⚡️ Vol 181: Dr Evil Called. He Wants His Laser Back

Hi there,

In news that sounds suspiciously like it belongs in an Austin Powers script, fusion startup Xcimer Energy has switched on the world's largest privately owned laser. 

The 38-metre-long system, Phoenix, is a major milestone in the race to commercialise nuclear fusion. Xcimer hopes its laser technology can eventually compress fusion fuel with enough force to generate abundant, carbon-free electricity, bringing fusion one step closer from scientific breakthrough to commercial reality.

And unlike Dr Evil's laser, this one might actually help save the world.

In this week’s edition: 

💰 Gigascale raised a $250M fund
📱 Smartphone makers are in for a surprise
🐦‍⬛ Kiwibit launched an AI-powered bird feeder

The Digest

💧 Dutch startup SolarDew raised €800,000 from Connect the Drops and Oost NL to scale production of its solar-powered, low-maintenance desalination technology, which uses sunlight and gravity to turn polluted or salty water into clean drinking water for remote and water-stressed communities.

🧪 Swiss biotech startup hephaistos.bio secured €161,000 from Venture Kick to advance its custom enzyme platform for more sustainable pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing.

🐦‍⬛ Kiwibit launched its AI-powered Bird Feeder Pro, a smart backyard feeder with a 4K camera, solar charging and an app that identifies 10,000+ bird species, tracks visits and recordings, and lets users enjoy nature like a real-life Pokémon collection.

📱 Smartphones beware: the EU’s incoming 2027 repairability rules will require phone makers to make batteries easier for users to remove and replace, though not necessarily fully pop-out.

🔬 The future of climate isn't built in spreadsheets. Meet the Netherlands' most ambitious deeptech founders at our next ClimateHack Meetup - June 10, Amsterdam.

AgriFood x Climate

♻️ The Proscale project secured €8.5 million in funding, including €6.9 million from the EU-backed Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking, to scale production of sustainable single-cell proteins for food and feed applications from food industry waste streams using microbial fermentation.

🇫🇮 Finnish food company Raisio secured €1.8 million from Business Finland for a €4.5 million four-year project to develop functional fibre ingredients from grain-processing side streams, with Raisio contributing the remaining €2.7 million to fund pilot-scale R&D, application validation and new commercial opportunities in areas such as dairy-free products, sports nutrition and food fortification. 

💰 Purdue University’s DIAL Ventures announced the first close of its Fund II to build and de-risk AI-driven agrifood startups through its venture studio model, with the next programme set to focus on AI tools, reduced farm inputs and stronger food supply chains.

✅ Berlin-based Formo has obtained self-affirmed GRAS status in the US for its precision-fermented cow-free casein protein, enabling it to sell to food manufacturers via a new US subsidiary and commercialisation partnership with RxFood Ingredients, as it shifts focus from its discontinued Frischhain consumer cheese brand to B2B speciality protein ingredients. 

👨🏻‍🌾 RespectFarms has opened the world’s first cultivated meat farm on dairy farmer Corné van Leeuwen’s working farm in South Holland, to show how farmers can add cell-cultured meat production as a new income stream alongside traditional agriculture.

Energy x Climate

💰 US-based Helion raised a $465 million Series G led by Thrive Capital, valuing the fusion startup at $15.5 billion, to help complete Orion, its first fusion power plant, under its deal to supply power to Microsoft as early as 2028. 

🇩🇪 Germany’s Focused Energy closed an oversubscribed $240 million Series A led by RWE, with participation from SPRIND, Prime Movers Lab and the European Innovation Council Fund. It will use the funds to advance its laser-powered inertial-confinement fusion technology and build its first demonstration system, Lighthouse, at a former RWE nuclear site. 

🇬🇧 UK startup Gigaton secured $26 million in a Series A funding round led by Plural, with participation from 2150, Semapa Next and existing investors, to scale its autonomous AI platform that continuously learns from plant data to optimise industrial operations in real time, helping energy-intensive sectors such as cement, steel, glass and chemicals reduce energy use, cut emissions and improve efficiency without requiring major hardware upgrades.

🔋 Munich-based encosa raised €25 million seed funding in a round led by Realyze Ventures, with participation from Verve Ventures, Blum Ventures, Kopa Ventures, Bayern Kapital, existing investors and business angels, to scale its battery energy storage systems for German SMEs and industrial customers.

💷 Fuse Energy, based in London, secured a €25 million Series B extension, backed by investors including Collaborative Fund, 20VC, Lowercarbon Capital, Balderton Capital, Accel, Lakestar, Creandum, Ribbit Capital and Latitude, to scale its vertically integrated renewable energy platform.

🚙 Australian renewable energy retailer Amber received A$13.6 million from ARENA to expand its vehicle-to-grid programme from a 50-charger BYD trial to 1,000 homes, helping EV owners use their cars to power their homes and sell energy back to the grid.

⚛️ Pacific Fusion unveiled a subscale pulser prototype that released 440 gigawatts in an 80-nanosecond burst, paving the way for construction of its demonstration fusion facility this summer.

⚡️US-based Xcimer Energy has switched on Phoenix, which it says is the world’s largest privately owned laser, using the krypton-fluoride system as a stepping stone toward a 2028 fusion prototype and, ultimately, commercial laser-powered fusion plants in the mid-2030s.

🚕 Waymo has partnered with B2U Storage Solutions to give retired robotaxi batteries a second life as grid-scale energy storage in California and Texas, helping store solar power, support the grid during peak demand and reduce battery waste. 

Funds x Climate

💰 Gigascale, the US venture firm led by former Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer, raised a $250 million fund to back climate-tech founders “rebuilding the physical economy,” with a focus on energy, grid infrastructure, critical minerals and physical AI.

💵 Enduring Planet raised $12 million for its second climate fund, providing founder-friendly, non-dilutive working capital loans to climate startups and SMBs, with the capital used to back companies scaling climate solutions.

Materials x Climate

🇬🇧 London-based DEScycle, which uses low-toxicity deep eutectic solvents to recover critical and precious metals from e-waste and other secondary feedstocks, secured over €10 million in non-dilutive grant funding from EU Horizon, SPRIND, the EIC Accelerator, Innovate UK Investor Partnerships and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship to extend its operations.

🧱 UK startup Circular11 raised €2.7 million in a funding round co-led by Vectr7 Investment Partners and The FSE Group, alongside The FSE Investor Network, Oxford Innovation Network, private investors and an Innovate UK grant, to bring its manufacturing technology which turns low-grade plastic waste into low-carbon building materials and home products to market, with the aim of recycling 10,000 tonnes of low-quality plastic over the next two years.

🌳 Dutch deep tech startup New Dawn Bio secured €2.1 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round led by CapitalT, with participation from Norrsken Evolve, Ontdekkers Group and angel investors, to advance its cell-culture technology for growing real wood from tree cells in bioreactors.

🤖 Oscorp Energy, based in Sydney, raised A$1.3 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Atlas’s AI VB fund, with support from Antler and Antipodean Capital, to build AI-powered vision and robotic systems that identify, classify and remove materials from fast-moving waste streams, initially targeting lithium-ion batteries to help prevent fires in trucks, recycling sites and material recovery facilities.

A Circular Economy Business Model x Climate

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Editorial and curation by Nicola