Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Catalyst Halts New Investment, Lays Off Staff

Breakthrough Energy, the Bill Gates-backed group that bankrolls climate tech, has stopped making new investments from one of its key funds to scale up nascent green technologies, just as the market for these startups is being squeezed by President Donald Trump’s assaults on climate policy.

Launched in 2021, Breakthrough’s Catalyst fund raised more than $1 billion to finance the demonstration and scale-up of first-of-their-kind green solutions, which often struggle to get off the ground due to their unproven technologies and hefty costs. After supporting 10 startups and spending “high hundreds of millions of dollars,” a Breakthrough Energy spokesperson said, it has now suspended new investment from the fund.