Co-founds TerraPower to Develop Next-Generation Nuclear Reactors
Gates co-founded TerraPower with former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold to develop the Traveling Wave Reactor — a nuclear design capable of running on spent fuel or depleted uranium, drastically reducing waste. The company later pivoted to the Natrium reactor, a sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with molten salt energy storage, and was selected for the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program in 2020 with $1.7 billion in federal funding.
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Funded Digital Green — video-based agricultural extension reaching millions of smallholder farmers
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March 2025
Breakthrough Energy Ventures Invests in Savor — Butter Made Directly from Carbon
Breakthrough Energy Ventures backed Savor, a startup that produces butter using carbon dioxide and hydrogen — derived from atmospheric carbon and water — without any conventional agriculture, animals, or farmland. Savor's thermochemical process generates saturated fat with an identical molecular profile to dairy butter while using an estimated 99.9 percent less water and zero agricultural land. The product launched at Michelin-starred restaurants in 2025, with supermarket availability targeted for 2027, as part of Gates's broader bet on food-system decarbonisation.
2024
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst Invests $40 Million in Deep Sky Carbon Removal
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst — Gates's industrial decarbonisation investment vehicle — committed $40 million to Deep Sky, a Quebec-based company developing commercial direct air capture facilities across Canada. The investment marked Catalyst's first in the DAC sector. Deep Sky's Alpha facility in Alberta is designed as a testing ground for multiple next-generation carbon removal technologies, with the goal of proving the cost trajectory needed to make DAC viable at planetary scale.
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