🌡 ClimateHack Vol 123: Temperature check on Climate Tech

Hi There,

It’s been an interesting first few weeks back in Climate Tech.

We’ve read about climate tech closures, seen some leadership changes at top climate funds and read a steady stream of thought pieces about the end of climate tech as a whole.

At the same time, we’ve seen some of the largest deals in carbon removal inked by Google, read about the launch of novel and specialised climate tech funds (across Trucking, Biotech and Energy) and tracked $2B of new funding announcements to necessary solutions (like Gridware who raised $26.4M for it's AI-driven solution to reduce wildfires from faulty grid failures).

While we unfortunately don’t have a crystal ball that can tell us what the future holds (if I did I’d ask it about my receding hairline), we can hopefully break through some of the noise to get you the key industry information you need to know.

Whatever happens this year, we’ll be here, every Friday in your inbox with a summary of the top headlines in Climate Tech as well as in your city hosting local events to bring climate tech folks together (Barcelona and Cape Town coming up in January).

So if that sounds good to you, let’s jump right in.

In this week’s edition ;

🦣 Colossal Biosciences secured $200M to advance its CRISPR-driven de-extinction projects
🪴 Inari raised $144 million to advance its AI-powered SEEDesign platform for editing plant DNA.
🔋 ElectraLith raised $27.5M to revolutionise lithium extraction with waterless, chemical-free electro-membrane technology.

AgriFood x Climate

🪴 Seed gene-editing startup Inari raised $144 million in a Series G round, bringing total funding to $720 million, to advance its AI-powered SEEDesign platform for editing plant DNA to boost yields and resource efficiency in crops like soybean, corn, and wheat.

🧀 German fermentation specialist Formo secured €35 million in venture debt from the European Investment Bank to scale production of its animal-free protein products, advance regulatory approval for precision-fermented casein, and expand its micro fermentation platform.

🧪 Biosphere, a startup developing UV-sterilised bioreactors designed to reduce biomanufacturing costs, emerged from stealth with $8.8 million in seed funding and a $1.5 million contract with the US Department of Defense.

☀️ Anglo-Portuguese startup Arborea raised €5 million to scale its Biosolar Leaf platform, which industrialises photosynthesis to produce sustainable, high-value microalgae proteins while sequestering carbon and releasing oxygen.

🤖 Netherlands-based Odd.Bot raised €2 million in a pre-Series A funding round to advance its sustainable autonomous weeding robot, the Maverick, which replaces manual and chemical weeding methods to promote cleaner crops, healthier soil, and biodiversity.

💦 Hong Kong-based agtech Full Nature Farms unveiled the Rocket 2.0 Smart Irrigation Platform, a data-driven AI system that reduces water waste and costs, lowers energy consumption, and improves crop yields through precise, automated irrigation.

Biodiversity x Climate

🦣 Colossal Biosciences, which is aiming to resurrect the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and dodo, secured $200 million Series C funding at a $10.2 billion valuation, advancing its CRISPR-driven de-extinction projects, with significant progress reported on all three species.

🔎 UK-based biodiversity monitoring startup NatureMetrics raised €24.3 million Series B funding to advance its eDNA technology and AI-powered Nature Intelligence Platform, designed to enable site-level biodiversity assessments and informed conservation decisions across industries.

Carbon x Climate

💨 London-based carbon ratings agency BeZero Carbon secured €31 million in a Series C funding round led by GenZero. It will use the funds to expand market coverage, enhance AI-driven tools, and support its platform offering ratings for over 480 carbon credit projects, used by global clients like UBS and Equinor.

🪨 Google broke the record twice this week with a 100,000 biochar carbon credit purchase from New Delhi-based Varaha (apparently a world’s largest) as well as another 100,000 tonnes of carbon removal from San-Fran based Charm Industrial (also apparently a world’s largest).

Chemicals x Climate

🔋 ElectraLith, a Monash University spinout, raised $27.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Main Sequence to revolutionise lithium extraction with waterless, chemical-free electro-membrane technology.

Energy x Climate

🌊 Irish marine robotics startup Xocean raised €115 million to expand its uncrewed surface vessel operations, which provide ocean data for industries like energy and hydrography, serving clients such as BP, Shell, and government agencies.

🔥 Gridware raised $26.4 million Series A funding, in a round led by Sequoia, to expand its solar-powered, AI-driven pole-mounted devices that listen for and identify electrical grid hazards, enabling quick and efficient monitoring of over 1,000 miles of power lines.

🏡 Beams raised $9 million to “make home renovation simpler and greener” with advanced software, AI-powered tools, and free energy assessments, helping UK homeowners lower costs, improve energy efficiency, and reduce carbon emissions.

🔎 Rotterdam-based FuelFWD secured €1 million in a seed funding round led by Value Factory Ventures to advance its AI-powered platform, designed to streamline compliance processes for the renewable fuels industry by digitising workflows and proactively flagging issues.

🏭 Deep Fission is partnering with data center developer Endeavour to build 2 gigawatts of underground nuclear power using pressurised-water reactors lowered into mile-deep boreholes, aiming to cut costs and minimize infrastructure compared to traditional aboveground reactors.

💰 German large-scale battery storage developer green flexibility secured over €400 million from Partners Group, with additional debt financing enabling a total project volume exceeding €1 billion, to further support its expansion plans.

💨 Saudi utility giant ACWA Power secured SR2.63 billion ($703 million) from international lenders to develop, operate, and maintain a 1,100-megawatt wind power plant in Egypt's Suez governorate, supporting Egypt's goal of generating 42% of its electricity from renewable sources.

🍄 Empa researchers have developed a biodegradable, 3D-printed fungal battery that powers sensors for agriculture and environmental research, offering a non-toxic, self-digesting alternative to traditional batteries.

Funds x Climate

🚛 Trucks Venture Capital launched its largest fund yet at $70 million to invest in early-stage startups shaping the future of transportation, including EV chargers, autonomous vehicles, and zero-emissions aircraft, with plans to back around 30 companies at the seed and pre-seed stages.

⚡️ Energy Revolution Ventures closed an $18 million seed and Series A fund to invest in innovations like energy storage, carbon capture, and hydrogen, with nine investments to date, including startups developing advanced electrolysers, MOFs for carbon capture, and power electronics.

🧬 Juniper Ventures has spun out of Climate Capital and raised $10.6 million for its first fund, which focuses on climate biotech solutions in underfunded sectors like industrials, chemicals, food, and buildings, investing in innovations like sustainable coffee and DNA data storage.

Materials x Climate

⛏ Electra raised $180.4 million as part of a $257M round to advance its novel electrowinning process, which uses electricity to extract pure iron from low-grade ores, offering a cleaner alternative to traditional blast furnaces and significantly reducing steelmaking's carbon emissions.

🔋 Battery reuse firm Moment Energy raised $15 million in Series A funding round, co-led by the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Voyager Ventures. ‍The funds will support the company’s plan to build the world’s first gigafactory dedicated to repurposing EV batteries in the US.

🪨 Alta emerged from stealth with $5.1 million in seed funding to develop a pilot-scale plant for its innovative protein-based method of efficiently extracting rare earth elements from low-grade supplies and electronic waste without relying on toxic chemicals.

🔋 UK-based Altilium secured a $5 million investment from Marubeni Corp. to support its mission of sustainable battery circularity. It has developed a way to extract critical minerals from old EV batteries, and will use the funds to build an EV battery recycling facility in Teesside.

🧑‍🔬 Engineers at MIT have developed a nanofiltration process to reduce hazardous waste from aluminum production by capturing and upcycling aluminum ions from effluent streams.

Mobility x Climate

🚛 Los Angeles-based EV startup Harbinger secured $100 million Series B funding, in a round co-led by Capricorn Investment Group and Leitmotif, to advance its “hyper-focused approach” to electrifying commercial trucking.

🛩 Sarla Aviation, an Indian electric air taxi startup focused on high-payload, short-range aircraft, secured $10 million in a Series A1 funding round led by Accel. It will use the funds to establish an R&D center in Bengaluru, expand its team, and develop prototypes for its six-passenger air taxi.

⛽️ Swiss startup Metafuels raised $9 million in a funding round led by Celsius Industries to scale its e-SAF offering from lab development to demonstration and production.

🏎 ETA Green Power has partnered with Cambridge University ECO Racing to develop advanced drive technology for solar-powered race vehicles, supporting the development and testing of CUER's SC7 solar race car for the World Solar Challenge, with completion targeted for mid-2025.

🔌 Tesla and three industry partners supported an Illinois EPA application that secured $100 million from the Federal Highway Administration's Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Program to build electric truck charging stations, the largest award in the program's second funding round.

Graphs x Climate

📈 Hugo Rauch of VCo2 Media shared this chart on Climate Tech valuation from 2024:

🌡 Ed Hawkins of University of Reading shared an updated chart on climate data indicators:

Memes x Climate

How Generalist VC’s are going into climate tech calls this year

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Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola