☁️ ClimateHack Vol. 68: Sustainable cloud computing is a thing

Hey There,

Before we jump into today’s edition, our hearts go out to the Israeli community who suffered horrific and unacceptable terrorist attacks, leading to devastating losses and civilian casualties over the last few days.

Incredible founders and builders with big hearts and ambitions have had to step back from their professional duties while caught in a spiral of violence we can only hope to see come to an end.

As we hope for better days and a more secure future, it’s never too late to check-in on your friends and fellow founders who might have been affected.

In Today’s Edition;

☁️ Zurich’s Helio secures €4.9M for sustainable cloud computing.
🐟 US-based cultivated seafood producer BlueNalu secures $33.5M.
🌎 Amsterdam’s Carbon Equity raised €6M to unlock capital to climate.

Digest x Climate

🦜 Infographic: Adrian Dellecker shared this biodiversity startup ecosystem map.

🚗 Google is introducing new sustainability features, including a new tool designed for people who are considering buying an EV, an expanded Flood Hub and home energy comparisons.

🌎 Techstars is running a 3-month hybrid Sustainability program, with 2 weeks in Paris, starting in March 2024. For Climate tech ventures (Tech and Sector agnostic) interested to take part - learn more about the programme here.

🔎 MIT Technology Review shared 15 climate tech companies to watch, including commercial-scale DAC company Climeworks and Chilean AI-powered alt protein developer NotCo.

Carbon x Climate

☁️ Zurich-based Helio secured €4.9 million seed funding to “lead the sustainable cloud computing revolution” with its unique real-time algorithm, which reroutes computing tasks to underused or renewable-energy-powered data centres.

🛒 Austrian SaaS platform provider inoqo raised a seven-figure investment. Its B2B business model enables grocery retailers to assess the environmental impact of their product ranges.

🔎 Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Science are developing a low-cost drone network equipped with medium-accuracy greenhouse gas sensors to track carbon emissions from major industries.

🛢 Saudi oil giant Aramco is partnering with Siemens Energy AG to develop a small-scale DAC “test unit”, due to be finished in 2024, in an attempt to manage emissions.

💡 Planet A’s Florian Schabus shared a recap on a discussion that took place at Carbon Unbound around markets for carbon negative products and ways of making carbon dioxide removal a business case.

Food x Climate

🐟 US-based cultivated seafood producer BlueNalu secured $33.5 million Series B funding and extended its partnerships with APAC seafood leaders to scale production of its cultivated bluefin tuna as it works towards regulatory approval.

🧀 French precision fermentation company Bon Vivant secured €15 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Sofinnova Partners, Sparkfood, and Captech. It will use the funds to scale its precision fermentation-derived whey and casein proteins for the B2B dairy alternative market, and intends to commercialise in the US by 2025.

🧫 Israeli food tech Wanda Fish Technologies raised $7 million seed funding to optimise its technology and accelerate the scalability of its cultivated whole-cut filet of bluefin tuna.

🇪🇸 Catalonia’s Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, and the Institute of Agri-Food Research and Technology have made an historic €7 million investment into Spain’s first Center for Innovation in Alternative Proteins, which will focus on alternative ingredients, food, and feed.

🎨 Israel’s Phytolon secured “substantial” funding from investors including Nextgen Nutrition Investment Partners to launch its natural food colourants, made via fermentation.

☕️ Seattle-based Atomo unveiled the ‘world’s first beanless espresso’ and is set to open a facility next year that will be able to produce four million pounds (around 80 million cups) of ground ‘coffee’ made from upcycled date pits a year.

🐄 UK supermarket Waitrose is to power specially-designed tractors at its Leckford Estate farm with methane produced by cow manure, ​​harvested in a new biomethane storage plant.

🌾 Virginia Tech received a grant of $80 million from the United States Department of Agriculture to help farmers implement climate-friendly practices that could significantly reduce greenhouse gasses.

Construction x Climate

🧱 Berlin-based VARM raised a seven-figure pre-seed round to build the technological infrastructure for cavity-wall home insulation, designed to drive household decarbonisation, and expand its footprint in Germany.

Energy x Climate

🏡 British smart home energy startup Myenergi raised £30 million from Energy Impact Partners. It fits homes with green energy equipment, including Zappi, a solar-compatible charger for electric vehicles, and Libbi, a smart home battery that stores surplus solar electricity.

🌡 Bedrock Energy raised $8.5 million seed funding to reduce the consumer and environmental costs associated with heating and cooling large buildings using ground-source heat pumps (AKA geothermal energy).

⚡️ Elyos Energy raised $3M for their technology platform that connects to various devices in commercial buildings, such as heat pumps and thermostats, to help significant shift in energy consumption from peak to off-peak hours.

🔋 Stockholm-based Enerpoly received a €600,000 grant from Vinnova, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, to scale its patented technology to develop and produce zinc-ion battery cells and packs.

📊 Capalo AI, based in Finland, secured €500,000 pre-seed funding to use AI to optimise the flexibility of the energy grid to adjust to production and demand fluctuations, supporting the commissioning of weather-dependent renewable energy sources.

🔌 Australian renewable energy software startup gridmo raised $500,000 in a seed funding round led by Grok Ventures. It offers a standardised software solution to complete grid connection studies, helping to reduce wait times and address a major log jam in the grid connection process.

Transport x Climate

🔌 Californian EV charging infrastructure startup EVPassport secured $200 million to accelerate the buildout of its electric vehicle charging stations, which it says are “designed to pass the grandma test”.

🏭 Stellantis and Samsung SDI are planning to build a new $3.2 billion EV battery plant in Kokomo, Indiana, with an annual capacity of 34 gigawatt hours, under a joint venture called StarPlus Energy.

Materials x Climate

🍄 Californian biomaterials company Bolt Threads, whose Mylo material is made from mushrooms, is set to go public on the Nasdaq through a SPAC agreement that values it at $250 million.

♻️ Singapore-based Circular raised $7.6 million seed funding for its high-end electronics tech subscription service, designed to keep these products in circulation and out of landfill for as long as possible.

🪶 Plastics industry technology center AIMPLAS is developing sustainable foams made from poultry feather waste. Feather keratin has properties that can give the final product new functionalities, including a biodegradation capacity adjusted to crop duration, providing the soil with organic nitrogen.

Funds x Climate

🌎 Amsterdam-based Carbon Equity raised €6 million Series A funding, in a round led by BlackFin Capital Partners, to debut its ELTIF fund and grow its investment platform of highly-motivated impact investors.

🇯🇵 Japanese VC Beyond Next Ventures raised $67.7 million at the first close of its new deep tech fund, BNV Fund 3, with which it will support deep tech startups emerging from universities and research institutions. Its portfolio includes food tech startup Regional Fish Institute, which uses genome-editing technology to breed fish faster than usual, and Elephantech, an eco-friendly print circuit boards manufacturer.

🇪🇺 Vireo Ventures secured €20 million from the European Investment Fund for its Electrification Fund I. It will use the funds to support early-stage startups developing new technologies to accelerate the electrification of the energy sector, with particular focus on digitalisation and intelligent monitoring and managing energy systems.

Memes x Climate

Why decarb when you can offset?

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Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola.