🎶 Vol 158: Playlist to close your Series A

Hi there

New York is fast emerging as a global hotspot for climate tech innovation and investment. So we’ve done the hard work for you and made a list of 80 notable VCs across the city.

Spanning early to later stage, we list who are actively writing checks, their thesis and who they’ve invested in. Bookmark this list if you’ll be heading to the Big Apple soon.

And if you are, we’re hosting not only the HackSummit next month, but also a ClimateHack Meetup. Save the dates to come and join in the action at Newlab:

• ClimateHack Meetup (Dec 4th)

• HackSummit (Dec 10-11th)

In this week’s edition:

🎯 90 power grid startups, mapped
🌡️ Fusion device exceeds 21 million °F
✈️ 1st green hydrogen plane to fly around the world

The Digest

🎯 GET Fund released a Power Grid Startup Map from microgrid and flexibility platforms to DER orchestration, prosumer software, and next-generation energy retailers.

📈 What’s up? The North American Electric Reliability Corporation warns that surging electricity demand, projected to rise 2.5% (≈20 GW) this winter, largely driven by data-center growth in regions like Texas, could strain the grid and heighten risk of supply shortfalls.

🚀 Carbon13 expands with five new high-conviction Climatetech bets: Fermeta, TetraxAI, Tenax ai, Recycle Roots and Composite Designers.

🇳🇱 Join us in Amsterdam at a ClimateHack Meetup on Post COP30 Predictions.

🎶 The tried-and-tested Spotify playlist to raise your Series A.

AgriFood x Climate

🍫 CSM Ingredients launched Nuaré, a carob-based cocoa alternative range, marking its entry into cocoa-free chocolate to address rising cocoa costs, supply challenges, and sustainability concerns.

🌾 Vivent Biosignals secured €7.5 million from Agri Investment Fund, Horticoop, Pymwymic and Swiss investors to scale its AI-powered plant “wearables” that detect crop stress early and improve sustainable farm management across Europe and North America.

🍬 Oobli secured GRAS approval for its pioneering protein-based sweetener, produced via fermentation, making it the first of its kind to be commercially used as a sugar alternative that mimics sweet taste without carbohydrate-based metabolic effects.

🪐 Solar Foods has partnered with OHB System AG to pilot its Solein® gas-fermentation technology in microgravity as a potential sustainable protein source for future space missions.

🇭🇺 Hungary has voted overwhelmingly to ban the production, distribution and marketing of cultivated meat, citing protection of tradition and health while experts warn the move undermines sustainable food innovation.

Biodiversity x Climate

🌊 The Sentinel‑6B satellite, equipped with a UK-built propulsion system, launched this week to monitor global sea levels for the Copernicus Programme, enhancing climate resilience and coastal protection worldwide.

🚢 HX Expeditions introduced two fully electric “silent science boats” powered by RAD Propulsion systems for use on its Arctic and Antarctic expedition ships, reducing underwater noise pollution and enabling lower-impact marine research and wildlife observation.

Carbon x Climate

🏭 Australian startup MCi Carbon launched its “Myrtle” mineral-carbonation demonstration plant at COP30, showcasing its technology that can convert about 2,500 tons of CO₂ annually into 10,000 tons of value-added materials for construction and industrial use. 

💧 Avnos, backed by Shell and Mitsubishi Corporation with up to $17 million in financing, is building its first Hybrid Direct Air Capture facility, "Project Cedar," which will capture 3,000 tons of CO₂ annually, produce over 6,000 tons of water, and launch by the end of 2026.

❓Is this the craziest claim by a CDR startup?

Energy x Climate

🇨🇭 Switzerland-based Neology Hydrogen secured CHF 1.7 million to advance its green-ammonia power generator technology, aiming to replace diesel in off-grid sectors such as ports, mining and agriculture with zero-emission energy solutions by 2026–27.

🌞 French PV manufacturer HoloSolis secured over €220 million in public and private funding - backed by investors including Calés Technologie, Forming, InnoEnergy, TSE, Groupe IDEC, Armor Group and Heraeus - to build one of Europe’s largest solar cell and module gigafactories in Sarreguemines-Hambach, targeting 5 GW annual capacity.

⚡️ Amperesand closed its Series A funding round with $80 million to scale its solid-state transformers for data centers, addressing the growing demand from hyperscale operators for advanced grid-edge power infrastructure. 

🇿🇦 South African electrotech startup Plentify closed an oversubscribed Series A funding round - bringing its total funding to nearly $15 million - led by Secha Capital, Buffet Investments and a South African family office with participation from E3 Capital, Fireball Capital, Endeavor’s Harvest Fund and Satgana, to scale its AI-powered home-energy management platform.

🇧🇪 Belgian startup LIFEPOWR raised €5.65 million from Noshaq, SPDG, ROM InWest and existing investors to scale its software platform FlexiO and expand its virtual-power-plant energy-flexibility services across Europe.

🌞 MetroElectro, an Australian commercial solar startup, raised $1 million in equity from Wavemaker Impact and secured a $4 million debt facility from Ecotone Partners to scale its rooftop solar and battery systems, designed for use in industrial and commercial buildings without upfront costs.

📈 The Trump administration is providing Constellation Energy with a $1 billion DOE loan to restart Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 nuclear reactor as part of efforts to meet rising data center energy demand and revive existing clean-energy infrastructure.

🌡️ Zap Energy unveiled its latest fusion device, the Fuze-3, which achieved a plasma pressure of over 232,000 psi and temperatures exceeding 21 million °F as it advances toward commercial fusion power in the early 2030s.

Materials x Climate

🦠 Endolith, a US-based biotech startup, raised $13.5 million in a seed funding round led by Squadra Ventures, with participation from Draper Associates, Collaborative Fund and Overture Climate Fund. It will use the funds to develop AI-guided microbial processes for extracting critical minerals like copper from low-grade ores, offering a greener alternative to traditional mining.

♻️ US startup Sortera secured $20 million in equity and $25 million in debt led by VXI Capital, T. Rowe Price–advised accounts, Overlay Capital, Yamaha Motor Ventures and Trinity Capital to build a second aluminum-sorting plant as its AI technology enables highly profitable recycling at scale.

🔋 Copenhagen-based Nordic Salt Cycle raised €3.5 million pre-seed funding from EIFO, The Footprint Firm and Ananda Impact Ventures to commercialise its patented molten salt technology for scalable, low-cost recovery of critical minerals from end-of-life batteries and other products.

🧷 London-based biomaterials startup Planet Smart secured $1 million pre-seed funding from General Inception, Vertical Venture Partners, Innovate UK and Undaunted Accelerator to further develop PlanetSorb - a biodegradable super-absorbent polymer for sanitary products that breaks down in six months without microplastics and outperforms conventional materials.

🐟 A researcher at MIT has created transparent, plastic-like films from discarded fish scales that can be used in disposable products and naturally biodegrade in composting environments, providing a sustainable solution to plastic waste.

🎨 Steakholder Foods has acquired Twine Solutions to combine its 3D food-printing expertise with Twine’s digital, waterless textile-dyeing technology, expanding its digital manufacturing capabilities and advancing sustainable production.

Mobility x Climate

🔌 German e-mobility startup Pionix raised over €8 million in a late seed round led by Ascend Capital Partners with participation from Start-up BW Seed Fonds, Pale Blue Dot, Vireo Ventures, Axeleo Ventures and others to scale its open-source EV-charging platform and products for improved global interoperability.

🔋 Delta Charge closed its oversubscribed funding round with €3.7 million. The round was led by Vireo Ventures and Rethink Ventures, with participation from Audi and Allianz executives, German family offices and Munich ClimateTech founders, and it will use the funds to scale its pan-European electric truck charging and battery storage network.

🛰️ AI-driven logistics intelligence platform GeoBirds secured pre-seed funding from Graduate Ventures and Rockstart to scale its satellite-data-powered technology that helps transport companies find high-value leads, fill empty return capacity, and improve operational efficiency.

​​⛽️ LanzaJet has begun on-spec production at its Freedom Pines Fuels facility in Georgia, marking the world’s first commercial-scale plant to convert ethanol into certified sustainable aviation fuel using a non-fossil, alcohol-to-jet pathway.

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Water x Climate

🚰 MIT engineers have developed an ultrasonic device that rapidly “shakes” water out of atmospheric-water-harvesting materials, recovering clean drinking water in minutes instead of hours and vastly improving efficiency over heat-based methods. See how it works.

COP x Climate

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Editorial by Laura, Curation by Nicola