Nanomaterials represent high-impact opportunities for addressing climate challenges. They play a critical role across energy storage, industrial decarbonisation, and greenhouse gas capture, where performance gains at the material level can unlock system-level emissions reductions.
Investment trends in nanomaterials provide a clear view into how these opportunities are being prioritised. Capital allocation across nanomaterial material types and applications reveals which technologies are nearing deployment and where innovation remains limited by funding, geography or regulatory barriers.
This final article in our Nanomaterials Series builds on earlier coverage of emerging technologies, startups, and partnerships. This article details the investment trends in nanomaterials providing insight into which technologies and innovation pathways are receiving capital and how regions are supporting their innovation ecosystems. Funding trends highlight where scale-up is viable, where constraints remain, and how investment is shaping deployment outcomes.
Nanomaterials funding concentrates around fewer, larger rounds
Total funding for nanomaterials expanded sharply from $276.39 million in 2020 to a peak of $1.41 billion in 2024, before moderating to $775.66 million in 2025. Despite the pullback, 2025 still represents the second-highest annual investment level for the sector, supported by a mix of equity, grant and debt financing.
Equity funding dominated nanomaterials investment through most of the period, peaking in 2022 at $700 million. This was followed by a sharp contraction to $283.75 million in 2024, before partially recovering to $647.14 million in 2025. With the exception of 2024, equity remained the primary funding instrument across all years.
The largest equity rounds in 2025 were raised by:Â
- U.S.-based Lyten, which secured $200 million in late-stage funding in July
- Germany-based Green Energy Origin, which raised $110 million in a Series B round in December
The most striking trend in the dataset is the explosion of funding in 2024, reaching an all-time high of $1.41 billion. But the capital composition changed fundamentally. In 2024, debt financing skyrocketed to $674.30 million (up from just $8.05 million the prior year), and grants surged to $445.78 million.
Grant funding has shown high volatility over the period, characterised by alternating peaks and troughs. Grant funding peaked in 2024 before falling sharply to $70.44 million in 2025.
The 2024 grant peak was driven primarily by large allocations to:Â
- Black Semiconductor (Germany) received $246 million
- Cenate (Norway) received $21.21 million
- Vianode (Norway) received $32.63 million
Debt financing in 2024 was similarly concentrated, with three companies accounting for nearly all activity:
- Lyten (U.S.) raised $650 million in December 2024
- BeDimensional (Italy) raised $21.80 million in October 2024
- MITO Material Solutions (U.S.) raised $2.5 million in July 2024
The concentration and scale of these debt rounds indicate that nanomaterials companies accessing debt capital are operating asset-heavy, capital-intensive business models focused on manufacturing capacity and operational scale rather than early-stage technology development.
Late-stage rounds capture the majority of capital
While pre-seed and seed activity in nanomaterials remained strong in deal count, capital deployment has consistently concentrated in late-stage rounds. This pattern is most visible in 2022 and again in 2025, when a small number of large transactions accounted for the majority of invested capital, reflecting the maturation of companies moving toward commercial deployment.
Equity funding in 2022 reached a six-year high of $700.55 million, driven predominantly by late-stage rounds. Notably, Canada-based Svante raised $318 million in Series E funding in December 2022, anchoring the year’s capital concentration.
Despite this funding peak, deal activity in 2022 was largely early-stage, with 28 pre-seed and seed deals compared to just nine late-stage transactions, highlighting the contrast between high deal volume at the entry stage and capital intensity at scale.
A similar pattern emerged in 2025. Equity investment was led by early-stage funding of $286.49 million and late-stage funding of $336.05 million, reinforcing the market’s continued preference for fewer, larger rounds. The largest transactions included $110 million raised by Green Energy Origin (Series B) and $200 million secured by Lyten in late-stage venture funding, reflecting sustained investor appetite for scale-ready nanomaterials platforms.
Carbon-based nanomaterials command the majority of capital
Nanomaterials including the different material types and its applications together have attracted $6.5 billion in funding since 2020.Â
Nanomaterials, encompassing carbon-based nanomaterials, nanotubes, nanocomposites, nanoparticles, aerogels, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), have attracted $5.3 billion in funding since 2020. Enabled by their distinctive physical and chemical properties, nanomaterials support a broad range of climate-relevant applications across energy, environment, agriculture, and food systems.
Within nanomaterials, carbon-based nanomaterials dominate capital allocation, securing $3.6 billion in funding across nearly 300 deals, the highest deal count among all nanomaterial categories. This funding leadership reflects its significance in energy storage and industrial decarbonisation pathways.
Within carbon-based nanomaterials:
- Carbon nanotubes accounted for $509.05 million in funding for their role in enhancing the performance of lithium-ion batteries, improving conductivity and energy density.
- Graphene continues to attract substantial capital, with $1.15 billion deployed in 2024..
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) emerged as the fastest-growing nanomaterial class, capturing over $650 million in funding. Investment momentum is driven primarily by carbon capture applications and supported by commercial-scale partnerships rather than early-stage research activity.
In comparison, application-level investment attracted only 18% of the total $6.5 billion invested in nanomaterials. Among applications, startups developing nanomaterials for batteries and carbon capture received the largest capital inflows, at $412.62 million and $594.87 million, respectively.
- Nanomaterials for energy storage, primarily batteries, received $412.62 million in funding. Investment dipped in 2024 before rebounding in 2025, mirroring broader battery market cycles rather than reduced material relevance.
- Agricultural applications, including nanofertilizers, attracted $22.77 million. Regulatory uncertainty around environmental impact continues to limit capital deployment in this segment.
North America dominates global nanomaterials investment
North America has consolidated its position as the leader for nanomaterials investment. Between 2020 and 2025, the region attracted $2.66 billion in funding, accounting for 56.48 percent of total global investment.
The USA alone contributed $1.90 billion, establishing itself as the dominant market, while Canada followed as a strong second with $720.82 million. Together, the two countries represent the majority of capital deployed in the sector, emphasizing a pronounced geographic concentration.
Europe ranks as the second-largest regional market, securing $1.70 billion in total funding, or 36.01 percent of the global total. Unlike the scale-driven U.S. model, Europe’s investment profile reflects steady, policy-supported growth. Public institutions and regulatory incentives continue to play a central role boosting innovation. Funding is distributed across the region, with Germany ($394.17 million), Estonia ($372.70 million), and Norway ($274.70 million) emerging as the leading contributors.
Asia comes third, attracting $332.62 million in investment. However, the region experienced a sharp acceleration in 2025, with annual investment rising from just $6 million in 2020 to $184 million in 2025. This growth has been driven by manufacturing-oriented applications in China and South Korea, alongside India’s emergence as a cost-efficient innovation hub with $156.58 million.
Beyond these regions, South America and Oceania remain marginal in venture funding, together accounting for less than 0.5 percent of global investment.
Public and venture capital shape the nanomaterials funding landscape
Venture capital firms and government-backed institutions continue to dominate nanomaterials investment, together accounting for more than 80 percent of all recorded deals between 2020 and 2025.
Venture capital is the most active investor type, completing 256 deals over the six-year period, with annual activity peaking at 54 deals in 2023 and 2024 each.
Government entities followed closely, closing 170 deals during the same timeframe and playing a central role in sustaining early and mid-stage innovation.
Public institutions play a decisive anchoring role in nanomaterials. In North America, the U.S. Department of Energy and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy have been instrumental, providing non-dilutive funding to advance research, demonstration, and early commercial deployment of advanced energy technologies.
In contrast, corporate venture capital participation has remained limited, averaging between five and ten deals per year and totaling just 35 transactions since 2020. Private equity activity has been similarly restrained, with 33 deals over the period, reflecting the sector’s long development cycles and capital-intensive scaling requirements.
Where corporations do engage, their focus is highly selective. Corporate investors tend to back companies with clear pathways to integration into existing operations or product portfolios.
Chevron Technology Ventures, TotalEnergies, and LafargeHolcim have repeatedly supported Svante to secure access to carbon capture technologies aligned with their industrial decarbonisation strategies. In parallel, South Korean conglomerates have shown sustained interest in nanomaterials linked to batteries and advanced materials manufacturing.
Nanomaterials investment signals a maturing market
Investment in nanomaterials has entered a more disciplined phase. Capital concentrates around a smaller number of companies that can move material innovation into manufacturing capacity and commercial deployment. Equity remains the backbone of the sector, while debt and public funding are increasingly used to support scale-up rather than experimentation.
Progress in nanomaterials investment will depend on the ability of companies to scale production and deliver measurable climate impact. Alignment between investors, industry, and public institutions will determine how quickly nanomaterials move from promising technologies to embedded solutions across energy, industry, and carbon management systems.
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