🎨 Vol 140: Is the Future of Colour Plant-Based?

Still riding the high from one of the most future-focused ClimateTech summits in the world, for a rare moment where everything felt aligned - being part of something bigger, surrounded by people committed to driving change. AKA the HackSummit.

We were joined by 889 bright minds from across the ClimateTech community and now can’t wait to hear how meetings and connections develop into deals and collaborations over the months ahead.

After taking a short break, it’s no surprise that today’s ClimateHack edition is packed full of fresh funding and industry milestones, with our usual sprinkling of off-beat news, including an industrial water map, biochar spot the difference, 996 debate, carbon handprints vs footprints and seed-washing explained.

In this week’s edition:

⚡️ Why the US Department of Energy is revoking $3.7 billion in clean energy and manufacturing awards
🌲 Veritree raises CAD 9.1 million Series A funding to scale its nature restoration platform
🏘️ AUAR secures £2.6 million to scale its robotic microfactories that automate timber home construction

The Digest

📈 What’s up? A Murdoch University review has found that agricultural soils now contain 23 times more microplastics than oceans, raising concerns over unregulated chemical additives and their presence in food crops and the human body.

📉 What’s down? The US Department of Energy is revoking $3.7 billion in clean energy and manufacturing awards from 24 projects—including those by ExxonMobil, Kraft Heinz, and several startups—citing a due diligence review by the Trump administration.

🐾 For the first time, the proportion of startups measuring their carbon footprint has fallen, dropping from 28% in 2023 to 23% in 2024.

💡Good read: An investor’s perspective on capex.

🔥 Heated: Is ‘996’ the only way to scale? Have your say.

🇨🇭 Swiss startup Jua raised $11 million Series A funding to scale its AI-powered Earth Intelligence Platform, which uses a large physics model to simulate and predict real-world dynamics for sectors like energy, agriculture, and logistics.

🛠️ Industrial water tech startups and scaleups mapped by Visionaries Tomorrow.

AgriFood x Climate

🇫🇮 Finnish biotech firm Volare secured €26 million to build its Volare 01 insect protein plant and scale its zero-waste technology that upcycles food industry byproducts into sustainable protein, oil, and fertiliser.

🌾 ClearLeaf secured $3.5 million seed funding to expand global access to its non-toxic crop protection solutions like GotaBlanca, designed to support regenerative agriculture and enhance plant health without harming farmers, consumers, or biodiversity.

🏭 Millow, based in Sweden, is repurposing a former Lego factory to scale production of its oat and mycelium protein, supported by a €2.5 million grant from the European Innovation Council.

🇹🇭 Bangkok-based Muu secured strategic investment from VCs and a Japanese food conglomerate to scale its precision-fermented, animal-free dairy proteins and accelerate market entry in Asia’s growing alt-protein sector.

👀 Looking for more FoodTech Headlines? Sign up to FoodHack’s newsletter.

Biodiversity x Climate

🌲 Vancouver-based Veritree raised CAD 9.1 million Series A funding to scale its nature restoration platform—now surpassing 100 million trees pledged—as it expands AI monitoring, global ecosystems, and aims to help businesses plant one billion trees by 2030.

🌳 Eco-Markets Australia launched a new biodiversity credit market, issuing Cassowary Credits to reward landowners for restoring rainforest wetlands in Queensland’s Wet Tropics, one of the world's most biodiverse and threatened regions.

Carbon x Climate

🪨 Alt Carbon raised $12 million seed funding to scale its operations. It uses enhanced rock weathering to lock away carbon on South Asian farmlands, and is aiming to remove 5 million tons of CO₂ by 2030.

🇨🇴 Spot the difference: The impact of using biochar on corn plants in Colombia.

✋ The difference between your Carbon Footprint vs your Carbon Handprint.

Chemicals x Climate

🎨 Sparxell, a Cambridge-based startup backed by LVMH, secured a €1.9 million grant from the European Innovation Council to scale its plant-based, biodegradable colourant technology for the fashion and cosmetics industries.

🧪 Spanish startup Catalyxx raised €3 million to advance its patented process for converting bioethanol into renewable chemicals, supporting plans to scale production in Seville and build a FOAK facility in France.

Construction x Climate

🧱 UK startup Converge secured €20 million to scale its AI-powered platform that optimises concrete production and reduces carbon emissions, supporting the construction sector’s transition to a net-zero future.

🔢 Hamburg-based Akeno raised €4.5 million in a seed funding round led by Cusp Capital. It will use the funds to scale its AI-powered production planning software, which helps manufacturers shift from static scheduling to real-time, data-driven optimisation.

🤖 AUAR, based in the UK, secured £2.6 million to scale its robotic microfactories that automate timber home construction, working to cut costs, emissions, and inefficiencies in the building industry while tackling Europe and the US' affordable housing crisis.

🪵 Bloom Biorenewables joined the €9 million Wood2Wood consortium to help transform wood waste into high-value, sustainable products and accelerate the shift toward a circular bioeconomy in construction.

Energy x Climate

💥 Fusion startup TAE Technologies raised $150 million from backers including Google and Chevron to advance its plasma-based reactor, bringing its total funding to $1.8 billion as it works toward commercialising fusion energy.

🤖 Riga-based Aerones raised $62 million to accelerate the global expansion of its AI and robotic solutions that automate wind turbine inspection and maintenance, following a record year of growth.

🔌 The Nuclear Company secured $51.3 million to develop a fleet of nuclear reactors using existing designs at pre-approved sites, targeting 6 gigawatts of capacity as US electricity demand rises due to data center growth.

🪫 Australian renewable energy retailer Amber secured $45 million to scale its battery and EV automation technology globally, expand vehicle-to-grid capabilities, and prepare for upcoming home battery rebates and European market entry.

⚡️ Heron Power raised $38 million Series A funding to accelerate development of its solid-state transformer technology, as it works to modernise grid infrastructure with scalable, software-integrated industrial power electronics.

🔋 Norwegian hydrogen company Hystar raised over $36 million Series C funding to accelerate the commercial scale-up of its high-efficiency PEM electrolysers, supported by strong investor backing and a €26 million EU Innovation Fund grant.

🔥 Swedish firm Plagazi secured a €29.5 million EU Innovation Fund grant for its Gävle Circular Park project, which will use advanced waste gasification to produce sustainable hydrogen and capture CO₂, aiming to transform non-recyclable waste into clean energy.

✚ The world’s only net-positive fusion experiment, conducted by the US National Ignition Facility, has significantly increased its energy yield to 8.6 megajoules, marking a major step forward in demonstrating the viability of controlled nuclear fusion.

ESG x Climate

🧪 Atmen, based in Munich, raised €5 million seed funding to expand its automated sustainability certification platform for industrial producers, enabling real-time, data-driven verification across sectors like steel, chemicals, and fertilisers.

🛰️ UK-based Treefera secured $30 million in a Series B funding round to expand its AI-powered supply chain insights platform, which uses satellite imagery and risk modeling to improve traceability and compliance in nature-based commodity sourcing, across North America, APAC, and Europe.

🔢 Hasselt-based ResultX secured over €400,000 in innovation grants from VLAIO to enhance its AI-powered ESG reporting platform, designed to make sustainability compliance easier and more accessible for millions of SMEs across Europe.

Funds x Climate

💸 Rockaway Ventures closed its second fund with nearly €55 million to invest in late-seed and Series A startups driving innovation in sectors like energy and defense.

🗽 New York-based VC Planeteer Capital closed a $54 million debut fund to back early-stage climate-tech startups, focusing on scalable solutions in sectors like carbon management, alternative materials, food and agriculture, and clean industrial technologies.

🥗 Nordic Foodtech VC announced the first close of its second fund at €40 million. It will use the funds to back early-stage B2B agrifoodtech startups across Europe, focusing on scalable, commercially viable technologies, especially in precision fermentation and biomanufacturing.

🚀 The Bezos Earth Fund has awarded $1.2 million in Phase I grants to 24 projects under its AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature, including Cornell University and Wageningen University, to explore AI-driven solutions in areas like sustainable proteins, biodiversity conservation, and power grid optimisation.

Materials x Climate

♻️ Researchers at Zhejiang University have developed a metal-free catalytic process using ionic liquids to efficiently upcycle PET waste into valuable chemicals, offering a sustainable and scalable alternative to conventional recycling methods.

🛞 Scandinavian Enviro Systems and Michelin launched a collaboration to recycle used racing tyres into raw materials like carbon black and oil, enabling Michelin to reuse them in new tires and advance circular solutions in high-performance racing.

💡 The logic behind a radical idea. Why don’t we have BPR instead of EPR?

Mobility x Climate

🪫 SparkCharge, a US-based startup offering mobile and off-grid EV charging-as-a-service for fleets, raised $30.5 million to expand its flexible, infrastructure-free charging solution across North America.

🚘 UK-based EV data startup Volteras secured $11.1 million to scale its platform that connects EV batteries to the grid, enabling virtual power plants and subscription-based connected services across more than 30 automakers.

🚙 Irish EV charging company EasyGo landed a £300 million, 20-year contract to expand and manage EV infrastructure across northern Scotland in its largest and first international deal.

Water x Climate

💧 Paris-based Kumulus Water raised €3.1 million seed funding to scale its solar-powered atmospheric water generators, which produce clean drinking water from air for off-grid communities in water-scarce regions.

💦 UK water regulator Ofwat awarded £42.7 million to 16 tech-driven projects through its Water Breakthrough Challenge, aiming to improve the safety, reliability, and environmental performance of the nation’s water system.

🗺️ Check out this logo map on marine biodiversity with 50+ startups.

Lexicon x Climate

What is seed-washing and how to spot it.

Profitability x Climate

When a Climate startup becomes profitable, on purpose.

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Editorial by Laura, Curation by Nicola