Vol 144: 🎾 The controversy around upcycling 55,000 tennis balls

Hi there

It might be hard to picture yourself in a scarf and winter coat during this heatwave, and yet here at Hack we’re making plans for the return of the HackSummit to New York this December 10-11th.

When we’ll shift the conversation from reductionary approaches, and instead explore plentiness, and the new ways of manufacturing and adapting to a world that continues to grow.

Already confirmed to join us are:

• Liz Dennett of Endolith 

• Will O’Brien of Ulysses 

• Romain Teslyuk of EARTH AI 

• Augustus Doricko of Rainmaker 

• Deborah Zajac of SOSV and IndieBio 

If you want to be part of the action, get your super early bird pass for just $360 (limited availability).

P.S. ICYMI Hack is growing fast and we have 3 exciting open roles incl. Account Executive.

In this week’s edition:

🌫️ Climeworks secured $162 million in equity funding to scale its carbon removal portfolio and drive down the cost of high-quality engineered removals.
🧱 Terra CO2 raised $124.5 million to scale production of its low-carbon cement alternative that cuts CO2 emissions by 70%.
🔌 AssetCool announced £10 million to scale its advanced robotics and nanomaterial coatings that boost overhead power line capacity by up to 30%.

Digest x Climate

📈 What’s up? Google's data center electricity use more than doubled from 2020 to 2024, reaching 30.8 million megawatt-hours and accounting for over 95% of the company's total energy consumption.

📉 What’s down? Tesla's energy storage business has declined for the second straight quarter, with Q2 deployments falling to 9.6 GWh amid looming policy and tariff headwinds.

🔋 World Fund breaks down the differences between fuels by simply looking at the physics.

🌍 Join the next ClimateHack Meetup in Zurich to discuss why earth is the missing board member, and how we can change it.

AgriFood x Climate

🇮🇳 India’s Loopworm raised $3.25 million in a pre-Series A funding round co-led by WaterBridge Ventures and ENRISSION INDIA CAPITAL, with previous support from Omnivore, to commercialise its sustainable, silkworm-based recombinant protein platform for use in diagnostics and animal vaccines.

🪱 French insect protein startup Ÿnsect secured €8.6 million in bridge funding from existing investors to remain operational through 2025, while laying off over half its workforce, pausing much of its Ÿnfarm facility, and testing a lower-cost farming model amid ongoing insolvency proceedings.

🧫 Israeli startup Algocell secured $2.8 million pre-seed funding, in a round led by Good Company VC with support from the Israel Innovation Authority and sector-specific angel investors. It will use the funds to advance its AI-powered Digital Twin platform for optimising bioprocesses in industries like cultivated meat, precision fermentation, biofuels, and cosmetics.

🌾 Flagship Pioneering launched Terrana Biosciences, a US-based agtech startup backed by an initial $50 million investment, to develop RNA-based crop protection and enhancement technologies that improve plant resilience, reduce reliance on chemical inputs, and help agriculture adapt to climate change.

🇪🇺 The European Commission launched a life sciences strategy aiming to make the EU a global leader by 2030, with €350 million earmarked to support sustainable food and agricultural innovations, particularly in fermentation technologies like biomass and precision fermentation. 

Biodiversity x Climate

💦 Cosma, based in France, uses autonomous underwater robots to map deep-sea ecosystems. It raised €2.5 million in a round led by WIND and Ternel with participation from 50 Partners, Caisse d’Épargne Côte d’Azur, and IFREMER, to scale its drone fleet, enhance its AI platform, and expand across Europe.

🎾 The controversy around upcycling 55,000 tennis balls during Wimbledon.

🗻 Approaching Glacier Loss Day in Switzerland, and why it matters.

Carbon x Climate

🌫️ Switzerland-based Climeworks, a global leader in Direct Air Capture technology, raised $162 million in equity funding, marking the largest carbon removal investment of 2025 so far. The round was led by BigPoint Holding and Partners Group, with continued support from existing investors, and it will use the funds to scale its carbon removal portfolio and drive down the cost of high-quality engineered removals.

💨 French startup KERYS Software raised €6.2 million in pre-seed funding from Daphni, Seedcamp, Backtrace, Kima Ventures, and angel investors to scale its secure IT infrastructure virtualisation platforms, which cut costs, reduce idle hardware use, and lower carbon emissions by minimising the number of physical devices needed.

Construction x Climate

🧱 Terra CO2, based in the US, raised $124.5 million Series B funding. The round was co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Eagle Materials, GenZero, and Just Climate, with participation from Barclays Climate Ventures, Cemex, Prologis, and Siemens Financial Services, and it will use the funds to scale production of its low-carbon cement alternative that cuts CO2 emissions by 70% and can replace up to 40% of traditional Portland cement.

🎨 Is this the most sustainable paint in the world?

Energy x Climate

🔋 Amsterdam-based Dexter Energy closed its Series C funding round with €23 million. The round was led by Alantra’s Klima fund, with participation from Mirova and existing investors ETF Partners, Newion, and PDENH, and it will use the funds to expand its AI-powered forecasting and trade optimisation platform for wind, solar, and battery assets across Europe.

🔌 British deeptech company AssetCool raised £10 million in a Series A round led by Energy Impact Partners, with participation from Extantia Capital, Taronga Group, Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, Kero Development Partners, and Northern Gritstone, to scale its advanced robotics and nanomaterial coatings that boost overhead power line capacity by up to 30% and address global grid congestion challenges.

🤖 Poland-based underwater robotics company SR Robotics raised over €8.4 million from Vinci to expand its AI-powered robotic fleet via a Robot-as-a-Service model, designed to enhance energy security by safeguarding critical underwater infrastructure and supporting maritime operations.

🌞 Solar panel company Solarock, based in France, secured €7 million in a funding round backed by Pale Blue Dot, Noa, Ring Capital, and Kima Ventures to scale its profitable, ultra-local franchise model for residential and SME solar solutions and enhance its R&D in smart energy monitoring and storage technologies.

⚡️ Netherlands-based Tibo Energy secured €6 million in a seed funding round led by KOMPAS VC with participation from Hitachi Ventures, WEPA Ventures, SET Ventures, and Speedinvest. It will use the funds to expand its AI-powered Energy Management System for industrial sites across Europe, helping businesses overcome grid congestion and optimise local energy use without costly infrastructure upgrades.

💸 German energy intelligence startup avoltra raised €2.3 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Project A, with participation from CDTM Venture Fund and angel investors, to advance its AI-powered energy procurement platform.

🏭 Google has agreed to purchase 200 megawatts of electricity from Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ first commercial fusion power plant, Arc, expected online in the early 2030s.

☀️ An international research team led by Saudi Arabia’s KAUST has developed a low-cost composite material that passively cools solar cells by absorbing and releasing moisture, boosting power output, extending lifespan, and cutting electricity generation costs by 18%, marking a key innovation for advancing solar energy in harsh desert environments.

👀 Fresh take: What it’s going to take politically to lead the energy transition.

Funds x Climate

💰 Omnes Capital, a French private equity firm focused on energy transition and innovation, announced the €112 million first close of its second DeepTech fund, Omnes Real Tech 2, to support early-stage European DeepTech companies in sectors like defense, AI, space, and quantum technologies.

Materials x Climate

👗 France’s Everdye raised €15 million in a Series A funding round led by Crédit Mutuel Innovation, with participation from daphni, Ring Capital, EIC Fund, 212 Next, Asterion Ventures, and Maki.vc, to scale its bio-based, low-energy textile dyeing technology.

🍄 Video: How long until mycelium is just as ubiquitous as wood, metal, and plastic?

🎬 Good watch: How TileGreen turned trash into tiles by creating a green building material.

Methane x Climate

💡 UK-based startup Bluemethane has deployed its first production-scale methane-capture unit, designed to extract residual methane from liquid waste, at a biogas plant on the Isle of Wight in partnership with ReGenEarth.

Mobility x Climate

📦 London-based HIVED, an AI-powered, all-electric parcel delivery startup, secured $42 million in a Series B funding round led by NordicNinja with participation from Wex Venture Capital, Marunouchi Innovation Partners, Elemental Impact, Yamato Holdings, Future Back Ventures, Rocketship VC, and existing investor Planet A, to expand across the UK and enhance its proprietary logistics platform.

🚲 Estonian mobility company Vok Bikes raised a $6 million Series A round led by SQM Lithium Ventures with participation from Metaplanet, Specialist VC, Sunly, and Estonia’s state-backed SmartCap. It will use the funds to expand its electric cargo bike operations across Europe and accelerate the shift from vans to sustainable urban logistics.

🚢 Nautica Technologies, based in Switzerland, raised $4 million in a round led by b2venture, with participation from Partners in Clime, Prequel Ventures, Rethink Ventures, and sector-focused angel investors. It will use the funds to commercialise its autonomous underwater robots that sustainably prevent biofouling by continuously cleaning ship hulls—cutting fuel consumption by up to 35%, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and limiting the spread of invasive species in marine ecosystems.

Water x Climate

💦 In Brazil, Ceará’s state investment firm, CearaPar, in partnership with Swiss startup Hypercube, is adopting the water credit system by piloting a program that turns reused water into water credit tokens, allowing companies to offset their water footprint while generating public revenue and funding environmental projects.

Design x Climate

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Editorial by Laura, Curation by Nicola