👀 ClimateHack Vol 122: What a year.

Hi There,

There’s lots to celebrate today as we close of a big year at ClimateHack with some major growth and very-firsts.

A quick look back at 2024;

• Published 44 newsletters, 28 articles and 39 trend reports while growing readership by +130%.

• Hosted 107 Meetups across 53 cities in 32 countries thanks to 134 incredible Ambassadors.

• Welcomed 1,600 attendees and 80+ speakers across 2 HackSummit’s in two contients’s (US & Europe).

Phew.

While some are calling 2024 the death of Climate Tech, we think very much otherwise.

Great companies continue to get funded (just checkout this weeks news on Crusoe and 1Komma5), new talent continues to make it’s way into companies with sustainability at the forefront, and once moonshot technologies are advancing ever closer to real world commercialisation.

We’re excited (impatient-even) for what lies ahead for Climate Tech in 2025. And we hope that we can continue to play a small part in keeping you informed and connected on the world of climate tech in the new year.

Wishing you all a restful holiday end to the year, and see you in 2025 👋

In this week’s edition ;

🛩 German startup Vaeridion raised €14M to advance its all-electric, battery-powered Microliner aircraft.
💨 Australian startup Conry Tech raised $1.6M to develop its ultra-efficient modular “Bull Ant” air-conditioning units.
🇺🇸 California-based G2 Venture Partners is raising a $750M third fund to invest in climate and sustainability startups.

Digest x Climate

🌲 Cool: All I want for Christmas is… a regenerative Christmas Tree.

⛴ Checkout: this recent CNN coverage of Alisha Fredriksson, Co-Founder & CEO at Seabound.

👀 Watch: The 90 Second HackSummit NYC Recap featuring Rainmaker, Twelve, Superorganisim and fellow attendees.

🤔 Interesting: Fifth Wall's Brendan Wallace reflects on the current sentiment of ESG from leading capital allocators including J.P. Morgan and BlackRock.

🇨🇭 2025 travel plans: Look no further than the The Deep Tech Investor Roadshow by our friends at Swissnex giving US Investors a five-day tour through three of Switzerland’s top deep tech hubs.

💡 Wow: A recent study led by researchers at Dickinson College found that microbes in glacial rivers and lakes can oxidise up to 53% of methane released by melting glaciers, potentially mitigating its impact as a greenhouse gas.

📊 2024 in Data: Discover the key trends, challenges, and opportunities in this rapidly evolving Climate Tech ecosystem and the outlook for the years ahead in the newest State of Climate Tech report released by Net Zero Insights.

AgriFood x Climate

♻️ Swiss startup Yeastup raised $9.9 million Series A funding to repurpose a former dairy factory into a facility that upcycles 2,000 tonnes of spent brewer’s yeast annually into proteins and functional ingredients for food, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics.

🍛 Orbisk, a Dutch scale-up reducing food waste in hospitality, raised €8 million in a Series A round featuring Regeneration VC to scale its AI-powered food waste monitor, which helps operators like hotels and restaurants cut food waste by 50% while improving sustainability and profitability.

🌾 Spanish startup HEMAV secured €8 million to expand its AI-driven agricultural platform LAYERS, designed to enable sustainable farming through precision insights that help reduce input costs by up to 30%, enhance logistics, and deliver highly accurate yield predictions.

🍖 Chile-based Luyef Biotechnologies secured $1.25 million to scale its production of affordable cultivated meat. It will use the funds to focus on cost reduction and work towards commercialisation.

🍪 Copenhagen-based Endless Food Co secured €1 million and partnered with 7-Eleven Denmark to launch cookies featuring its upcycled, cocoa-free chocolate made from brewer’s spent grain.

🌱 Freya Cultivation Systems raised €500,000 seed funding for its flagship greenhouse product, The Aeroframe, a fog-based plant-growing system that doubles cultivation area using three-dimensional surfaces and triples grower profits by reducing per-plant costs.

Biodiversity x Climate

🌳 A coalition led by agroforestry startup Propagate secured $24.6 million from the USDA to advance agroforestry and reforestation in the Mississippi River Basin, addressing water quality and habitat conservation through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

Carbon x Climate

💨 Australian startup Conry Tech raised $1.6 million pre-seed funding to develop its ultra-efficient modular “Bull Ant” air-conditioning units, aiming to tackle high energy use and emissions in commercial buildings and data centers.

🔎 Cham-based ARTEM raised €1.5 million to develop its software and hardware platform for CBAM compliance, designed to provide real-time emissions monitoring and carbon pricing insights to support net-zero manufacturing and supply chain transparency.

🏭 Oregon State University researchers have developed titanium peroxide compounds that rapidly absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, which may help to advance direct air capture technologies.

⛽️ Exxon plans to build its first natural gas power plant for external customers, generating over 1.5 gigawatts for AI data centers, with a commitment to capture and store over 90% of its carbon emissions.

🌊 Frontier has facilitated $80 million in carbon removal offtake agreements with CO280, capturing biogenic CO₂ from pulp mills, and CREW Carbon, storing CO₂ as ocean bicarbonate via wastewater treatment.

🤝 Boston Consulting Group has purchased over 50,000 tonnes of certified carbon dioxide removals through ClimeFi, bringing its total to nearly 200,000 tonnes.

💵 Salesforce has committed $5 million to pre-purchase durable carbon removal credits through Milkywire, as part of its $100 million CDR First Movers Coalition pledge to scale innovative, early-stage carbon removal solutions.

Chemicals x Climate

🧪 Albert Invent, an AI platform for chemical formulation, secured $22.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Coatue. It will use the funds to help chemical companies accelerate product development with molecular-level insights and real-time toxicology predictions.

🚛 Green ammonia startup Amogy raised $11.2 million of a $90 million round to advance its zero-carbon ammonia-to-power technology for transportation, which generates electricity by cracking ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen.

🧑‍🔬 MIT chemical engineers have developed a catalyst that converts methane into useful polymers at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, offering a cost-effective solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy x Climate

👷‍♂️ German energy solutions startup 1KOMMA5° has raised €150m in pre-IPO Financing in a round led by California State Teachers’ Retirement System (Calstrs). The Hamburg-based company has has built a marketplace for homeowners to buy and install carbon-neutral energy systems like solar panels and heat pumps, as well as providing the software to optimise consumption and bring down energy bills.

🔋 Bnewable, based in Brussels, secured €40 million in a funding round led by RGreen Invest. It specialises in battery systems and energy management for businesses, and will use the funds to further expand its operations.

☀️ India’s SolarSquare raised $40 million, marking the country’s largest solar venture round. It will use the funds to further scale its operations, as government incentives drive interest in a market where only 1% of Indian homes currently use solar energy.

🌡 Cologne-based SpotmyEnergy secured €10.5 million seed funding to scale its smart metering and energy management solutions, helping German households to optimise their energy usage and accelerate the country’s energy transition.

📊 Powernaut, based in Ghent, raised €2.4 million pre-seed funding to scale its orchestration software for integrating decentralised energy systems, designed to optimise devices like solar panels and EVs in order to balance grid demands.

🛢 Clyde Hydrogen Systems launched a €6 million seed funding round to commercialise its “decoupled electrolysis” technology, with which it aims to deliver efficient, scalable hydrogen solutions by 2026.

🔌 EVgo secured a $1.25 billion loan from the US Department of Energy to install 7,500 public EV chargers at 1,100 stations nationwide, featuring 350kW DC fast chargers capable of charging two cars simultaneously.

💰 Google has joined forces with Intersect Power and TPG Rise Climate on a $20 billion investment to generate carbon-free energy for several gigawatt-scale data centers, with the first project already underway.

🥛 Denmark’s Hyme Energy is partnering with Arla to develop a 200 MWh molten salt thermal storage system for Arla’s milk powder facility, aiming to replace fossil fuels with renewable heat and achieve 100% CO₂ emissions reduction.

ESG x Climate

🏢 Proptech startup Next Sense secured €11.5 million Series A funding to advance its Smart Building platform, which uses AI and real-time monitoring to help clients optimise energy use, meet ESG standards, and decarbonise buildings across their lifecycle.

🔎 Spain’s Dcycle raised €6 million Series A funding to expand its AI-powered ESG management platform into Germany, Italy, and the UK, helping businesses automate sustainability data, carbon reporting, and regulatory compliance.

Funds x Climate

🇩🇰 Heartcore Capital raised a $180 million Fund V to support startups working across areas like synthetic biology, AI, software, travel, and climate tech, with plans for 25-30 early-stage investments.

🇺🇸 G2 Venture Partners is raising a $750 million third fund to invest in climate and sustainability startups, building on previous success with companies like Arcadia, 1Komma5, and Crusoe.

🇫🇮 Nordic Foodtech VC launched a new €80 million fund to support early and growth-stage startups in sustainable food innovation, with a specific focus on tackling food waste, alternative proteins, and healthier food solutions.

👀 Useful: Sean Dietrich shared the updated 2024 Climate Tech VC Map.

Infrastructure x Climate

🏭 Data-Center startup Crusoe raised $600 million in a round led by Founders Fund for it's low cost and sustainable AI cloud-infrastructure that makes generative artificial intelligence work.

Materials x Climate

🔋 Delft-based CarbonX secured €4 million to advance its innovative, sustainable carbon anode material, designed as a local alternative to Chinese graphite to enhance battery performance, reduce supply chain risks, and support global electrification efforts.

🪵 Bpacks raised €1 million seed funding for its bark-based packaging technology, which integrates into existing production systems, extends the shelf life of perishables by up to 7 days, and reduces food waste by over 42%.

📦 LAM'ON secured investment from Eleven Ventures and Grigoriy Ananiev to scale its bio-based packaging solutions, including PACK'ON Classic for clear, compostable packaging and PACK'ON Shrink for durable, sustainable logistics solutions.

👕 UK startup Gooddrop is aiming to revolutionise cotton production by growing it in pesticide-free vertical farms, reducing water use, emissions, and ecological harm while creating a sustainable "grow-to-wear" apparel business.

Mobility x Climate

🛩 German startup Vaeridion raised €14 million to advance its all-electric, battery-powered Microliner aircraft, designed to carry nine passengers up to 500 km, with plans to enter service by the end of the decade.

🔌 Melbourne-based EV charging company Jet Charge raised $72 million, in a funding round led by Mirova, to develop proprietary technologies and expand its “Charging as a Service” model.

Memes x Climate

This…

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Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola