🌿 Vol 160: Mother Nature vs Auntie Spreadsheet

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We’re just 5 days away from opening the HackSummit doors and welcoming hundreds of Climate Deep Tech Founders, Funders and operators to fast track their end of year networking, fundraising and dealmaking.

And if you haven’t got your ticket yet, good news. You’re just in time.

But hurry, the networking platform is live and schedules are filling up fast with audience pitching, side events, 1-1 matchmaking, fireside chats, workshop and panels.

Head this way to zoom in on who’s going. And go here to lock in your pass.

In this week’s edition:

🌫️ Spark Cleantech raised €30 million to scale its pulsed-plasmolysis technology
⚛️ Antares raised $96 million to advance its TRISO-fueled R1 microreactor for next-generation nuclear technologies
♨️ Mater-AI secured £1.5 million to accelerate its AI-powered platform for designing next-generation thermoelectric materials that turn waste heat into usable energy

The Digest

📊 Good read: Planet A Ventures shared its founder guide to nailing manufacturing software GTM. 

📈 What’s up? A new BloombergNEF report finds that planned data centers will nearly triple their electricity demand by 2035, soaring from 40 GW to 106 GW as AI drives larger facilities and higher utilisation, raising concerns about grid capacity and power costs in key US regions.

🎯 Zillow has removed climate risk scores from over a million listings after real estate agents complained they were hurting sales, leaving homebuyers to seek the same flood and fire risk data through an external link instead.

💡 Opinion: Why “Climate tech is dead” is completely wrong.

1️⃣6️⃣ climate-tech startup accelerators that are open for applications right now.

AgriFood x Climate

​​🇮🇳 Indian agritech platform AgroStar secured $30 million in equity funding from Just Climate and existing investors to expand its omnichannel reach, accelerate product innovation across agri-inputs and outputs, and invest in AI-driven sustainable farming solutions.

💷 UK-based BSF Enterprise is raising £15 million from Blackstone Mercantile Group to accelerate the commercialisation of its engineered tissue technologies, including cultivated meat, its bio-based leather platform Elemental X, and corneal repair subsidiary Kerato.

🇿🇦 South Africa’s Immobazyme secured R25 million (~$1.5 million) from the University Technology Fund, Fireball Capital and University of Stellenbosch Enterprises to expand its precision-fermentation biologics platform, advance its therapeutics program and build a new R&D and production facility in Cape Town.

🍚 Mars Food & Nutrition is investing $20 million over the next decade to help rice farmers across major sourcing regions adopt climate-smart practices that cut water use and emissions, strengthen resilience, and secure the long-term sustainability of its global rice supply chain.

Biodiversity x Climate

🪸 An Imperial College study warns that climate-driven increases in microplastic pollution are severely threatening marine life, from corals and shellfish to apex predators like orcas.

🦅 Interesting: Why painting 1 wind turbine blade black could dramatically reduces bird collisions.

🅾️ The ozone hole above Antarctica just closed. Here's what this really means.

Carbon x Climate

🌫️ Paris-based Spark Cleantech raised €30 million in a Series A round led by 360 Capital and Taranis, with participation from the Île-de-France Reindustrialisation Fund, Innovacom and Asterion Ventures, to scale its pulsed-plasmolysis technology that decarbonises heavy industry by converting hydrocarbons into clean hydrogen and solid carbon.

💸 US biocarbon and carbon removal startup Carba secured $6 million in a funding round led by Rusheen Capital Management and Canopy Generation Fund to accelerate its pyrolysis technology, expand its landfill-integrated carbon removal projects, and scale into Asia.

Chemicals x Climate

🫧 UK eco-cleaning brand OceanSaver secured €2.1 million from NPIF II – Mercia Equity Finance to expand its plastic-free product range, grow retail distribution, and accelerate its mission to become the UK’s leading sustainable home-cleaning brand.

Energy x Climate

⚛️ Microreactor startup Antares raised $96 million in a Series B funding round led by Shine Capital to advance its TRISO-fueled R1 microreactor for commercial, defense and space applications amid surging investment in next-generation nuclear technologies.

⚡️ UK-based software company Modo Energy secured £25 million Series B funding in a round led by Molten Ventures with ETF Partners, MMC Ventures and Fred. Olsen Limited to scale its AI-powered valuation platform for electrification assets.

🔋 Hachiko, an optimisation software startup for commercial and industrial battery energy storage systems in Australia, raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Archangel Ventures with support from Twynam, Investible, Motion Capital, Electrifi Ventures and Wattle Hill Capital to expand its team and enhance its BESS management platform.

🔌 The US Department of Energy has awarded $800 million in grants to build new 300-MW small modular nuclear reactors in Tennessee and Michigan, as demand for reliable power surges alongside AI-driven electricity needs.

🏭 Latvia’s Power Mining has developed a portable, shipping-container data centre that captures waste heat from Bitcoin mining to supply municipal district heating, capable of warming up to 2,000 homes per unit.

🏘️ A London Assembly report warns that soaring electricity demand from expanding data centre infrastructure is delaying housing development in West London and calls for policy reforms, including a separate planning use class for data centres, to manage grid constraints and support future growth.

FinTech x Climate

💸 French fintech ECAIR raised €11 million from investors including Planet A, Übermorgen Ventures, Inco Ventures, Silence, Voyagers, Climate Club, Kima Ventures, BPI, and €6 million in debt from Enerfip to scale its installer-focused financing platform and accelerate the rollout of its new lending product to boost Europe’s energy transition.

Funds x Climate

🫣 Mother Nature vs Auntie Spreadsheet: Launching a fake brand campaign for the bank Societe Generale.

💰 Just Climate secured $375 million for its Natural Climate Solutions strategy to scale land-use and agricultural innovations that cut emissions and restore nature, backed by new and existing global institutional investors and including investments in platforms such as India’s AgroStar.

🤝 Climate investor Elbow Beach has partnered with Imperial College London to mentor and support clean-tech founders through lectures, workshops and a pitch day, helping students turn climate-focused innovations into commercially viable solutions.

Materials x Climate

♨️ UK-based materials discovery startup Mater-AI secured £1.5 million from investors including Twin Path Ventures, Mishcon de Reya, One Planet Capital, XTX Ventures, the Conception X Angel Syndicate, Koro Capital and Tailored Solutions to accelerate its AI-powered platform for designing next-generation thermoelectric materials that turn waste heat into usable energy.

⏩ Good watch: What happened when a 100% cotton T-Shirt, a 50% wool 50% cotton jumper and a polyester football shirt were buried 1 year ago.

🪙 To hear whether your scratchcards are recyclable, have a listen to the latest episode of Talking Rubbish.

Methane x Climate

🐄 Fremantle Seaweed, a Western Australia–based startup developing asparagopsis seaweed to reduce cattle methane emissions, raised $2.176 million in a seed crowdfunding round at an $11 million pre-money valuation to advance large-scale cultivation infrastructure and a commercial cattle trial.

Mobility x Climate

🛤️ Rail-Flow, a Frankfurt-based rail-freight transport management platform, secured €12.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Trill Impact and Bonsai Partners to enhance its AI-powered logistics system.

✈️ Opinion: Why electric & hydrogen will not dominate aviation by 2050

Water x Climate

💦 Finland’s Sofi Filtration raised €900,000 from EIT RawMaterials to accelerate industrial pilots and further develop its ultrasound-based water filtration technology for critical mineral recovery and sustainable industrial wastewater treatment.

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Editorial by Laura, Curation by Nicola