💨 ClimateHack Vol 121: DAC is Back with $150M in fresh funding

Hi There,

In exactly one week we’ll be opening the doors to day two of the HackSummit in New York and welcome some of the biggest names in climate tech on stage for 1-1 discussions.

Here’s a peak at who’s speaking in-person next Friday:

• Etosha Cave, CSO of Twelve ($645M raised to date) and Cyrus Wadia, CEO of Activate on turning CO₂ into valuable products.

• Lauren Salz, CEO of SEALED ($100M+ raised to date) and Alex Brown, Partner at Keyframe Capital on home energy efficiency.

• Cody Finke, CEO of Brimstone ($250M raised to date) and Brendan Wallace, CEO & CIO of Fifth Wall on producing carbon-negative cement.

We’re down to the final 30 tickets before we fully sell out. If you’ve been on the fence about taking part, now’s your time to decide.

Come join 300+ of the top founders, funds and operators for one final end of year networking blow out. Grab your last-minute pass here.

And to those already attending, see you next week !

In this week’s edition ;

🍫 Munich-based Planet A Foods secured $30M Series B funding to scale production of its sustainable, cocoa-free chocolate alternative.
🔎 US-Austrian startup Everest Carbon, launched out of stealth with $3M for it’s sensors that deliver real-time verification of ERW projects.
💨 Direct air capture company Heirloom raised $150M to advance its “cost-competitive and scalable” limestone-based technology for removing CO₂.

AgriFood x Climate

🍫 Munich-based Planet A Foods secured $30 million Series B funding to scale production of its sustainable, cocoa-free chocolate alternative, ChoViva, from 2,000 to over 15,000 tons annually. It will also use the funds to expand internationally and establish its first US production facility.

🧫 Celleste Bio, based in Israel, raised $4.5 million in a seed funding round led by Supply Change Capital to pilot and scale its cell-cultured cocoa ingredients.

🔎 British API and infrastructure provider Cerve raised €4.2 million seed funding to “digitise the global food supply chain”, enabling over 2,000 businesses to tackle inefficiencies, reduce waste, and improve food security through standardised data exchange.

💨 Dutch startup Farmless secured a €1 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund to scale its innovative air-based fermentation process, which produces functional proteins for the F&B industry more efficiently than animal farming by utilising CO2, hydrogen, nitrogen, and renewable energy.

💰 The US Department of Defense awarded biomanufacturing grants to several precision fermentation startups, including Perfect Day and Checkerspot, under the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program, designed to bolster national fermentation capacity and advance domestic biotech infrastructure.

🪟 Swiss startup Voltiris is addressing the energy challenge in greenhouse electrification with spectral filters that separate sunlight for plant growth and solar energy generation, enabling growers to reduce costs, decarbonise, and improve profitability.

Biodiversity x Climate

☄️ FireDome, inspired by Israel's Iron Dome, has developed a wildfire defense system using cameras and fire-retardant projectiles to extinguish hotspots and create protective barriers, capable of covering up to 100 acres with a single launcher.

Carbon x Climate

💨 Direct air capture company Heirloom raised $150 million Series B funding, bringing its total funding to over $200 million, to advance its “cost-competitive and scalable” limestone-based technology for removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.

📊 AI-powered carbon management software company carbmee, based in Berlin, secured €20 million for its Environmental Intelligence System, designed to support enterprises like Lufthansa and Coca-Cola accurately manage and reduce their carbon emissions.

📃 ERS (Ecosystem Restoration Standard) raised €5 million, bringing its total funding to €12.5 million, to expand its fast-growing carbon certification platform and become the “leading carbon standard for nature-based projects.

🔎 Everest Carbon, a startup focused on monitoring carbon removal, secured $3 million seed funding to launch its sensors for real-time verification of Enhanced Rock Weathering projects, designed to streamline the process for gaining carbon removal credits.

🏭 Amazon has partnered with AI startup Orbital Materials to test a proprietary carbon-capture material in an AWS data center, leveraging the facility's cooling airflow to efficiently remove CO₂ at a cost lower than using traditional carbon offsets.

Energy x Climate

⚡️ University of Oxford spinout Oxford Flow secured €23.7 million Series C funding, in a round co-led by bp Ventures and Energy Impact Partners, to scale its innovative valve and regulator technologies that enhance reliability, reduce maintenance, and cut fugitive emissions in the energy sector.

🔋 Reefilla, an Italian startup specialising in energy storage and mobile power generation, raised €4.5 million in a funding round led by CDP Venture Capital's Green Transition Fund to drive international expansion and develop second-life battery technologies.

☀️ Belfast-basex solar panel design and installation startup Solarfix secured €1.8 million from Whiterock to expand its green energy solutions across the UK and Ireland, reduce energy costs for customers, and lower carbon emissions.

🧱 Australian startup MGA Thermal topped up its Series B round to $14.15 million, adding Electrifi Ventures and Climate Salad to its cap table, to advance its modular thermal blocks, with the goal of abating 30 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030.

⚡️ Interview: How this CleanTech Unicorn is simplifying clean energy adoption and empowering homeowners, a conversation with Chris Kemper, Chairman, Founder and CEO of Palmetto.

Funds x Climate

🇩🇪 Berlin-based deep tech VC Fly Ventures announced the close of its third fund at €80M to support deeptech founders in Europe, already counting firms like Better Origin and Carbmee in their portfolio.

🇨🇱 Toesca Asset Management and Astarte Capital Partners have partnered to launch a $350 million fund to support regenerative agriculture practices across Latin America.

🇦🇺 Sydney VC Investible has partnered with UNSW’s TRaCE program on a first-of-its-kind initiative to co-invest in seed and Series A climate tech startups, with the aim of commercialising university research. 

🇬🇧 UK-based FIGR Ventures has launched to invest in early-stage, mission-driven consumer businesses driving positive environmental or social change, focusing on 5-6 investments annually at pre-seed and seed stages.

Materials x Climate

♻️ AMP Robotics raised $91 million, in a Series D funding round led by Congruent Ventures, to expand its AI-powered waste sorting operations, transitioning to a service model where it runs entire recycling facilities and charges per ton of waste sorted.

🤝 Unilever has partnered with Australian agtech startup Nufarm to develop biomass oils from entire sugarcane plants, designed to replace the fossil fuels in its laundry and beauty products as part of its sustainability efforts.

🤫 Coca-Cola has been accused of quietly abandoning a pledge to achieve a 25% reusable packaging target by 2030 in what campaigners call a “masterclass in greenwashing”.

📦 Israeli company W-Cycle is joining forces with Brazil's Melhoramentos to produce compostable food containers using SupraPulp™ technology, which transforms agricultural waste and cellulose fibers into durable, plastic-free packaging that decomposes within 100 days.

Mobility x Climate

⚡️ The Pope has received his first electric popemobile.

How did you like today's email?

Love it😁 Meh 😐 Hate it🙁

Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola