This year is filled with uncertainty, from a global trade war and shifting policy priorities to an economy that is starting to stumble. In response to this climate, Breakthrough Energy, a climate tech organization founded by Bill Gates, has also been undergoing shifts. The group has always placed long-term bets, though it appears to be reappraising some of them. For example, its policy team was disbanded in March, and it did not continue funding a publication that covered the climate tech world. Despite these changes, its investments in startups continue, as does its longest bet: a fellowship program for budding entrepreneurs.
That program, called Breakthrough Energy Fellows, is announcing a new cohort today. It consists of 45 fellows working across 22 different startups. The makeup of this group reveals how the program is evolving in response to its own data and the broader global uncertainty. This is the most global cohort to date, with fifty percent of the teams based outside of the United States. Ashley Grosh, vice president at Breakthrough Energy, explained that her team sifted through around 1,500 applications and referrals, making the program more selective than the world’s top universities. Eleven teams are based in the U.S., six are in Asia, and the remainder are in Canada, Germany, the U.K., and South Africa.
Part of this international focus was driven by a new hub for the fellowship program in Singapore, which the organization opened in August 2024 in partnership with Temasek, the country’s investment fund, and Enterprise Singapore, a government agency. It is also a recognition that climate change is a global problem requiring solutions from around the world. Grosh emphasized the importance of local needs and challenges, pointing to the significant interest in the hydrogen economy across Asia. Circularity, or recycling materials back to their original or better form, is also a priority for the region given its role as a global factory and the waste that entails. The new cohort also includes startups working on critical minerals, agriculture, and grid modernization.
Beyond its more global focus, the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program has shifted its curriculum. Based on observations and feedback from previous cohorts, the program now encourages new fellows to think early and often about the economics of the technology they are developing. Using a framework called techno-economic analysis, they work with experienced “business fellows” to determine whether and where their idea can find product-market fit. If not, they are nudged to pivot. Grosh noted that many companies enter the program planning to do one thing and then shift direction, becoming more venture bankable after the program helps validate their new path.
She shared that nearly all of the teams from the previous four cohorts have raised follow-on funding, and one company, Holocene, has already been acquired. That outcome is a huge measure of success for the program.