🍚 ClimateHack Vol 97: Rice-decarbonated.

PLUS: Swedens Norrsken VC secures €320M to support impact founders globally.

May 17, 2024

Hi There,

Yesterday we took over LinkedIn for an hour with the #HackHour campaign to spotlight the need to drive more talent towards climate tech.

If you’re looking to transition into a career in climate, head to our jobs board here to discover 100+ curated roles across climate tech companies, funds, government agencies and more.

And if you want to take it a step further, we just released a limited batch of student and job seeker tickets to the HackSummit in June. Grab yours while they last. #Theresplaceforyouinclimate.

In Today’s Edition;

🍚 Singapore-based Rize raised $14 million, to decarbonise rice cultivation in Asia.
🔋 German startup cylib raised €55 million for its next-gen lithium-ion battery recycling tech.
💰 Swedens Norrsken VC secured €320 million to find and support the next generation of impact unicorns.

AgriFood x Climate

Image Credits: Simple Planet

🥩 South Korea’s Simple Planet received a grant of ₩11 billion ($8.1 million) for a government project to boost the country’s food security through cultivated ingredient development, and is working towards regulatory approval for its cultivated meat ingredients in 2025.

🔎 Australian startup AgriWebb raised $7.2 million for its beef cattle management platform, designed to give meat packers and retailers access to data to reduce emissions in their supply chain, and which is currently being used to manage more than 23 million livestock across more than 150 million acres in 18 countries.

🥬 Relocalize, based in Canada, raised CAD 5.8 million seed funding to expand its autonomous micro-factory platform, designed to decentralise food and beverage production, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and costs.

🐄 Sweden’s Volta Greentech secured SEK 32 million (approximately $2.95 million) to bring its methane-reducing feed additive to market. By incorporating the additive, Lome, into ordinary cattle feed, the startup claims that farmers can reduce enteric methane emissions by up to 90%.

🌿 German agtech hexafarms secured €1.3 million pre-seed funding for its AI-powered greenhouse optimisation technology, which helps increase crop productivity while reducing preventable losses.

🌾 Metrovate, based in New Zealand, raised $1 million in a funding round led by Sprout Agritech. It will use the funds to further develop and scale its precision plant growth “biostimulant”, designed to help growers achieve crop resilience, faster recovery and better yields. 

Carbon x Climate

Image Credits: Rize

🍚 Singapore-based Rize raised $14 million, in a Series A funding round co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GenZero, Temasek, and Wavemaker Impact, to decarbonise rice cultivation in Asia. Its digital platform is designed to help farmers understand their carbon footprint, and define and finance their climate action plan.

📊 A new multimillion-pound project led by Heriot-Watt University is using AI for scientific computing, material discovery and financial forecasting, to help cut the time involved in modelling carbon capture and storage methods from 100 days to 24 hours.


HackSummit : What’s on the menu?

🥙 Dig In: Whats on the menu at the HackSummit? Here’s a peak at what the participants will be enjoying over the two days event, including redefined lamb kebabs to sustainable coffee-free-coffee.

👀 Salut: Here are the 50 Vaud-based startups working on climate solutions, from the EPFL spin-off capturing CO2 from industrial emissions, to the water intelligence platform powered by IoT and AI.

🦓 Last call: Are you working on a nature tech solution? Apply here to be one of the 10 selected solutions to pitch live at the HackSummit to leading VCs, CVCs and Angels active in this space.

🇨🇭 Pack your swimwear: These are our top 60 recommendations of things to do in Lausanne while you’re not busy networking with your future founder or funder.

p.s. code DELICIOUS20 gets you 20% off your pass, only until next Monday at midnight.

Energy x Climate

Image Credits: Enspired

⚡️ Enspired, based in Vienna, secured €25.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Zouk Capital. Its AI-powered technology offers groundbreaking energy trading services on short-term power markets, allowing battery owners to optimise selling their capacity.

💨 German startup Caeli Wind raised €11 million for its AI-based analysis system and marketplace, designed to accelerate the realisation of wind turbines by as much as 18 months.

🤝 Berlin-based trawa secured €10 million, in a seed funding round led by Balderton Capital, to make buying renewable energy easier for SMEs. Its AI-powered platform lets businesses buy from renewable energy sources, using data from its customers about when they need energy most.

🔋 Swiss startup 8inks raised €3 million pre-seed funding for its coating technology for lithium-ion battery production, designed to reduce battery production costs.

🇬🇧 The UK government is investing £86 million in wind power R&D facilities, part of which will be invested in building the world’s most advanced wind turbine test facility in Blyth, Northumberland.

🏭 New startup HYTING has developed a safe and efficient carbon-free forced-air heating system, which uses a unique catalytic process to turn hydrogen and oxygen from air into heat.

Fintech x Climate

Image Credits: Ekko

🌳 UK-based climate fintech startup Ekko, which plants trees and supports conservation projects when customers use its debit card, secured £2 million to further expand its operations.

💼 Climate and sustainability training provider AimHi Earth raised £1 million to "create 100 million nature-first employees”, helping workers at all levels to incorporate sustainability into their decision making.

Materials x Climate

Image Credits: cylib

🔋 German startup cylib raised €55 million Series funding, marking the largest round ever raised by a European battery recycling company, for its next-gen lithium-ion battery recycling tech, which transforms waste from end of life batteries or production scrap into marketable products.

🧑‍🏭 The US DOE's Argonne National Laboratory is set to receive $3 million over three years for its new technology for making iron and steel with ultra-low carbon emissions. It uses a microwave-powered hydrogen plasma in a rotary kiln furnace, which allows much more efficient energy usage. 

👕 UK-based Alchemie Technology received a grant of £742,254 to tackle pollution in the global textile finishing industry, in partnership with Taiwanese textile manufacturing innovator JSRTEX Group.

🍎 Beyond Leather Materials, based in Denmark, launched full-scale production of its bio-based leather alternative made of apple waste from European juice and cider producers.

Mobility x Climate

Image Credits: Bedrock Materials

🚘 Californian startup Bedrock Materials raised $9 million seed funding to develop sodium-ion batteries, which are substantially cheaper than lithium-ion batteries, first targeting gas-powered cars.

🔌 Orange Charger secured $6.5 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round to sell apartment landlords a 240-volt smart outlet, with which EV owners can scan the QR code on the socket to start charging, and billing etc. is dealt with via the Orange app.

Funds x Climate

Image Credits: Norrsken VC

🇸🇪 Norrsken VC secured €320 million to support “impact entrepreneurs” working across climate tech, energy, biotech AI and health tech. Its portfolio already includes unicorns such as Northvolt, Einride and 1KOMMA5°.

🇱🇺 Luxembourg-based Ocean 14 Capital Fund I closed with €201 million to drive a sustainable and regenerative “blue economy”, supporting startups working across industries including aquaculture and alternative proteins, reducing plastic waste pollution, protecting ecosystems and marine flora, and ending overfishing.

🇨🇭 Agrifoodtech VC PeakBridge closed its PeakBridge Growth Fund II with $187 million to support startups working in the future of food. It has made eight investments so far, including animal-free dairy company Standing Ovation, cultivated meat producer Vow, and cacao replacement maker Win-Win.

♻️ Infinity Recycling raised €175 million for its Circular Plastics Fund I SCSp, with which it will support advanced recycling technologies to help accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

🇫🇷 Blisce, based in Paris, launched its climate tech fund with a target of €150 million to support tech startups that have a positive impact on climate change, with a particular focus on polluting industries like materials, food, construction, mobility and energy. 

🇺🇸 LA-based Starshot Capital launched a $35 million fund to back early-stage companies that have the potential to eliminate a cumulative 1 gigaton of carbon emissions by 2050, working across sectors including industry, manufacturing, food and agriculture, the built environment, materials, and chemicals.

👀 Carbon13 announced six new investments through its accelerator, the Venture Launchpad, including UK-based Fermtech, which makes sustainable proteins from food industry side streams, and CarbonCell, which produces biochar-based polystyrene alternatives.

🍫 The What; Chocolate is an industry that is both a driver and a victim of climate change. While extreme weather events are slashing cocoa yields, high demand for cocoa leads to deforestation (to make room for cocoa farming) and biodiversity loss, which contributes to further warming.

The globe is facing a 3rd deficit in a row leading to all-time low stocks (and consequently all-time high prices). Fortunately, startups are working to come up with chocolate alternatives that aren’t so… problematic.

📊 The Stats; 
- According to Bloomberg, cocoa prices have surged by more than 250% over the last year.
- At the end of March, prices surpassed $10,000/metric ton (double its trading price from only two months prior).
- Global cocoa production in the current crop year is expected to fall 330,000 metric tons short of estimated demand according to the International Cocoa Organisation.

👀 The Who; There are 10+ companies globally working on Chocolate Alternatives, including:
- UK-based Win-Win who are creating a win-win situation for food producers, consumers, and the environment by transforming whole ingredients, like carob and barley, into deliciously sustainable chocolate alternatives.
- Germany based Planet A Foods, who use proprietary technology to ferment plant-based ingredients, allowing them to naturally recreate the flavours and fats in conventional chocolate.

💡 Learn more; Deep dive into the world of Chocolate Alternatives and the 10+ companies working in this space, with expert insights from Ahrum Pak at Win-Win, Raphaël Felenbok of Felenbok Advisory, Matteo Leonardo of Grey Silo Ventures, Massimo Sabatini of Foreverland and Tal Govrin of Kokomodo, in our latest climate deep dive.

Community x Climate

Join the upcoming ClimateHacks Meetups happening in :

🇫🇷 Paris: May 21st - OceanTech Meetup. Register here.

🇺🇸 New York: May 28th - Breaking news in the built environment. Register here.

🇬🇧 London - 4th June, Carbon capture, utilisation and the balance of engineered circularity. Register here.

Climate x Memes

💨 Has anyone registered CarbonCadabra yet? If not, that’s a killer name.

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Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola