🦄 Vol 167: The new energy tech unicorn on the block

Hi there,

Clean energy and critical minerals both depend on one hard truth: you still have to get underground.

This week, Munich-based Hades Mining raised €15 million to scale high-power laser drilling designed to unlock deep geothermal and critical minerals faster, cheaper and with far lower environmental impact than conventional methods.

If it works at industrial scale, it could rewrite the economics of subsurface extraction in Europe.

Plus get the inside track on their scaleup plans on April 22 when Founder and CEO Max Werner joins Thong Le Hoang, Founding Partner of Visionairies Tomorrow on the HackSummit Stage.

In this week’s edition: 

💥 Fusion startup Inertia lands $450M to ultra-high-power laser systems
👕 The EU’s banned destruction of unsold apparel and footwear
✈️ HAMR Energy raises $10M to turn forestry waste into low-carbon methanol and SAF

The Digest

🇨🇭Join us. Become a ClimateHack Ambassador in Zurich to host local Meetups in the city and foster the ClimateTech community. Or become a volunteer at the HackSummit.

👎🏼 The Trump administration’s EPA plans to repeal the 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health, in a move that could weaken climate regulations, spark lawsuits, and widen the policy gap with other major economies.

👀 Good read: USA TODAY’s bestselling Disciplined Entrepreneurship for Climate and Energy Ventures helps founders build climate and energy startups using MIT’s proven frameworks.

🇳🇱 ClimateHack returns to Amsterdam on February 18th, join us to hear 2030 predictions from 5 VCs. Book your free place here.

🎯 600+ Startup Accelerators in Europe - Mapped and organised for 2026.

AgriFood x Climate

🏭 Germany’s MicroHarvest received a €5.5 million government grant to build its first industrial-scale microbial protein plant in Leuna, which will convert agricultural waste into up to 15,000 tonnes of protein annually for pet food, aquaculture and human nutrition.

🌱 The Bland Company, based in the UK, raised $2.67 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Initialized Capital with backing from Entrepreneur First, Transpose Platform, Behind Genius Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Vento to scale its technology that converts agricultural side streams into highly functional, soluble plant proteins, which are designed to replace eggs across multiple food applications.

🍌 Chiquita has completed the Yelloway banana pan-genome with partner KeyGene to map the full genetic diversity of Musa acuminata and accelerate breeding of disease-resistant, climate-resilient bananas, and is opening up the dataset to researchers to speed up industry-wide innovation.

🍬 Israel’s Amai Proteins received a US FDA“no questions” letter for its precision-fermented sweet protein Sweelin, clearing it for use as a general food and beverage sweetener and enabling commercial rollout.

Carbon x Climate

🇨🇦 Canadian startup pHathom Technologies raised $4 million seed funding, in a round led by Propeller Ventures with backing from NBIF, Invest Nova Scotia and Carmeuse Ventures, to scale its carbon capture and durable storage platform.

🪨 Google- and Microsoft-backed US carbon removal startup Terradot has acquired smaller rival Eion to scale its enhanced rock weathering operations, as large institutional buyers push for bigger providers able to deliver high-volume carbon removal contracts.

🚢 UK-based Seabound has completed full-scale testing of its modular “Seabound Container” onboard carbon capture systems for ships, with results meeting or exceeding projections.

Energy x Climate

⚛️ Fusion startup Inertia Enterprises raised $450 million in a Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners with backing from GV and others to build ultra-high-power laser systems based on National Ignition Facility technology, with plans to begin constructing a grid-scale facility around 2030.

🦄 Australian AI-powered digital twin infrastructure platform Neara secured $90 million in a Series D led by TCV with backing from Partners Group, EQT, Square Peg and Skip Capital, valuing the company at over $1 billion, to expand its physics-based grid modelling technology globally and accelerate machine learning development for energy network resilience and capacity planning.

🇬🇧 London-based energy scaleup tem raised £55 million Series B funding in a round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with backing from Hitachi Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Schroders Capital, Allianz, AlbionVC, Atomico and Revent. It will use the funds to scale its AI-native energy transaction infrastructure, designed to modernise and streamline energy pricing and trading.

🇩🇪 Germany’s metiundo raised €40 million in a funding round led by Octopus Energy Generation to scale its integrated smart metering systems and software platform that digitises energy and water data for buildings.

🔋 Munich-based battery software firm TWAICE secured a €24 million venture debt financing from the European Investment Bank to scale its predictive battery analytics platform for energy storage and electric mobility operations.

💻 Finnish energy software startup Capalo AI secured €11 million Series A funding, in a round led by Heartcore Capital, with participation from Tesi and existing investors including VentureFriends, PROfounders, Inventure and Innovestor, to scale its AI-powered virtual power plant platform that optimises and trades battery energy storage systems.

🇪🇸 Barcelona-based Waste to Energy Advanced Solutions raised €10 million in a funding round led by SC Net Zero Ventures, with participation from Shell Ventures and Cemex Ventures. It will use the funds to scale its gasification systems that convert waste and biomass into syngas and low-carbon fuels.

🏘️ xWatts, based in London, raised £1.6 million seed funding in a round led by Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, with backing from Cambridge Angels, Parkwalk and R42, to scale its AI-powered energy management platform that actively optimises energy systems across complex real estate portfolios.

🇸🇪 Swedish data infrastructure startup Vesiro, a spinout from Chalmers University, secured €1.6 million in seed funding from investors including Chalmers Ventures and Industrifonden to scale its Elasticsearch performance plug-in that reduces server needs and energy consumption for large-scale data search and analytics.

☀️ UK-based solar thermal company Naked Energy launched VirtuMAX, a high-density, ground-mounted evacuated tube solar thermal system with integrated reflectors designed to deliver renewable heat for industrial and district heating projects.

ESG x Climate

💪🏼 Sustainability data platform Dcycle has acquired AI-powered ESG reporting software firm ESG-X to strengthen its integrated sustainability data and CSRD-aligned reporting capabilities, amid growing consolidation and tighter regulatory demands in the ESG software market.

Materials x Climate

💥 Munich-based deeptech mining startup Hades raised €15 million, in a seed funding round co-led by HV Capital and Headline, to further develop its laser-based drilling technology for faster, cheaper access to critical minerals and geothermal energy.

👗 The European Commission has adopted new rules under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation banning the destruction of unsold apparel, accessories and footwear, with large companies required to comply from July 2026.

Mobility x Climate

🚗 EV marketplace startup Ever secured $31 million Series A funding in a round led by Eclipse with backing from Ibex Investors, Lifeline Ventures and JIMCO to scale its AI-native, full-stack platform for buying and selling used electric vehicles.

✈️ Australian low-carbon fuels startup HAMR Energy raised $10 million in a Series A round backed by Airbus, Qantas and Thyssenkrupp Uhde to scale projects that convert plantation forestry residues into low-carbon methanol and sustainable aviation fuel for shipping and aviation.

 👀 Resilience x Climate

⛈️ What storm-proof adaptation looks like:

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Editorial and curation by Nicola