💯 Vol 156: TIME's 100 Top Climate Leaders

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This week we took a closer look at the startups leveraging microbes to defossilize and decarbonize how we mine, make and manufacture.

As well as approaches to increase crop yield, restore soil health, produce food, capture carbon and color food and fabrics.

We caught up with 16 experts across metals and mining, new materials, food, agriculture, energy and chemicals to hear how they’re tapping into microbes and why they believe tiny microbes have huge impact potential.

See the full list of 120 startups.

In this week’s edition:

💸 Forbion closed its €200 million BioEconomy Fund I at its hard cap
🪸 Uluu secured AU$16 million to scale its biodegradable seaweed-based plastic
⛏️ Altrove raised $10 million to grow its AI-designed alternatives to critical materials

The Digest

👋 3 New Ambassadors join the ClimateHack community with Virginia Fishburn in New York, Ishani J Patel in Nairobi and Mugdha Kunte in Stockholm.

📈 What’s up? A new Sunrun survey finds that 80% of US consumers are worried AI-driven data center expansion will raise their electricity bills, as US data center power use has doubled since 2018 and could reach up to 12% of national consumption by 2028.

📉 What’s down? Munich Re is shutting down its $1.2 billion venture capital arm, Munich Re Ventures, after a decade and nearly 100 investments, as part of a strategic shift to bring innovation closer to its core business by moving startup investment activities under its asset management arm, MEAG.

💯 Interesting: TIME shared its list of the 100 most influential climate leaders of 2025.

🤝 Brenntag Specialties and Synonym partnered to launch the “Better with Bio” program to accelerate bioproducts to market.

🚀 Join a community of changemakers through beVisioneers: the Mercedes-Benz Fellowship. Applications are open.

AgriFood x Climate

🐟 Atlantic Fish Co., based in the US, raised $1.2 million in a seed funding round led by Katapult Ocean, Alwyn Capital, DMV Capital, and the Georgetown Angel Investment Network, with additional support from the National Science Foundation. It will use the funds to scale its cultivated whitefish product and prepare for regulatory approval.

🥚 San Francisco-based The Every Company secured $55 million Series D funding. The round was led by McWin Capital Partners, with participation from Main Sequence, Bloom8, TO.VC, Minerva Foods, Grosvenor Food & Ag, New Agrarian, SOSV, and others, and it will use the funds to expand manufacturing of its precision-fermented egg proteins and drive profitability following its nationwide Walmart rollout.

💡 Dutch startup Source.ag raised €15.2 million in a Series B round led by Astanor, with participation from Enza Zaden and Harvest House. It will use the funds to scale its AI software for Controlled Environment Agriculture, which is currently powering 300 greenhouses across 18 countries.

🌾 The Global Methane Hub has committed $30 million to launch the Rice Methane Innovation Accelerator, a programme supported by The Rockefeller Foundation to develop and scale technologies that reduce methane emissions from rice cultivation while maintaining yields and profitability for farmers in developing countries.

Carbon x Climate

📊 Graph: Is this one of the biggest problems in carbon removal? Direct air capture still soaks up most of the funding, while proven, scalable technologies like biochar get a fraction of the attention.

🌬️ LanzaTech received a €40 million grant from the EU Innovation Fund to develop an integrated carbon capture, utilisation, and storage project with Eramet Norway, using its second-generation bioreactor to convert smelter gases into low-carbon ethanol and cut emissions by up to 97%, equivalent to 1.7 million tons of CO₂e annually.

🇸🇪 Swedish carbon capture startup Korall secured 1.1 million SEK in funding from Vinnova and the Swedish Energy Agency to advance commercialisation and technical validation of its DAC technology.

🔢 Google has agreed to purchase 200,000 metric tons of carbon removal from Brazilian forest restoration firm Mombak through the Symbiosis Coalition, a tech-backed initiative promoting nature-based carbon removal, with plans to use its DeepMind AI to measure the project’s biodiversity benefits.

🔍 Researchers at UC Irvine have developed a radiocarbon analysis method using turfgrasses that allows local governments to measure and map fossil fuel CO₂ emissions at the municipal level.

🌼 A new report warns that decades of warming have weakened the ability of land and oceans to absorb carbon, meaning that nature alone can no longer offset emissions.

Energy x Climate

🔋 Swiss startup BTRY secured $5.7 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Redstone VC to accelerate industrialisation of its ultra-thin, solid-state batteries that offer one-minute charging, high-temperature resilience, and intrinsic safety for compact, high-value applications such as smart labels, sensors, and lightweight electronics.

☀️ Cambridge Photon Technology, a University of Cambridge spinout, raised £1.56 million to advance its photon-multiplier technology, which boosts solar panel efficiency by converting wasted sunlight into usable infrared light without requiring panel redesigns.

🇦🇺 The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is set to invest up to $40 million in Australian renewable energy fintech Brighte to launch discounted green loans for home energy upgrades such as solar, batteries, EV chargers, and insulation.

🇦🇺 Starting in July 2026, the Australian government will offer up to three hours of free electricity daily to customers in New South Wales, South Australia, and southeast Queensland under its Solar Sharer plan, leveraging the country’s booming rooftop solar capacity to shift energy use to midday hours powered by renewables.

Funds x Climate

💸 Rubio Impact Ventures raised over €70 million for its third impact fund, backed by investors including the European Investment Fund, Invest-NL, ING, NN Social Innovation Fund, and several Dutch entrepreneurs and families, to invest in 30 companies addressing climate change and social inequality.

💶 Forbion closed its €200 million BioEconomy Fund I at its hard cap with backing from investors including KfW Capital, Novo Holdings, Rentenbank, Aurae Impact, ABN AMRO Bank, and EIFO, to support biotech-driven innovations in food, agriculture, materials, and environmental technologies.

🇸🇬 The Singapore Food Agency has awarded $42 million to 11 projects advancing alternative proteins and food safety innovations, including research on AI-enhanced processing for sustainable proteins and non-animal testing methods for novel food safety.

💵 Lowercarbon Capital is raising a second, larger fund to invest in nuclear fusion startups, following its $250 million fusion-focused fund from 2022 and existing bets on companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Pacific Fusion.

🦁 How to tame a VC, and get an intro by Planet A Ventures.

💰 These 11 Climate funds closed in October 2025 with over $23 billion.

Materials x Climate

🪸 Australian startup Uluu secured AU$16 million Series A funding in a round led by Burda Principal Investments with support from Main Sequence, Novel Investments, Startmate, Fairground and Trinity Ventures to scale production of its biodegradable seaweed-based plastic alternative from a pilot to a 10-tonne demonstration plant in Western Australia.

⛏️ Paris-based Altrove raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by Alven with participation from Bpifrance’s Digital Venture fund, Contrarian Ventures and Emblem to scale production of its AI-designed sustainable alternatives to critical materials such as rare earths.

♻️ French recycling startup Fairmat raised a €10 million Series B extension led by Infinity Recycling to expand its circular materials technology into the construction and energy sectors while strengthening its position in sporting goods.

🔋 DREV, based in Sweden, secured €2.8 million seed funding in a round co-led by Butterfly Ventures and Almi Invest GreenTech with support from S-E-Bankens Utvecklingsstiftelse and Battle Born Venture. It will use the funds to expand engineering and product development for its Vault contamination control systems, which capture hazardous “black dust” and recover valuable metals in battery manufacturing.

🌡️ Researchers have developed a solvent-free mechanochemical method that uses sodium metal and ball milling to break down Teflon at room temperature, converting it into reusable fluorochemicals such as sulfonyl and acyl fluorides.

📚 8 books to read to better understand the critical minerals space.

Mobility x Climate

🚲 Upway, based in Paris, secured $60 million in a Series C round led by A.P. Moller Holding, Galvanize and Ora Global, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Korelya Capital, Transition Origins, Exor Ventures, and GFC to scale its circular e-bike refurbishment model globally and give a second life to 1 million e-bikes by 2030.

⚓️ Australian startup Hullbot raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Regeneration VC with support from Climate Tech Partners, Katapult Ocean, Folklore, Trinity Ventures, Rypples, NewSouth Innovations and Bandera Capital, to scale production of its autonomous boat hull-cleaning robots.

✈️ Oxford-based OXCCU received €2 million from the UK’s ATI Non-CO₂ Programme to study the non-CO₂ climate effects of its sustainable aviation fuel, OXFUEL, developed from carbon dioxide and hydrogen, marking the first grant of its kind awarded to a SAF company and supporting its goal to produce cleaner, lower-impact jet fuels.

🔌 The UK government has pledged £10 million to support the development of off-grid and low-grid electric vehicle charging technologies, with the aim of helping to overcome grid constraints and expand ultra-rapid charging on motorways and rural roads.

🛫 Researchers have developed a sustainable aviation fuel production method that converts food waste into high-quality jet fuel using hydrothermal liquefaction and cobalt–molybdenum catalytic hydrotreating.

Fundraising x Climate

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Editorial by Laura, Curation by Nicola