⛏️ Vol 146: Solving the Copper Conundrum

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The Climate community keeps growing, that’s why here at ClimateHack we’re looking for brilliant community-builders-to-be who are keen to foster their local ecosystem in:

• Berlin, London, Nairobi, New York, Paris, Sao Paulo

Becoming an Ambassador is one of the single fastest way to grow your ClimateTech network. You’ll meet local founders, funders, LPs, operators and enthusiasts as well as tap into the global Hack community and 120 like-minded Ambassadors.

Past and current Ambassadors have gone on to land new jobs in ClimateTech, build their own businesses and make new friends, partners and more.

If you’re interested, or know someone who might be - apply here.

In this week’s edition:

⚙️ Ore Energy connects the world’s first grid-ready iron-air long-duration battery
🔐 Alkali Earth is shutting down after several years of research into using industrial by-products for mineral-based carbon capture
⛴️ MobyFly closed CHF 10.1 million to scale its 0-emission electric hydrofoil ferry tech

Digest x Climate

📉 What’s down? The Trump administration has moved to repeal the 2009 Endangerment Finding, a key climate policy that enabled the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

🔐 Carbon removal startup Alkali Earth is shutting down after several years of research into using industrial by-products for mineral-based carbon capture, citing commercialisation challenges despite scientific progress.

👀 Good read: Speedinvest shares why Europe’s reindustrialisation moment is here. 

🚀 Stanford’s Sustainability Accelerator has selected 41 projects across biology, agriculture, energy, industry, and water to fast-track real-world impact from innovations like AI-designed mushroom meat, low-carbon cement, degradable plastics, and water reuse systems.

AgriFood x Climate

🍫 UK-based Win-Win raised £3 million in a Series A funding round backed by investors including the Oetker Collection, Foodlabs, Mustard Seed Maze, Gota Ventures, Paulig, and Kapital. It will use the funds to accelerate growth of its cocoa-free chocolate alternatives and support entry into major European markets.

🌱 Dutch biotech Solynta secured €20 million in venture debt financing from the European Investment Bank to advance its non-GMO hybrid breeding technology for developing disease-resistant, climate-resilient potato varieties cultivated from true seeds instead of traditional tubers.

🌾 California-based agricultural biotech firm BioConsortia raised $15 million in a funding round led by Otter Capital and affiliated funds to scale up and commercialise its nitrogen-fixing corn seed treatment, Always-N™.

🧫 Czech startup Mewery secured €2.9 million in public funding, primarily from Horizon Europe’s EIC Accelerator and supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic and CzechInvest, to scale production of its cultivated pork and launch pilot projects with European meat producers.

💸 Discover all 17 latest funding rounds from the last few weeks tracked by FoodHack.

Biodiversity x Climate

🧯 Extantia maps the startups and scaleups combatting wildfires.

🔥 Swedish deeptech wildlife intelligence startup Flox raised an oversubscribed $1 million seed round led by Unconventional Ventures, with participation from Norrsken Accelerate, Almi Invest, E14 Invest, Argand Partners, and angel investors, to commercialise its AI-powered wildlife deterrence system and expand into the US market.

🌿 UK-based Gentian launched True Sight, an AI-powered habitat mapping tool that rapidly assesses site biodiversity using high-resolution imagery, designed to speed up baseline assessments, support biodiversity net gain compliance, and reduce construction project delays.

Carbon x Climate

🌳 Pina Earth and Tree.ly have merged to form Europe’s first full-stack forest carbon platform, designed to scale high-integrity, regionally sourced carbon credit projects across six countries and become the largest tech-enabled forest carbon project developer in Europe.

Construction x Climate

♻️ Cambridge-based industrial decarbonisation startup PeroCycle has opened a £4M seed funding round to support pilot deployment of its carbon recycling technology for steelmaking. The company was co-founded by Cambridge Future Tech in collaboration with Anglo American and the University of Birmingham.

👖 How your old jeans might insulate your next home.

Energy x Climate

🎯 Dutch startup Ore Energy has connected the world’s first grid-ready iron-air long-duration battery in Delft, marking a major milestone for renewable energy storage with its low-cost, 100-hour solution designed to reduce curtailment, replace fossil backup, and advance European energy independence.

💰 Tallinn-based renewable energy provider Sunly raised nearly €85 million in financing from the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and SEB to build four large-scale solar parks in Latvia with a total capacity of 329 MW.

☀️ British solar energy startup Sunsave secured £113 million - comprising a £13 million Series A equity round co-led by Norrsken VC and IPGL, and a £100 million debt facility from Crédit Agricole CIB - to expand its subscription-based solar and battery service aimed at making clean home energy more affordable and accessible across the UK.

🌡️ Germany’s largest heat pump installer, thermondo, secured €50 million in special purpose vehicle financing to expand its flex financing program, enabling around 1,600 homeowners across the country to install heat pumps through affordable monthly instalments

💡 London-based Fuse Energy raised £7.4 million in a funding round led by existing investors Balderton Capital and Lowercarbon Capital to support its expansion into the UK gas market alongside its core low-carbon electricity offering.

🔧 Detroit-based startup Pearl Edison secured $3.3 million seed funding. The round was led by New System Ventures and Commonweal Ventures, with participation from Lightbank and Newlab, and it will use the funds to scale its utility-partnered platform that streamlines home energy retrofits like heat pumps and insulation by using data-driven pricing and guaranteed installation services.

📈 UK-based Kondor, which uses AI agents to optimise industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation, secured pre-seed funding from Deep Science Ventures and an international strategic energy investor to advance real-world pilots and expand within the midstream and upstream energy sectors.

0️⃣ Sydney-based climate tech hub Greenhouse and energy retailer Flow Power have launched a 'true-zero' electricity pilot at Salesforce Tower, time-matching every watt of energy consumed with real-time wind and solar generation under a GreenPower-certified agreement, to help set a new standard for fully renewable, 24/7 carbon-free energy use.

📍 Infographic: How many more acres are needed and used for solar vs corn for ethanol?

ESG x Climate

🔢 Germany’s Tanso, which provides an AI-powered environmental management and compliance platform for industrial companies, raised €12 million in a Series A funding round led by henQ and Fortino Capital, with participation from Capnamic and UVC Partners, to further expand its operations.

📊 UK-based environmental monitoring company WATR secured growth capital from 24Haymarket to accelerate international expansion and enhance its real-time water and soil quality data platform.

Funds x Climate

💶 Leipzig-based Smart Infrastructure Ventures launched its second fund, SIVentures II, with €30 million to invest in early-stage B2B startups in AI, IT infrastructure, and energy across the DACH region.

💸 Gather Ventures, backed by Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation, launched a climate-focused fund to support women-led startups across Africa through flexible financing in sectors like agriculture, tech, and construction.

Materials x Climate

⛏️ New Jersey-based startup Still Bright raised an $18.7 million seed funding round led by Material Impact and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from Azolla Ventures, Fortescue, Impact Science Ventures, and SOSV, to scale its vanadium-based copper extraction technology that enables cleaner, more efficient recovery from ore and mine waste.

📦 AlterEco Pulp, a Rome-based startup developing eco-sustainable packaging from plant-based and agricultural by-product fibres, secured €3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Eureka! Fund I – Technology Transfer, with participation from AZIMUT ELTIF – Venture Capital ALIcrowd III & IV, Open Venture, and CDP Venture Capital.

🪨 Milestone: Sweden made steel without coal, here’s how.

Mobility x Climate

🚘 Ultra-fast EV charging startup Electra, based in Paris, secured a €433 million green loan facility from a group of banks and financial partners to accelerate its European expansion, scale its intelligent charging infrastructure, and support its goal of deploying 15,000 high-power charging points by 2030.

⚙️ Israeli eVTOL startup AIR secured $23 million in a Series A funding round led by Entrée Capital to scale production of its shared-architecture piloted and uncrewed aircraft for personal, logistics, and defence use, and to expand into the US market.

⛴️ Switzerland-based MobyFly raised CHF 10.1 million in a Series A funding round led by Fonds Révolution Environnementale et Solidaire and Crédit Mutuel Impact to scale its zero-emission electric hydrofoil ferry technology.

🚛 Nevoya, which uses AI to optimise all-electric trucking services for Fortune 500 companies and is based in LA, raised a $9.3 million seed funding round led by Lowercarbon Capital with participation from Floating Point, LMNT Ventures, Third Sphere, Stepchange, Never Lift, and Applied Intuition CEO Qasar Younis to expand into new markets like Texas.

🚕 Milan-based startup Maxi Mobility, which offers an electric fleet-as-a-service solution for professional drivers, raised €1.2 million in a funding round led by UniCredit Bank and Motor Valley Accelerator, with support from Plug and Play Tech Center, Fondazione di Modena, angel investors, and its founding team, to expand its operations in Italy and accelerate the adoption of zero-emission urban mobility.

Fundraising x Climate

🛬 When launching cleantech means yo‑yo finances

Circularity x Climate

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Editorial by Laura, Curation by Nicola