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Food and carbon among hottest investment sectors

Megan Hernbroth
Data: Pitchbook; Chart: Baidi Wang/Axios

Carbon technology startups and food systems were the top categories for investment by deal value, PitchBook data provided exclusively to Axios shows.

Why it matters: The large spikes by month indicate a few, large deals driving the activity instead of sustained investor interest in either sector.

By the numbers: Global VC investment in food systems startups topped out at $1.2 billion in January 2022, while carbon tech investments reached the same figure in April.

  • Food tech saw the $1.2 billion spread across 27 deals, while carbon tech's $1.2 billion was across just four.

The intrigue: Electric transportation, a top area of investment in the first half of 2021 and 2020, was relatively quiet in 2022.

  • That is likely due to the lack of private EV companies currently in the sector after the major players went public via SPAC or IPO in 2021.
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