All quiet on the western front

Hi,

Thanks for opening up; it’s cold outside where I am. Hope you had a good weekend.

As usual, I’ve been trying not to tune in too much to the Kayfabe geopolitical theatre, but some of it found its way into the below nevertheless. I’ll also keep playing with the format of this curatorial Sunday newsletter; we’ll see where we land together.

In today’s newsletter:

• One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• This week in climate tech & energy

• Other ‘cool’ stuff

ONE STORY IN A SENTENCE (AND A CHART)

• 10 columnists and writers rated what “mattered most in Trump’s first full month;” none mentioned anything related to climate, energy, or inflation directly (or they weren’t offered that as an option). Link / credit.

THIS WEEK IN CLIMATE TECH & ENERGY

THE GOOD

• Proxima Fusion, based out of Germany, in conjunction with the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, unveiled what it claims is the world's "first blueprint for a commercial power plant." As always, take that with a grain of (molten) salt (fission pun, but oh well). Link.

• Archer Aviation, based out of San Jose, CA, received its Part 141 certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), meaning the company can begin assembling and training pilots for its future fleet of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. This is the third certificate required by the FAA to launch commercial air taxi operations. Its aircraft still requires additional certifications. eVTOL rides by 2026 (my bet)! Link.

• Astroforge, based out of Huntington Beach, CA, launched its deep-space mission 'Odin' while Intuitive Machines' launched its second lunar lander IM-2. The Astroforge mission aims to survey asteroid 2022 OB5 for valuable metals following a previous, unsuccessful attempt. The tl;dr; space mining attempts are happening for real. Link.

• Mercedes-Benz, in partnership with American battery startup Factorial Energy, revealed what it calls the "world's first solid-state battery vehicle from a global OEM." The prototype EQS is equipped with solid-state battery technology and could deliver 620 miles (1,000 km) of range, a 25% improvement over the current EQS. Note: Solid-state batteries have been discussed for years, but real-world application has been slow. Link.

• Holtec, based out of Florida, unveiled plans to build two of its proprietary SMR-300s at the Palisades nuclear plant site in Michigan, partnering with Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. The nuclear company, best known for decommissioning shuttered plants, previously secured a $1.52B loan from the DOE to bring the existing 55-year-old, 800-megawatt reactor back online by the end of this year. TBD whether Holtec (or anyone) can actually execute on SMR deployment plans this decade; maybe China will be first to that, too. Link. Link.

THE INBETWEENS

• NIO’s (based out of China) CEO, said its battery swapping stations in Shanghai are close to achieving profitability. The company has deployed 3,101 battery swapping stations, 4,343 charging stations, and 25,424 charging piles across China as of January; that represents a network that covers China's 9 north-south and 9 east-west main highways and offers far more battery swapping coverage than anywhere else in the world. The company will also team up with CATL, the Chinese battery manufacturing giant, which probably isn’t great news for non-U.S. charging manufacturers / other upstream stakeholders. Link. Link. Link. More on battery swapping as an alternative to traditional charging infrastructure from Keep Cool here.

• New York City's congestion pricing program raised $48.6M in its first month, even as President Trump aims to end it (despite most drivers not minding or even preferring it so far). Link. Link.

• PJM received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to fast-track power plant construction given heightened electricity demand growth. Critics are concerned the plan will benefit fossil-fuel-fired infrastructure more than cleaner options. Link. More Keep Cool reading here.

• Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, noted there may well be an overbuild of data centers on a recent podcast (like I did three months ago here). As I also noted, that’s not necessarily a huge problem in and of itself. Link.

THE BAD

• The Trump admin will try to claw back $20B in "green bank" funds from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which were originally allocated to help underserved groups access cleaner energy. Link.

• The U.S. Senate, following the House, passed a resolution to repeal a rule implementing a fee on excess methane emissions from oil and gas operations, overturning the Biden-era rule that is technically charging companies whose operations emit methane above certain thresholds a fee at present. This probably benefits smaller oil and gas operators more than majors, who would have been better capitalized to avoid feeds. It’s also less likely to make a super meaningful difference to global methane emissions than it is a blow to general global climate policy, which invariably benefits from one jurisdiction taking the proverbial plunge first for others to follow suit. Link. More Keep Cool reading here.

• New EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has apparently recommended the Trump admin reconsider the EPA's 2009 endangerment finding that determined that greenhouse gases threaten public health. The endangerment finding represents a precedent for lots of other regulations on vehicles, power plants, and other pollution sources. Note: An effort to overturn the endangerment finding would face significant legal challenges but could obviously impact climate policy if successful. Link + other good reading here. FWIW, a lot of other ‘bad’ things are happening federally in the U.S. that I couldn’t keep up with (see here, for instance).

• India flagged concerns over the EU’s proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) during a visit by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and EU commissioners. CBAM effectively places a tariff burden on carbon-intensive goods like iron, steel, aluminum, and cement entering the 27 EU nations (starting next year). Link. More Keep Cool reading here.

• A massive blackout hit Chile on Tuesday, leaving millions without power across 14 of the country's 16 regions. The National Electrical Coordinator reported a disruption in a high-voltage transmission line that carries power from the Atacama Desert to Santiago as the cause of the blackout. Link.

• Jiangsu Jiuwu Hi-Tech, based out of China, stopped exporting sorbent equipment used to process lithium for EV batteries based on new export controls proposed by the Chinese government. China seems prepared to duke it out on the potential trade war front for now. Link. Link.

• Engie withdrew a major new natural gas power plant project from consideration for the Texas Energy Fund, citing equipment procurement delays. The Texas Energy Fund program provides low-interest loans for new dispatchable energy generation. Equipment procurement and cost increases are also impacting many other power generation and distribution products. Link. Link. Link.

• Six of 94 commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S. were offline at one point in mid-February, including half of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)’s reactors. Unplanned generator trips caused reactor systems to power down, leaving utilities more reliant on fossil fuels. All generation sources are occasionally fallible. Link.

• California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, requested $39.7B in federal disaster relief for Los Angeles County following January’s historic wildfires that destroyed 16,251 homes, businesses, and other buildings in Altadena, Pasadena, the Pacific Palisades, and Malibu. Yeah, remember that? That’s a story that’s far from over. Link. More Keep Cool reading here.

• The far-right AfD party doubled its vote share to 21% in recent German elections on a policy platform that is far from supportive of most climate programs, though it is ostensibly pro-reviving Germany’s nuclear power program. Note: Far more countries than not have seen a “right-ward” shift in recent elections. Link.

• In case food inflation and bird flu didn’t strike you as a serious story yet, Denny's announced it will temporarily add an “egg surcharge” to menu items containing eggs due to nationwide egg shortages from the bird flu outbreak. Waffle House also added a 50-cent per egg surcharge recently, while the USDA projects egg prices could rise another 40% this year. Bird flu impacted almost 19M egg-laying hens in January alone. Link.

• Tesla's sales dropped 45% in Europe in January compared to the previous year, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. Most major automakers saw sales decline year-over-year, but Tesla's drop was far worse than most comps. Probably Elon’s shenanigans to thank for that. Chinese EVs are also making “inroads” in Africa. Link. Link.

• A survey of 138 startup founders conducted by Sifted found that 54% experienced burnout in the past 12 months, 46% reported 'bad' or 'very bad' mental health, and 75% experienced anxiety during the same period. Many founders reported feeling "permanently stressed" given current economic climate and fundraising conditions. “Sustainable?” Surely not. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds:

• Hydrostor, based out of Toronto, Canada, received $200M in equity funding from Canada Growth Fund, Goldman Sachs, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for its long-duration energy storage (LDES) development and operations business. It focuses on compressed air energy storage (CAES) technologies that store energy by compressing air and water. The company also got a green light to build an underground CAES facility in Australia. Link. Link.

• Terra CO2 Technology, based out of Golden, CO, raised $82M in Series B funding to make "low-carbon cement materials." Note: Cement accounts for roughly ~8% of global CO₂ emissions; lower-emission alternatives are already in use in some rare cases. Link. Link.

Medium-sized funding rounds:

• Nomagic, based out of Warsaw, Poland, raised $44M in Series B funding led by EBRD to make "AI-powered robotic systems" for repetitive warehouse tasks like picking, packing, and sorting items. Link.

• Vivici, based out of Delft, Netherlands, raised €32.5M (~$34.1M) in Series A funding co-led by APG and Invest-NL to make animal-free dairy proteins using precision fermentation. Link.

• VerAI Discoveries, based out of Boston, raised $24M in Series B funding led by Insight Partners for its AI mineral exploration startup. Link.

• CarbonQuest, based out of Spokane, WA, closed $20M in equity funding led by Riverbend Energy Group for its "Distributed Carbon Capture technology" for heavy industry point-source emissions. Pattern matching: More carbon capture deals to come from this week and last below. Link.

• Cambium, based out of Baltimore, raised $18.5M in Series A funding led by VoLo Earth Ventures to build AI and software solutions that accelerate the rate at which it can turn repurposed waste wood into lumber for mass timber construction. Link.

• Turing, based out of Boston, MA, raised $14M in equity funding led by Safar Partners to scale its AI-powered water management platforms that offer "AI-powered automation, industrial IoT, and deep industry expertise" for better real-time controls, anomaly detection, and predictive analytics. Link.

• STAX Engineering, based out of Los Angeles, CA, raised $10M in equity and $60M in debt, co-led by Firstime Credit and Deutsche Bank, to make "systems that remove pollutants from ships' exhaust.” Link.

• Arsenale Bioyards, based out of Milan, Italy, raised $10M in seed funding to "[combine] advanced bioreactors with AI-driven software to optimize fermentation processes for biomanufacturing." Planet A and byFounders co-led. Link.

• Wallbox, based out of Barcelona, Spain, raised $10M through a private placement to make "smart electric vehicle charging and energy management" solutions. Inversiones Financieras Perseo, S.L., Orilla Asset Management, and Enric Asunción (the company’s CEO) invested. Link.

Smaller funding rounds:

• Claros, based out of McLean, VA, came out of stealth with $9.75M in funding to develop "hardware and software to improve energy efficiency in data centers by optimizing power delivery to servers." That hardware includes a voltage regulator that purportedly reduces heat conversion loss. Link. More Keep Cool reading here.

• Adaptive Insurance, based out of Austin, TX, raised $5M in seed funding to offer "parametric insurance products to help U.S. businesses financially prepare for weather-related power outages." Congruent Ventures led. Link. Note: Climate adaptation / insurance story to track here, as above. More past Keep Cool reading here

• Floodbase, based out of New York, NY, raised $5M for its parametric insurance → it "uses satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to track floods globally, enabling the creation of parametric flood insurance products that offer quick payouts without traditional claims processes." Link. Note: Climate adaptation / insurance story to track here, as above. More past Keep Cool reading here.

• Mitico, based out of Pasadena, CA, raised $4.3M in seed funding to develop "granulated metal carbonate sorption technology capturing carbon dioxide emitted from industries" for carbon capture from post-combustion point sources. Note: More than one carbon capture raise covered in here today. Exergon led. Link.

• Vidyut, based out of Bangalore, India, raised $2.5M in equity funding led by Flourish Ventures to help "customers to rent EV batteries and pay based on usage," which it also frames its services as a “battery-as-a-service model.” Link.

Other funding rounds

• ZeroNorth, based out of Denmark, raised $20M in debt funding from CIBC Innovation Banking to develop software designed to improve efficiency and reduce emissions in the maritime shipping industry. Link.

• CarbonX, based out of Amsterdam, raised €2.5M (~$2.6M) in grant and equity funding from the European Innovation Council to "[build] carbon black plants for graphene production." Note: Graphene is widely used across the energy tech landscape but can be emissions-intensive to make traditionally. Link.

Funds

• Blackstone (NYSE: BX), based out of New York, NY, announced the final close of its energy-transition-focused private equity fund, Blackstone Energy Transition Partners IV (BETP IV), to the tune of $5.6B, ~33% larger than its last similar fund. Link.

• Polestar Capital, based out of Amsterdam, launched a €500M (~$540M) debt fund to finance “e-mobility and logistics,” aiming to accelerate the transition to cleaner transportation projects. Link.

• General Catalyst, based out of San Francisco, CA, is reportedly exploring an IPO, which would make it the first U.S. venture capital firm to go public. The 25-year-old firm manages over $32B. Link.

KEEP COOL / CLIMATE CAPITAL PODCAST

In my latest podcast episode (been a minute!), I sat down with Mohamed Badawy, former tenured professor turned CEO of Scalvy, a company redefining electrical energy with software-defined energy management systems that combine power inversion, regulation, and battery charging into one configurable unit. Tune in here.

Note: This podcast is syndicated from the Climate Capital podcast (where I work).

OTHER ‘COOL’ STUFF

Adios,

– Nick