban tech startups have raised $28B in 2022 year to date, already more than in 2020, but projected to fall short of last year by 23%. Despite a considerable drop in corporate participation, heavy industry giants, such as Cemex and Honeywell, continue to be active urban tech investors.

Why it matters:

The battle for climate change will be won or lost in how we manage emissions from cities. More investment in urban tech is required to hit net-zero targets.

Urban Tech unicorns are now coming up across many segments beyond clean energy and mobility

There are 109 sustainable urban tech unicorns, mainly in clean energy or mobility, but in the last two years other categories have been ramping up. 2022 saw 2 urban tech unicorns emerge within ESG & carbon tracking, as well as the first new unicorn in building efficiency since 2015.

Why it matters:

Unicorns are needed now to drive the scale required across all urban tech sectors. Buildings for instance take up 37% of global CO2 emissions.

High emission sectors are highly underfunded startup segments

Energy efficiency (heating, cooling and building management) and sustainable construction (modular construction, concrete, steel and other materials startups) are all underfunded. After a record 2021 year, growth has taken a pause, more is needed.

Why it matters:

Energy usage in buildings accounts for 27% of global CO2 emissions.1 Investments here can drive greater impact.