🛩 ClimateHack Vol 116: Climate Grants Galore

Hi There,

Nobody loves writing grant applications.*

While it’s never much fun, this typically dubious process does have its perks (aka: sweet non dilutive capital) and makes up an essential part of ensuring climate deep tech solutions can see the light of day between rounds.

In this weeks edition, we tracked a total of 100 grants issued to climate tech companies globally - from the DOE’s $428 million to boost clean energy manufacturing to the EU’s Innovation Fund issuing €4.8 billion in grants for climate and energy projects globally.

For those of you that are halfway through your grant applications and slowly losing your mind, hopefully this serves as that little boost you need to get back to it. Remember, there’s an actual pot of gold at the end of that 50+ page application.

*If you do, I apologies. 

In Today’s Edition;

🏭 The US Department of Energy awarded Anthro Energy a $24.9M grant to establish a 25 GWh advanced electrolyte production facility.
🧪 US-based Turnover Labs secured $1.4M to help chemical plants transform their waste CO2 into valuable chemical building blocks.
🛩 German electric aircraft startup Lilium is shutting down its operations, having run out of money after failing to raise emergency money.

Digest x Climate

🦜 120 MRV for Biodiversity Startup. MRV (Monitoring, Reporting and Verification) is how we can build trust and track the benefits of biodiversity projects. But there’s no silver bullet.

Of course that’s not holding back a myriad of startups pioneering new solutions to better track, trace and ensure accountability with data analytics, eDNA, bioacoustics, satellites, drones, AI-powered monitoring technologies and more.

Above we’ve mapped 90 top-tier companies, and community-sourced a mega list of 120+ startups in this space from around the world.

→ Biodiversity and Nature Tech will be taking centre stage at the HackSummit NYC this December - If you’re working in the space and looking to connect with other like minded builders, policy makers, investors and insiders, let’s make sure you’re a part of the conversation in New York.

AgriFood x Climate

🚜 Danish agtech FarmDroid secured €10.5 million to expand globally and promote sustainable farming by reducing labour costs, pesticide use, and improving efficiency in both organic and conventional open-field farming with its autonomous, solar-powered agricultural robots.

💊 UK-based MicroLub raised £3.5 million for its plant-based microgels, which replace fats and oils in food products by mimicking the creamy mouthfeel of fats, potentially reducing fat content by up to 75% without compromising taste or texture.

🍯 Californian food tech startup MeliBio secured a strategic investment from Future Food Fund by Oisix as part of its pre-Series A round, to scale distribution of its plant-based sweetener, Mellody.

🇪🇺 The European Commission has deemed Hungary's ban on cultured meat "unjustified" and warned that it could disrupt the EU's harmonised authorisation process for novel foods.

Carbon x Climate

💨 Cool Planet Technologies raised €23.7 million in a Series A2 funding round led by Taranis Carbon Ventures to advance its membrane-based process for large-scale carbon capture from industrial flue gas emissions.

👀 The European Commission announced €4.8 billion in grants for 85 climate and energy projects, including 16 carbon capture and storage initiatives. Key projects include Hungary's Danube Removals project, the EU's first onshore CO2 storage, and Norway's StarFish project, featuring innovative offshore floating injection technology.

🤝 Climeworks signed a major agreement with Morgan Stanley to remove 40,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2037, marking its second-largest contract.

Chemicals x Climate

🔎 Berlin-based Dunia.ai raised $11.5 million in a funding round co-led by Elaia and redalpine to accelerate the discovery of advanced materials using AI and a self-driving lab. It focuses on power-to-x electrocatalysts for green hydrogen and ammonia production, as well as converting CO2 into advanced chemicals.

🧪 US-based Turnover Labs secured $1.4 million pre-seed funding, in a round led by GC Ventures and Pace Ventures, to help chemical plants transform their waste CO2 into valuable chemical building blocks.

Construction x Climate

🏗 Cement startup Furno is set to receive a $20 million Department of Energy grant to build eight micro-kilns at a Chicago concrete plant, reducing pollution and transportation costs. Partnering with Ozinga, which uses 60,000 tons of cement annually, the project will localise cement production and use biogas and recycled materials to lower its climate impact.

Energy x Climate

🏭 The US Department of Energy awarded Anthro Energy a $24.9 million grant to establish a 25 GWh advanced electrolyte production facility in Louisville, Kentucky, capable of producing 12,000 metric tons annually, marking the first large-scale U.S.-owned facility of its kind.

🏡 Aether raised $2.5 million seed funding for its AI-powered native solar design tool for the European market, designed to address inefficiencies in the rooftop solar installation workflow.

💨 Pfronten-based autarkize secured €2.3 million seed funding to accelerate the expansion of its methane and hydrogen gas technology, particularly in biogas technology, heat, and steam production, in a bid to decarbonise industrial processes and create large-scale CO2 sinks for global climate impact.

⚡️ Norwegian startup Starflow raised €1.7 million pre-seed funding, in a round led by Skyfall Ventures, to advance the development of its Energy Hub, a hardware platform designed to optimise energy flow between solar panels, EV chargers, batteries, and home energy systems.

🚆 Switzerland is launching a world-first project to install solar panels on railway tracks, leveraging the existing infrastructure to create a scalable, efficient solution for clean energy generation. This innovation, if applied to just 10% of Europe's 200,000 kilometres of tracks, could produce enough electricity to power around 300,000 homes annually, all without needing additional land for solar farms.

Funds x Climate

💰 Morgan Stanley Investment Management closed its 1GT climate-focused private equity fund with $750 million for growth-stage investments in carbon removal and reduction companies across North America and Europe, with a goal of achieving a 1 gigatonne impact by 2050.

🇺🇸 KdT Ventures raised just over $100 million for its fourth venture fund, aimed at backing startups that apply computational tools and technology to industries like healthcare, chemicals, and agriculture.

Materials x Climate

🔎 German startup ExoMatter secured €1.7 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Vanagon Ventures for its AI-powered sustainable materials development platform, designed to significantly reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions while shortening the development cycle by up to 90%.

♻️ The new REWIND Project aims to develop technologies for dismantling wind turbine blades and innovating methods for repurposing and recycling their composites, enhancing circularity, expanding industrial applications for end-of-life materials, and reducing landfilling and incineration.

Mobility x Climate

⛴ Drax Group is investing £1 million, matched by a UK government grant, in Smart Green Shipping‘s FastRig technology, installing retractable wing sails on ships to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30% annually.

🛩 German electric aircraft startup Lilium is shutting down its operations, having run out of money after failing to raise emergency money from the German government.

Toasts x Climate

🍞 How much energy does it take to toast a toast? Olympic cyclist Robert Förstemann finds out:

How did you like today's email?

Love it😁 Meh 😐 Hate it🙁

Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola