🦌 Vol 169: AI that talks to wild animals

Hi there,

Space is no longer just the final frontier, it’s fast becoming critical climate infrastructure.

This week we’re zooming out (literally) to look at the new wave of spacetech quietly being built above our heads, where microgravity manufacturing and orbital platforms could unlock breakthroughs that are difficult - or impossible - to achieve on Earth.

From next-gen materials to cleaner, more efficient production systems, the implications for climate and deep tech are bigger than most people realise.

If you’re curious where climate innovation goes once Earth gets too crowded, this one’s for you.

And if you want the inside track, don’t miss Joshua Western from Space Forge speaking live at the HackSummit 🚀

In this week’s edition: 

🦌 Flox Intelligence raises €2.5M to steer wildlife off roads
🌳 An MIT study maps the global tree shade inequality gap
🧵 CLIMATEX scales fully recyclable textiles

The Digest

💰 Milkywire’s 2026 Climate Transformation Fund is now open, backing high-impact projects in nature restoration, decarbonisation and climate innovation. Find out more here.

💡 Good read: The Climate Hub shares three inconvenient truths for climate tech marketers in 2026.

💰 Munich-based GovTech startup Ark Climate raised €2.1 million in a pre-seed round led by Satgana, with backing from another.VC, Voyagers Climate Fund, the German Federal Ministry of Research and angels, to expand its AI-powered platform helping municipalities plan and deliver climate action.

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

🎟️ HackSummit early-bird tickets sell out today. Get yours and look forward to joining this April.

🏆 Calling all climatetech founders: applications for the 10th Urban Future Prize Competition are now open.

AgriFood x Climate

🇫🇷 French startup Verley raised €32 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round led by Alven with participation from Blast, Bpifrance, Sofinnova, Sparkfood, Captech and Founders Future to scale production and commercialise its precision-fermented, cow-free whey proteins in the US.

💻 German AI foodtech startup Foodforecast raised €8 million in a Series A funding round co-led by SHIFT Invest and ECBF to scale its AI forecasting platform that helps ultra-fresh food businesses reduce waste and optimise production. 

♻️ Copenhagen-based Reduced raised €4 million Series A funding in a round led by Delphinus Venture Capital with participation from Novo Holdings, ECBF and EIFO to scale industrial production and expand global partnerships for its fermentation-derived, upcycled savoury flavour enhancers.

🤠 Dutch precision fermentation company Those Vegan Cowboys raised €2.5 million from over 600 new shareholders ahead of its crowdfunding launch to accelerate development and testing of its animal-free casein and cheese products.

🍇 New Zealand cellular horticulture startup Forever Harvest secured NZ$1.2 million pre-seed funding in a round led by Sprout Agritech, with support from the Bioeconomy Science Institute and Callaghan Innovation’s Deep Tech Incubator, to accelerate development, pilot production and commercialisation of its lab-grown fruit and nut ingredients.

Biodiversity x Climate

🦌 Swedish startup Flox Intelligence raised €2.5 million in a seed+ round led by Tilia Impact Ventures, with support from Satgana, GENIUS NY, J.O.S.S., Unconventional Ventures and Almi Invest, to expand its AI system that safely guides wildlife away from roads, railways and other dangerous infrastructure.

🌳 An MIT-led study published in Nature Communications finds that wealthier neighbourhoods consistently have more tree shade than poorer areas across global cities, highlighting urban heat inequality and the need to prioritise tree planting along pedestrian and transit routes.

🐦 Renewable energy consultancy Natural Power has updated the free OCcAM Excel tool, originally developed by SSE Renewables and now hosted by OWIC, to help offshore wind developers quickly assess potential seabird mortality risks during early project planning.

💧Interesting: Forget having a pool installed; try a natural swimming pond instead!

🌈 Cool: A rainbow nudibranch off the UK coast uses recycled toxins, not a shell, for its brilliant defence.

Energy x Climate

☁️ Copenhagen-based Hybrid Greentech raised over €15 million from Nordic Alpha Partners to expand its cloud-based virtual power plant platform across Europe, supporting deeper integration of renewable and battery assets into energy markets.

🇩🇪 German energy startup Einklang secured €2.2 million in a funding round led by Vireo Ventures, with backing from SI Ventures, Saxovent, Angel Invest, Heimatboost and DnA Ventures. It will use the funds to scale its battery-optimised electricity tariff platform that helps German SMEs cut power costs and improve energy flexibility.

🏡 London-based energy optimisation and home automation startup Tewke raised £1.5 million in its second funding round from JamJar Investments, Cur8 Capital, Energy Mix Ventures, Project Ventures and angel Vlad Yatsenko to scale its Tap smart home platform and advance AI-powered residential energy management.

⚛️ Proxima Fusion has signed an MoU with the Free State of Bavaria, RWE and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics to develop Europe’s first commercial stellarator fusion power pathway, beginning with the Alpha demonstrator in the 2030s and targeting the Stellaris grid-connected plant.

🌊 A study published in Nature Communications reports a polymeric carbon nitride photocatalyst that enables efficient sunlight-driven hydrogen production directly from seawater at ambient pressure, advancing scalable and decentralised green hydrogen generation without freshwater or vacuum requirements.

🔋 Google plans to build its first Minnesota data center powered by 1.9GW of clean energy, including a 300MW, 100-hour iron-air battery from Form Energy, to enable longer-duration renewable power use and advance its low-carbon infrastructure strategy.

📈 According to GlobalData, global low-carbon hydrogen production reached 0.84 mtpa in 2024 and could grow to 42–65.3 mtpa by 2030, with green hydrogen projected to dominate supply at nearly 89%.

🌀 Interesting: Caie Kelly at Lowercarbon Capital explains her layered supercycle theory.

Funds x Climate

🇧🇪 Brussels-based VC Syndicate One reached a €22 million first close for its second fund, backed by Sofina, Finhouse, COI, PMV, SFPIM, Finance&Invest Brussels and Wallonie Entreprendre, to invest in and support early-stage technology startups founded by Belgian entrepreneurs.

Materials x Climate

👚 Swiss textile technology company CLIMATEX AG raised €3.5 million in a round led by the Collateral Good Textile & Fashion Innovation Fund, with support from existing investors, to scale sales and market adoption of its patented circular, fully recyclable textile technologies.

🚗 EU-funded project Fabulose, coordinated by Germany’s DITF and backed by the CBE JU, is developing scalable, recyclable leather-like fabrics using fermentation-derived bacterial cellulose, cyanophycin and pigments to replace animal and plastic-based materials in automotive, fashion and furniture.

💡 Interesting: What it takes to make a killer novel permanent magnet.

Mobility x Climate

🇸🇪 Swedish electric and autonomous freight startup Einride has raised $113 million from investors including EQT Ventures ahead of its planned New York SPAC listing to support technology development and global expansion of its digital logistics platform.

🚙 UK-based autonomous driving startup Wayve secured a £25 million investment from the British Business Bank as part of its $1.2 billion Series D to advance its AI foundation models that enable vehicles to learn and navigate real-world environments.

✈️ Swiss sustainable fuels company Metafuels raised $24 million, in a funding round led by UVC Partners with support from Energy Impact Partners, RockCreek, Verve Ventures and Fortescue, to scale production of its methanol-to-jet sustainable aviation fuel and advance commercial deployment from Rotterdam.

🚲 Sparqle, based in Amsterdam, raised €1.5 million to expand its emission-free e-commerce delivery network across Europe using e-cargo bikes, electric vehicles and proprietary logistics software.

⛴️ Norwegian tourism and technology company Brim Explorer has signed contracts to build two battery-powered high-speed trimaran passenger vessels, to enable zero-emission sightseeing cruises.

 💅🏻 Manicure x Climate

This Founder mapped the copper oxidation pathway on her nails

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Editorial and curation by Nicola