Vol 145: 🚢 $80M Bet on Ammonia-Powered Ships and Data Centers

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Having just announced the return of the HackSummit to New York this December, it would be remiss not to celebrate the homegrown talents and Founders/CEOs who have moved to NYC to scale faster.

All in all, we tracked 90 top Founders and CEOs to know. Here’s what they’re working on, including fleet electrification, next‑gen fibers, heat pump retrofits, biodesigned ingredients, green hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels and marine CO2 removal.

This is the momentum powering New York’s climate scene, and we look forward to meeting many of the minds behind it at HackSummit.

In this week’s edition:

⚙️ Bedrock Robotics emerged from stealth with $80 million to develop retrofit self-driving kits for construction vehicles
🧲 Apple is investing $500 million in MP Materials to secure a domestic supply of rare-earth magnets for its products and advance next-generation magnet technologies
🇳🇱 Biotech Booster received €196.4 million to help Dutch innovations reach the market

Digest x Climate

📈 How local capital shapes global Biotech hubs - A must-read if you're thinking about the future of biotech ecosystems.

🚀 Opinion: Beyond academia, should scientists launch a VC-backed company or a Focused Research Organisation (FRO)?

📊 Good Read: Net Zero Insights‘ The State of Climate Tech Q1 2025 unpacks the key trends, challenges, and investment opportunities shaping the future of climate tech. Read it here.

🌍 Opinion: Why Africa’s moment in ClimateTech is now.

💚 Inside the latest ClimateHack Meetups in Barcelona and Zurich.

💡 Set Ventures maps the biggest innovators in Virtual Power Plants.

👋 Here at ClimateHack we’re hiring for an Account Executive + 2 other roles.

AgriFood x Climate

🤝 HSBC Philippines has partnered with Bayan Family of Foundations and agritech firm Mayani to launch a philanthropic initiative supporting climate-resilient, cooperative-based farming systems for smallholder farmers and fishing communities in the Philippines.

🇮🇩 Singapore-based waste-to-biogas firm  KIS Group secured a $23 million, eight‑year debt facility from Zurich-based impact investor responsAbility to expand its biogas projects in Indonesia.

🇦🇺 Eclipse Ingredients, based in Australia, secured $7 million to scale its precision fermentation platform for producing human lactoferrin, with plans to launch its first product by 2027.

🔢 Irish startup ODOS secured €680,000 in a funding round led by Capsa Food, with participation from TTAF by CLAVE and Angels, to scale its platform that helps agri-food businesses measure, report, and reduce their environmental impact.

🇦🇷 Argentina-based ag biologicals startup Puna Bio closed its Series A funding round with new backing from the Gates Foundation, which joined earlier investors Corteva Catalyst and At One Ventures to help the company expand globally and develop climate-resilient crop solutions using extremophile-based seed treatments.

Biodiversity x Climate

🌦️ Cloud-seeding startup Rainmaker has partnered with AI-powered meteorology firm Atmo to enhance rain forecasting and cloud-seeding operations, combining Atmo’s deep learning models with Rainmaker’s drone-based deployment and proprietary radar data.

👀 Good Read: TechCrunch explains why a cloud-seeding startup did not cause the Texas floods.

🪱 Timelapse video: 35 days inside a worm hotel.

Carbon x Climate

☁️ Israel-based CarbonBlue launched the world’s first pilot integrating carbon dioxide removal into a working desalination facility, using its Midway system to capture CO₂ from process water and convert it into valuable calcium carbonate.

💨 Frontier is paying $41 million to Arbor Energy to remove 116,000 tons of CO₂ by 2030 using its innovative biomass carbon removal and storage power plant in Louisiana, which generates carbon-free electricity for a data center while capturing and permanently storing nearly all resulting emissions underground.

🪨 Microsoft has signed a 12-year deal to buy 4.9 million metric tons of carbon removal credits from Vaulted Deep, which injects waste-based carbon slurries into underground rock formations using fracking tech.

Chemicals x Climate

⚗️ German chemical startup CYNiO raised over €2 million from bmp Ventures (via the IBG Innovation Fund) and TGFS Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen to scale its phosgene-free, CO₂-based isocyanate production technology and expand its product portfolio for the European market.

🧪 Gent-based biotech startup AmphiStar secured €12.5 million in blended funding, comprising a €2.5 million grant and €10 million equity investment, from the European Innovation Council to scale up production and commercialisation of its upcycled, microbial biosurfactants as sustainable alternatives to synthetic surfactants for home and personal care markets.

Construction x Climate

🤖 US-based Bedrock Robotics, which is developing retrofit self-driving kits for construction vehicles, emerged from stealth with $80 million raised in a round led by Eclipse and 8VC, and is currently testing its technology across four states with major construction partners.

🚢 Seabound has developed a carbon capture system that retrofits ships to convert engine CO₂ emissions into limestone - used in cement production - and will trial it aboard cement carrier the UBC Cork, as part of efforts to decarbonise both the maritime and cement industries.

Energy x Climate

⛴️ US startup Amogy secured $80 million in a funding round led by Korea Development Bank and KDB Silicon Valley LLC, with participation from BonAngels Venture Partners, JB Investment, and Pathway Investment, to scale its ammonia-to-power technology for applications in shipping, power plants, and data centers.

⚡️ Milan-based Tulum Energy, which is developing scalable clean hydrogen solutions for heavy industry, raised €22.9 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round co-led by TDK Ventures and CDP Venture Capital, with participation from Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, MITO Tech Ventures, and TechEnergy Ventures.

🇫🇷 French startup Arago secured €22.1 million seed funding. The round was co-led by Earlybird, Protagonist, and Visionaries Tomorrow, with participation from Generative IQ, C4 Ventures, and will be used to accelerate the commercialisation of its ultra energy-efficient photonic AI chip.

🏘️ Germany-based energy startup ALVA Energie raised over €5 million in its first funding round - led by Triodos Bank, Württembergische Energie GmbH, Brandenburg Kapital GmbH, better ventures, and the European Social Innovation and Impact Fund - to scale its vertically integrated, decentralised landlord-to-tenant electricity solutions across the German real estate sector.

🔋 Crosstown, based in Zurich, raised an additional $3.75 million in seed funding—led by 2100Ventures, Climate Insiders, Unruly Capital, SDAC, and supported by CiRi, Voyagers, and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.

💥 UK-based RheEnergise secured a €2.5 million grant from the European Innovation Council Accelerator to advance its High‑Density Hydro energy storage technology, which enables long-duration electricity storage using non-corrosive fluid and low-elevation sites.

❄️ YPlasma, spun out of Spain’s space agency INTA, raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round led by Faber with participation from SOSV to advance its ultra-efficient, flexible plasma actuators for cooling electronics and de-icing wind turbines.

💡 LumenStream, based in Belfast, raised £1.2 million in a funding round led by a local angel syndicate, with major backing from Co Fund III (managed by Clarendon Fund Managers) and Techstart Ventures, to scale its zero-upfront-cost smart lighting solutions.

Funds x Climate

💰 Dutch biotech valorisation programme Biotech Booster secured €196.4 million from the National Growth Fund, ensuring its continuation until 2032 to accelerate the commercialisation of innovations such as biodegradable seed coatings, mushroom fungi for water purification, and new medicines.

Materials x Climate

🪡 Fiber Elements, an Austrian startup developing automated basalt fibre manufacturing technology for sustainable construction, secured €2.6 million in seed funding. The round was led by LEA Partners and the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, and it will use the funds to scale production, expand its team, and commercialise its low-carbon, high-performance alternative to steel-reinforced concrete.

🪨 Italy-based rare elements recycling startup RarEarth raised €2.6 million in a round led by Primo Capital’s Primo Climate fund and co-led by MITO Tech Ventures, with participation from Corbites Fund, Vento Ventures, and COREangels Climate, to build Italy’s first plant producing high-performance NdFeB magnets from e-waste.

🔋 Estonian deeptech startup Jälle Technologies raised €2 million in pre-seed funding, backed by Enterprise Estonia, the Environmental Investment Centre, Kiilto Ventures, 2C Ventures, and angel investors, to scale its proprietary technology for recycling lithium-ion batteries and upcycling graphite waste into high-value graphene-like materials.

🛞 New Jersey-based animal-free leather startup Modern Meadow has partnered with Mercedes-Benz to develop LabFiber Biotech, a sustainable leather alternative made from recycled tyres, plant-based proteins, and biopolymers, for potential use in future vehicle interiors.

🧲 Apple is investing $500 million in US-based MP Materials to secure a domestic supply of rare-earth magnets for its products and advance next-generation magnet technologies as part of its broader $500 billion US investment plan.

Mobility x Climate

🔋 GM has expanded its partnership with US-based Redwood Materials to supply both new and used EV batteries for repurposing into grid-scale energy storage systems, including a 12-megawatt solar-fed microgrid now powering a nearby data center.

🛵 Finnish e-mobility startup Donut Lab raised €25 million seed funding to scale its modular EV platform and five-motor lineup, with support from investors including former Nokia Chairman Risto Siilasmaa.

🚗 The UK Department for Transport announced a £63 million investment to expand electric vehicle infrastructure, including £25 million for local authorities to support at-home charging for households without driveways, £8 million to help transition NHS fleets to EVs, and funding for business depot chargepoints, aiming to install 100,000 new public chargers nationwide.

🤝 JLR is partnering with smart EV charging platform ev.energy to pilot a system using 10 Jaguar I‑PACE vehicles in the UK that schedules charging at grid-friendly, renewable-prioritised times, with plans to expand the solution to clients in the UK, US, and EU.

Translator x Climate

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Editorial by Laura, Curation by Nicola