BBVA has invested 25 million dollars in a new round of financing from the venture capital fund Lowercarbon, which specializes in decarbonization.
This new investment, added to a previous one of 20 million reaching a total of 45 million, will be allocated to disruptive solutions with enormous potential, including new technology based on nuclear fusion.
“Nuclear fusion is the great hope for achieving a clean and unlimited source of energy. It has long been considered to be the definitive energy alternative to sources that burn fossil fuels and release greenhouse gases,” stated BBVA´s Chairman, Carlos Torres Vila.
“We are committed to companies and projects that are at the forefront of climate change solutions. In that sense, our experience following our first investment with Lowercarbon has been very positive and completely aligned with our sustainability strategy,” says Carlos Torres Vila.
“When we launched the world’s first-of-a-kind fusion fund, Lowercarbon Q>1, BBVA boldly stepped up to back us. Less than one year later, scientists achieved the elusive Q>1, when a fusion reaction generates more energy than it consumes, a Nobel-worthy milestone that few people saw coming,” said Chris Sacca. Lowercarbon co-founder Clay Dumas added, “As the fusion industry advances toward full-scale commercialization, BBVA’s strategic investment has given them the inside track to help scale the planet’s leading fusion portfolio.”
For BBVA, sustainability is a business opportunity. Profitability, learning and strategic access to these new business models and their companies (which will need financing) are the objectives of BBVA's investment in climate funds. BBVA actively contributes to the decarbonization of the economy via these investments and by investing in technologies with enormous potential for the future.
Lowercarbon Capital is an early stage VC focused on climate tech across decarbonization, carbon removal, and technology to buy more time for those who are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change. Lowercarbon is investing in the transition of some of the world's largest industries, seeking companies that are creating better, faster, cheaper, and more economy via these investments and by investing in technologies with enormous potential for the future.
BBVA alcanza los 45 millones de dólares de inversión en fondos de Lowercarbon, especializados en la descarbonización
Some of these companies have achieved unicorn status, meaning they are valued at more than one billion dollars, such as the startups Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Solugen and Avalanche Energy, the formercompany aiming to build the world's smallest nuclear fusion reactor.
Nuclear fusion generates so much energy with such little fuel that it is virtually limitless. In addition, some technologies and applications being developed in the race for nuclear fusion energy include improved lasers, powerful magnets, and even radiation therapy for cancer research.
Lowercarbon believes that fusion is at a turning point because, regardless of the design, companies are reaching technical milestones in this area.
Nuclear fusion is the process by which deuterium and tritium atoms (two types of hydrogen isotopes) fuse to form a helium atom, releasing a neutron and a very high amount of energy. To successfully carry out this nuclear process, the plasma, a key element in the process, must reach very high temperatures. So far, the maximum temperature reached in a nuclear fusion experiment is around 200 million °C. However, no material on Earth can maintain the plasma at that temperature. This is one of the great challenges still facing nuclear fusion.
Lowercarbon Capital, one of the most active climate dedicated venture capital firms today, was founded by Chris and Crystal Sacca who had previously built Lowercase Capital to make early stage investments in companies like Instagram, Slack, Twitter, and Uber. Chris is often credited for having created one of the most successful venture capital funds of all time through his investments at Lowercase Capital.
The total investment in these climate funds announced by BBVA today amounts to 89 million dollars.
BBVA's first investment in Lowercarbon was in April 2022 for 20 million dollars. Subsequently, in July 2022, the bank invested in Fifth Wall which is specialized in technologies that decarbonize the construction and real estate sector. In October 2022, it earmarked an investment of 10 million euros in the largest clean hydrogen infrastructure fund in the world, managed by Hy24. On June 9, 2023, BBVA invested 20 million dollars in Just Climate, a climate asset fund whose objective is to invest in high-impact solutions aimed at eliminating or radically reducing emissions, especially in the industrial sector. In July 2023, BBVA invested in the circular economy, biogas and biomethane through the Suma Capital climate fund.The total investment in these climate funds announced by BBVA today amounts to 89 million dollars.