Best Sustainability Tech Companies in San Diego, United States
The 153 best Sustainability Tech companies in San Diego, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: ecoATM.
Our analysis of 84 Sustainability Tech companies
$19.4b in tracked funding; 85% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Sustainability Tech companies in San Diego
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Employees | Founded | Founder | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ecoATM Automated kiosks for e-waste collection | $398M | 38 mo ago | 462 462 → 382 (-17%) | 2008 | Stan Pavlovsky Chief Executive Officer | 390 patents Automated kiosks for evaluating, purchasing, and recycling consumer electronic devices. | 1 launch |
| 2 | Sapphire Energy Business energy price comparison website helping UK businesses save on energy bills | $390M | 126 mo ago | 1 | 2006 | — | 269 patents Algal biofuel production and photosynthetic synthesis of high‑value chemicals. | — |
| 3 | Biora Therapeutics Provider of non invasive prenatal genomic testing | $217M | 61 mo ago | 125 | 2012 | Harry Stylli CEO and Chairman of the Board | — | — |
| 4 | PaxVax Oral vaccines against infectious diseases such as cholera, bird flu, HIV & others. | $212M | 126 mo ago | 138 | 2007 | — | 27 patents Adenoviral vector vaccine platforms and spray‑drying formulation technologies for infectious disease vaccines | — |
| 5 | Ansun BioPharma Developer of anti-viral therapies for respiratory viruses | $191M | 80 mo ago | 34 | 2003 | — | 192 patents Gamma‑delta T‑cell manufacturing platforms and antiviral biologics for influenza therapy | — |
| 6 | La Jolla Pharmaceutical Innovating critical care and infectious disease therapies for global health | $148M | 97 mo ago | 71 | 1989 | — | — | — |
| 7 | Amplyx Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceutical company focused on innovative medicines, vaccines, and expanded access programs | $144M | 77 mo ago | 15 | 2006 | Mike Grey CEO | — | — |
| 8 | Kate Therapeutics Developer of AAV-based gene therapies to treat genetically defined muscle disease | $124M | 25 mo ago | 46 | 2020 | — | — | — |
| 9 | Evofem Developer of sexual and reproductive health therapeutics 50Funding top 24%Product top 30%Moat top 38%Patents top 43% All 12 signals ▾Fundingtop 24% Producttop 30% Moattop 38% Patentstop 43% Fin. healthtop 46% Innovationtop 48% Markettop 49% Growthbottom 49% Talentbottom 49% Techbottom 43% Newsbottom 41% Globalbottom 40% Funding: Raised $100M across 15 rounds · 15 rounds over 17 yrs (0.9/yr) Product: 1 distinct product line · Company stage: Public rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $100M | 11 mo ago | 126 | 2009 | Saundra Pelletier CEO ► Phexxi ► Solosec | 60 patents Vaginal film drug delivery systems for contraception, STI prevention, and antimicrobial microbicides | 1 partnership |
| 10 | Sequenom Provider of noninvasive prenatal testing using circulating cell-free fetal nucleic acids | $85M | 132 mo ago | 524 | 1994 | — | 1,144 patents Non‑invasive prenatal cfDNA testing for fetal genetic and chromosomal abnormalities | — |
| 11 | Cidara Therapeutics Developer of novel anti-infectives for infectious diseases (bacterial and fungal) | $78M | 18 mo ago | 90 90 → 48 (-47%) | 2013 | Jeff Stein CEO | 275 patents Antibody‑drug conjugates and biologics targeting viral and cancer pathways. | — |
| 12 | Rempex Pharmaceuticals Discovery and development of antibacterial drugs | $68M | 169 mo ago | — | 2011 | Daniel Burgess CEO | 240 patents Boronic‑acid β‑lactam antibiotics and their continuous‑flow manufacturing processes | — |
| 13 | Zavante Developing novel antibiotics to combat multi-drug resistant infections in hospitals | $65M | 117 mo ago | 8 | 2015 | — | — | — |
| 14 | Mpex Pharmaceuticals Develops therapies for infectious diseases | $60M | 208 mo ago | 33 | 2001 | — | — | — |
| 15 | Tamir Biotechnology Develops prophylactic and therapeutic drugs for the treatment of human papilloma virus (HPV) and other viral… | $43M | 100 mo ago | 2 | 1981 | — | 48 patents Topical RNase-based antivirals for ocular and systemic viral infection treatment | — |
| 16 | Daré Bioscience Developer of non-hormonal pharmaceutical products for female contraceptives 50Funding top 27%Product top 28%Growth top 37%Innovation top 38% All 11 signals ▾Fundingtop 27% Producttop 28% Growthtop 37% Innovationtop 38% Techtop 40% Moattop 48% Talentbottom 49% Newsbottom 45% Fin. healthbottom 43% Marketbottom 33% Globalbottom 32% Funding: Raised $39.7M across 17 rounds · 17 rounds over 9 yrs (1.9/yr) Product: 3 distinct product lines · 1 published app (300 installs) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $40M | 6 mo ago | 30 30 → 27 (-10%) | 2005 | Sabrina Johnson President and CEO | — | 4 launchs |
| 17 | Qpex Biopharma Developer of therapies for treating infectious diseases | $33M | 82 mo ago | 12 | 2018 | Michael Dudley President | 124 patents Design, synthesis, and therapeutic application of boronic‑acid‑based drug compounds | 2 job openings · 1 award |
| 18 | Halcyon Provider of AI-assisted search and information platform for energy professionals 45Funding top 25%Talent top 38%Patents top 39%Innovation top 42% All 7 signals ▾Fundingtop 25% Talenttop 38% Patentstop 39% Innovationtop 42% Techbottom 46% Marketbottom 37% Globalbottom 35% Funding: Raised $31.8M across 2 rounds · 2 rounds over 2 yrs (1.0/yr) Talent: 2 named leaders on record · 2 C-suite/founder profiles curated rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 45/100 | $32M | 3 mo ago | — | 2021 | Bruce F Founder & CEO | 13 patents High‑pressure lipid extraction, infusion and bonding equipment for oil processing | — |
| 19 | Figtree Financing PACE financing provider for property owners. | $30M | 122 mo ago | 152 | 2010 | — | — | — |
| 20 | Aquam Provider of sensor and advanced material based waterpipe diagnostic and rehabilitation solutions | $27M | 103 mo ago | 153 | 2005 | Dan Squiller CEO | — | 1 launch |
| 21 | Mesa Biotech Provider of point-of-care molecular diagnostic kits | $27M | 67 mo ago | 131 | 2009 | — | 62 patents Point‑of‑care nucleic acid testing using microfluidic cartridge platforms. | — |
| 22 | ECOR Global Developer of sustainable building materials | $20M | 30 mo ago | 92 | 2006 | Jay Potter Co-Founder & CEO | 12 patents Production of composite fiber boards and laminates for engineered wood products | — |
| 23 | CleanSpark Provider of microgrid optimizer software solutions 74Funding top 28%Fin. health top 28%Growth top 29%Market top 30% All 13 signals ▾Fundingtop 28% Fin. healthtop 28% Growthtop 29% Markettop 30% Moattop 31% Producttop 32% Talenttop 36% Techtop 37% Partnerstop 37% Newstop 38% Innovationbottom 39% Patentsbottom 33% Globalbottom 33% Funding: Raised $20.0M · 3 rounds over 7 yrs (0.4/yr) Fin. health: Revenue ~$766M (FY2021) · Net margin -42416.8% rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 74/100 | $20M | 7 mo ago | 130 | 2008 | Zachary Bradford CEO & President | 6 patents Enables communication and power‑sharing networks for distributed energy systems | — |
| 24 | Xendee Provider of software for microgrid design, modeling, and operation services | $20M | 48 mo ago | 10 10 → 25 (+150%) | 2012 | Scott Mitchell Co-Founder | 22 patents AI-powered planning and optimization of microgrids and distributed energy resources | — |
| 25 | Ivy Energy Cloud-based platform offering bill calculation software solutions for solar energy operators | $18M | 26 mo ago | 38 38 → 50 (+32%) | 2012 | Dover J Founder & CEO | — | — |
| 26 | Okogen Developing ophthalmic anti-viral drugs for adenoviral conjunctivitis (pink eye) | $16M | 18 mo ago | 3 | 2015 | Eric Daniels Founder & COO | 23 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 27 | Celula Diagnostics for women's health | $15M | 133 mo ago | 3 | 2005 | — | 50 patents High-throughput single-cell sorting and multi-omics genotyping platforms | — |
| 28 | AquaSpy Revolutionizing agriculture with real-time nutrient management and soil intelligence | $15M | 125 mo ago | 29 | 1998 | Bruce Moeller CEO | 4 patents Subsurface soil moisture and EC sensing with wireless data acquisition and analysis. | — |
| 29 | RetroVirox Biopharma company dedicated to discovering new treatments for patients with infectious disease | $11M | 135 mo ago | 6 | 2008 | Juan Lama Founder | 4 patents Small‑molecule agents modulating MHC‑I antigen presentation for immunotherapy | — |
| 30 | Ocean NanoTech Provider of dispensable quantum dots | $11M | 84 mo ago | 6 | 2004 | Andrew Wang CEO & President | — | — |
| 31 | VLP Biotech Developing innovative vaccines and custom recombinant proteins using proprietary platform | $10M | 144 mo ago | 15 | 2003 | Dave Milich CEO | — | — |
| 32 | NexBio Developer of therapeutics for human respiratory viral infections | $10M | 175 mo ago | — | 2002 | Mang Yu CEO | 39 patents Protein-based microsphere drug delivery systems and fusion protein pharmaceutical formulations. | — |
| 33 | GenMark Diagnostics Provider of instruments and test panels for multiplexed molecular diagnostics | $9M | 88 mo ago | 797 | 1993 | — | 126 patents Multiplexed microfluidic immunoassay platforms for rapid, quantitative diagnostic testing | — |
| 34 | Traversa Therapeutics Development and commercialization of RNAi Delivery Technologies | $7M | 206 mo ago | — | 2006 | — | — | — |
| 35 | Toragen Developer of therapeutics targeting oncogenic viruses | $5M | 44 mo ago | 7 | 2016 | Andrew Sharabi Founder | 12 patents Pharmaceutical rimantadine salt formulations for cancer and HPV lesion treatment | — |
| 36 | Lassogen Developer of new therapeutic modality using lasso peptides to treat difficult diseases such as cancer and… | $5M | 59 mo ago | 12 | 2019 | Mark Burk Founder | 30 patents Design, discovery, and engineering of therapeutic lasso peptide drugs | — |
| 37 | Agnetix Developer of water-cooled LED horticulture lighting systems with integrated data visibility | $5M | 64 mo ago | 20 | 2015 | Ihor Lys Co-Founder & CTO | 85 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 38 | EP Analytics HPC experts providing performance analysis and optimization software and services | $5M | 14 mo ago | 12 | 2009 | Laura Carrington Co-Founder & VP | 56 patents Distributed asynchronous data transfer and multi-view analytics visualization platforms | — |
| 39 | NAT Diagnostics Developing PoC diagnostics for infectious diseases | $4M | 103 mo ago | 2 | 2015 | — | — | — |
| 40 | Tega Therapeutics Glycoscience company developing heparan sulfate therapies and enzyme replacement therapy | $4M | 7 mo ago | 7 | 2013 | — | — | — |
| 41 | VECKTA Cloud-based microgrid turnkey control solutions provider | $3M | 47 mo ago | 20 | 2019 | Tristan Jackson Co-Founder & CSO | — | — |
| 42 | Selva Therapeutics Developer of therapeutic solutions for the treatment of infectious diseases | $3M | 71 mo ago | 2 | 2017 | Ted Daley Co-founder and CEO | — | — |
| 43 | Anacove Provider of energy management solutions for hotels | $2M | 48 mo ago | 4 | 2020 | — | 6 patents IoT-enabled facility management and occupancy sensing using smart power cords and sensor networks | — |
| 44 | CamerEye Provider of AI-enabled pool safety and surveillance systems | $1M | 32 mo ago | 13 | 2020 | Sai R Founder & CEO | — | — |
| 45 | Canetia Analytics Provider of AI-based structural analysis solutions | $1M | 14 mo ago | — | 2019 | Graham Sutherland Founder & CEO | 10 patents Remote condition monitoring and data analytics for physical asset assessment | — |
| 46 | Community HousingWorks Developer of affordable houses | $1M | 12 mo ago | 122 | 1988 | — | — | 1 award |
| 47 | Aethlon Medical Immunotherapeutic device company combating cancer and life-threatening viral infections | $300K | 6 mo ago | 14 14 → 25 (+79%) | 1999 | Charles Fisher CEO | — | — |
| 48 | ChangeAerial Provides tools and services for using aerial pictures in automated change detection analyses | $275K | 23 mo ago | — | 2020 | Andrea Sotgiu Co-Founder | — | — |
| 49 | PI Energy Developer of cost-disruptive, waferless solar photovoltaic materials for rooftop installations | $101K | 25 mo ago | 5 | 2007 | Phil Layton Founder & CEO | 1,199 patents Advanced power generation, fluid control, and uranium processing for oil/gas and nuclear sectors | — |
Top 12 Sustainability Tech companies in San Diego
#1
Series A · San Diego, California · founded 2021$31.8Mraised▾
Provider of AI-assisted search and information platform for energy professionals. The platform helps users discover new sources and understand shifting market dynamics. It enables users to answer complex questions related to the energy transition. The platform offers dynamically updated datasets collated from authoritative sources. It also provides alerts and search functionalities for energy dockets, documents, and filings.
- Feb 2026Series A$21M
- Apr 2024Seed$10.8M
#2
Public · San Diego, California · founded 2005 · 30 employees$39.7Mraised▾
DARE BIOSCIENCE is a developer of non-hormonal pharmaceutical products for female contraceptives. Their lead candidate, Ovaprene, is an intravaginal non-hormonal ring, that can provide contraceptive protection over several weeks. The design of the ring has a permeable mesh in the centre of the ring that creates a partial barrier to sperm, and a mechanism to release locally acting spermiostatic agents through the ring. The spermiostatic agents are ascorbic acid and ferrous gluconate, which create pH buffering and immobilization of sperm.
- Nov 2025Grant (prize money)$3.6M
- Feb 2025Grant (prize money)$2.3M
- Dec 2024Grant (prize money)$1M
- Jan 2024Grant (prize money)$750K
#3
Public · San Diego, California · founded 2009 · 126 employees$100Mraised▾
Developer of sexual and reproductive health therapeutics. It offers two drug products which include PHEXXI vaginal gel that provides women with an in-the-moment contraceptive that maintains the baseline vaginal pH environment and SOLOSEC (secnidazole) which is used to treat bacterial vaginosis in women and the STI trichomoniasis in both men and women.
- Jun 2025Post IPO$925K
- Apr 2025Post IPO$750K
- Sep 2023Post IPO$2.9M
- Feb 2023Post IPO$1.4M
#4
Acquired · San Diego, California · founded 2008 · 130 employees$20Mraised▾
Provider of microgrid optimizer software solutions. The software mVSO provides solutions for energy security, sustainability, and revenue generation. It also provides big data analysis solutions for the utilities. Its other offerings include mPulse - for integration and optimization of multiple energy sources, Switchgear - for providing a variety of operating modes, and more.
#5
Funding Raised · San Diego, California · founded 2013 · 7 employees$4.1Mraised▾
Glycoscience company developing heparan sulfate therapies and enzyme replacement therapy. Specializing in glycans, the company focuses on exploiting glycoscience-related technologies for treating life-threatening diseases. The company's pipeline includes recombinant production of heparan sulfate and enzyme replacement therapy to address genetic deficiencies in heparan sulfate degradation. They are dedicated to advancing the understanding and application of complex carbohydrates in medicine, aiming to unlock the therapeutic potential of glycans. This innovative approach positions them at the forefront of glycoscience, offering hope for novel treatments in areas with unmet medical needs.
- Nov 2025Grant (prize money)$500K
- Feb 2024Grant (prize money)$355.2K
- Sep 2023Grant (prize money)$461.7K
- Feb 2022Grant (prize money)$321.9K
#6
Acquired · San Diego, California · founded 2013 · 90 employees$78.4Mraised▾
Developer of novel anti-infectives for infectious diseases (bacterial and fungal). Its first product candidate is CD101 IV, an intravenous therapy in phase 1 trials for fungal infections. Besides, it has CD101 topical in the IND-enabling stage for the treatment of acute and recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVS). It has also developed a proprietary immunotherapy technology platform, Cloudbreak to develop drugs that direct immune cells to eliminate pathogens that cause infectious diseases. Its first Cloudbreak development candidate C001 is for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis.
- Nov 2024Post IPO$105M
- Apr 2024Post IPO$240M
- Sep 2019Post IPO$9M
- May 2018Post IPO$1.6M
#7
Series A · San Diego, California · founded 2015 · 3 employees$16.4Mraised▾
Okogen is developing ophthalmic anti-viral drugs. The lead candidate, OKG-0301 is a broad spectrum antiviral drug that inhibits viral replication. This molecule is a ribonuclease targets degradation of tRNA and miRNA which causes protein synthesis inhibition. The company is targeting this molecule for adenoviral conjunctivitis & also planning to test it against CMV retinitis and exotic viral infections. In Feb 2017, The company got $10 million in Series A funding from Brandon Capital’s Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) to develop OKG-0301 for viral conjunctivitis.
- Nov 2024Series A$2.5M
- Dec 2023Series A$213K
- Feb 2018Series A$10M
- Dec 2017Series A$6.2M
#8
Funding Raised · San Diego, California · founded 2009 · 12 employees$4.6Mraised▾
HPC experts providing performance analysis and optimization software and services. The company delivers industry-leading expertise and software for application-focused performance analysis of cutting-edge supercomputer systems. Dedicated to helping clients understand application performance, make informed HPC procurement decisions, and maximize the efficiency of existing HPC resources. They offer HPC code modernization and optimization, cloud migration services, and performance profiling tools. SimplifyHPC streamlines computational chemistry workflows. They provide HPC procurement support, cloud HPC solutions, and HPC code services. The company develops software tools for application-focused performance prediction and energy management of high-performance computing systems. They specialize in high-performance computing, performance prediction, energy-efficient computing, software development, and computer systems research.
- Mar 2025Grant (prize money)$1.9M
- Feb 2021Grant (prize money)$1.9M
- Feb 2020Grant (prize money)$191.6K
- Feb 2017Grant (prize money)$225.7K
#9
Acquired · San Diego, California · founded 2020 · 46 employees$123.8Mraised▾
Developer of AAV-based gene therapies to treat genetically defined muscle disease
- May 2024Series A$21.8M
- Jun 2023Series A$51M
- Aug 2021Series A$35M
- Feb 2021Series A$16M
#10
Public · San Diego, California · founded 1999 · 14 employees$300Kraised▾
Immunotherapeutic device company combating cancer and life-threatening viral infections. It is focused on developing a first-in-class technology for the rapid depletion of cancer-promoting exosomes and circulating viruses. Their device is designated as a breakthrough technology for treating individuals with advanced or metastatic cancer unresponsive to standard therapies, particularly in cancer types where exosomes contribute to disease development. The device also targets life-threatening viruses lacking approved treatments. The company aims to augment the body's natural immune defenses through its innovative approach to blood purification. This is a medical device company.
- Dec 2025Post IPO$2.2M
- Aug 2020Grant (prize money)$3.5M
- Sep 2018Grant (prize money)$298.4K
- Jul 2015Post IPO$6M
#11
Acquired · San Diego, California · founded 2008 · 462 employees$397.9Mraised▾
Automated kiosks for e-waste collection. The kiosk can be used to collect unwanted or used cell phones, tablets, and MP3 players. Provides a mobile application through which customers can check the price for electronic scrap & can locate the nearest kiosks. ecoATM is a member of Outerwall, Inc.
- Mar 2023Series D$50M
- Jun 2021Series D$75M
- Feb 2020Series D$200M
- Feb 2013Series C$41.5M
#12
Funding Raised · San Diego, California · founded 1988 · 122 employees$1.3Mraised▾
Developer of affordable houses
- Jun 2025Grant (prize money)$80.7K
- Mar 2025Grant (prize money)$106.4K
- Apr 2014Grant (prize money)$43.1K
- Jun 2012Grant (prize money)$63K
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Sustainability Tech coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Climate Adaptation is moving in the United States
A read on the academic research around Climate Adaptation — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 1,953 United States-affiliated papers.
- Columbia University52
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill43
- Arizona State University42
- Texas A&M University42
- Purdue University West Lafayette35
- Flood myth4→56
- Climate change6→47
- Flooding (psychology)2→23
- Climate resilience1→16
- Flood mitigation2→14
- Flood myth50→178
- Climate change35→155
- Flooding (psychology)18→97
- Resilience (materials science)10→84
- Psychological resilience12→55
- Climate change71→449
- Resilience (materials science)17→139
- Flood myth36→158
- Psychological resilience13→115
- Climate resilience14→92
Where climate adaptation is researched across United States
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing climate adaptation patents in the United States
United States climate adaptation patent filing is cooling — 28 filings from 19 assignees (2016–2025), led by ILC Dover, Garcia Rogerio, Serralta Denset; annual filings 6→1.
- ILC Dover20
- Garcia Rogerio4
- Serralta Denset4
- Zesty AI2
- Yodock GUY1
- Mckee TONY RAY1
- Ballard Tristan1
- Cooper Matthew1
Common questions
Riya reads income statements for fun. She covers the real money in a sector — revenue, growth, who actually earns — and never met a vague claim she didn't want a number for.