Global corporate funding in the energy storage sector declined 2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to $8.9 billion in the first half (H1) of 2026, even as deal activity accelerated sharply and corporate mergers and acquisitions surged 275%.
Corporate funding was spread across 73 deals in H1 2026, compared with $9.1 billion across 55 deals in the corresponding period last year, showing a rise in transaction count despite a marginal decline in overall capital raised.
Venture Capital
According to Mercom Capital’s Energy Storage Funding and M&A report, venture capital funding also moderated, falling 6% to $1.6 billion across 51 deals, from $1.7 billion across 36 transactions in H1 2025. Energy Storage Downstream attracted the highest VC funding among the 15 categories tracked.
India figured among the largest global VC transactions, with Waaree Energy Storage Solutions raising $111 million, making it the fourth-largest energy storage VC deal during the period. EnerVenue Holdings led with $300 million, followed by terralayr at $223 million, Liminal Energy at $200 million and Lunar Energy at $102 million.
Debt and public-market financing remained the largest funding component, totaling $7.3 billion across 22 deals, down 1% from $7.4 billion across 19 deals a year earlier. CATL’s $5-billion financing was the largest transaction in this segment, followed by Envision Energy’s $600-million deal.
The sharpest acceleration came in consolidation activity. Corporate M&A transactions increased to 15 from just four in H1 2025, a 275% jump.
Project acquisitions also more than doubled, reaching 63 transactions covering around 14 GW, compared with 31 deals involving 6.1 GW in H1 2025, representing a 126% increase in transaction count.