Autonomous trucking firsts

KEEPING COOL WITH

Hi,

Hope the weekend is treating you well. Today’s newsletter covers lots in quick hit fashion, ranging from firsts in autonomous transportation technology to major additions to dry powder in climate capital and more.

In today’s email:

• One story in a chart and a sentence

• Climate tech and energy headlines from the week

• Climate tech fundraising announcements

PRESENTED BY NUCOR

While steel is often viewed as a ‘hard to abate’ sector, Nucor, the largest steel manufacturer in the U.S., produces steel using a circular, recycling-based process using electric arc furnace (EAF) technology. Nucor’s steelmaking process has an emissions intensity that is less than one third of the global average compared to traditional blast furnace steel producers for Scopes 1, 2 and 3 per World Steel.

Whether you’re a manufacturer looking to reduce your Scope 3 emissions or interested in understanding and driving industrial decarbonization, Nucor is demonstrating how steel producers, policymakers, and customers can work together to decarbonize industry.

THIS WEEK IN CLIMATE TECH & ENERGY

One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• This week in things are almost more complicated than they seem, I caught up on a recent report from Tierra Climate that revealed the majority of battery storage projects in ERCOT are current net emissive rather than net abating. Link.

13 headlines

The good

• Solar represented almost 10% of U.S. electricity generation in May. Link.

• China continues its nuclear (power) armament with two new reactors under construction. In total, it has 30 under construction. The U.S. has zero. Link.

• U.S. EV charging company ChargePoint announced it has 1 million charge points in its network. Link.

• BMW announced five more new battery factories under construction in Germany, Hungary, the U.S., Mexico, and China. Link.

• Uber and BYD partnered to add 100,000 EVs to Uber's network. Link.

• Kodiak Robotics said it has completed the first successful driverless commercial freight delivery in North America. The trip involved transporting frac sands in the Permian 21 miles. Link.

• Samsung unveiled a 600-mile range solid-state EV battery that charges in 9 minutes. Link.

• The new permitting deal circulating in Congress may actually have a chance. Link.

The bad

• U.S. insurers posted a $15.2 billion loss in net underwriting last year, the worst such figure so far this century. Link.

• U.S. oil and gas fields may release 4x more methane than previously estimated, based on new data analyzed by the Environmental Defense Fund. Link

• NuScale, a small modular reactor company based in the U.S. and backed by Bill Gates, is under some sort of SEC investigation. Link.

• Air New Zealand nixed its 2030 emissions reduction target as part of a worrying trend of corporates cutting back on more ambitious climate goals. Link.

• While the incident fortunately passed without fatalities or injuries, an overturned truck carrying lithium-ion batteries trapped drivers in sweltering heat on a California freeway for hours. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds

📊 Altana, based out of New York, raised a $200 million Series C at a $1b post-money valuation for its value-chain data platform that includes emissions data across scopes. Thomas Tull led. More here. (U.S., Data Applications)

📊 Osapiens, based out of Mannheim, Germany, raised $120 million in Series B funding for its ESG compliance software. Goldman Sachs Alternatives led. More here. (Germany, Data Applications)

⚡ TS Conductor, based out of Huntington Beach, CA, raised $60 million in equity funding to grow its production capacity for high-capacity power transmission lines. Wellington Management led. More here. (U.S., Infrastructure)

⚛️ Type One Energy, based out of Oak Ridge, TN, raised $53.5 million in extended seed funding to advance its nuclear fusion technologies. Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GD1, and Centaurus Capital led. More here. (U.S., Energy)

Medium-sized funding rounds

🔌 Wallbox, based out of Barcelona, raised $45 million in equity funding for its EV charging business. Generac Power Systems led. More here. (Spain, Transportation / Infrastructure)

👕 Unspun, based out of Oakland, CA, raised $32 million in Series B financing for its 3D weaving technologies for more sustainable apparel manufacturing. DCVC led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

⬇️ Graphyte, based out of San Francisco, raised $30 million in Series A funding for its biomass burial-based carbon removal business.  Prelude Ventures and Carbon Direct Capital led. More here. (U.S., Carbon Removal)

📊 Trio Mobil, based out of Marietta, GA, raised $26.5 million in equity funding to make IoT-powered safety and efficiency systems for industrial workplaces. NewSpring Growth led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

⬇️ Applied Carbon (fka Climate Robotics), based out of Houston, raised $21.5 million in Series A funding to build farm machines that turn crop waste into biochar for carbon removal. To.VC led. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture / Carbon Removal)

🛵 Simple Energy, based out of Bangalore, India, raised $20 million in Series A funding for its electric scooters from existing investors. More here. (India, Transportation)

♻️ Onepak, based out of Boston, raised $20 million in private equity funding from Nuveen climate team to recycle IT equipment. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🦪 Oceano Fresco, based out of Portugal, raised ~$18.4 million in equity funding for its sustainable clam business. Indico Capital Partners led. More here. (Portugal, Food & Agriculture)

🥩 Millow, based out of Västra Frölunda, Sweden, raised up to ~$16.2 million in equity funding from the EIC Fund and received ~$2.6 million in grant funding from the European Innovation Council Accelerator for its mycelium-based alternative meats. More here. (Sweden, Food & Agriculture)

⬇️ Tset, based out of Vienna, Austria, raised ~$13.7 million in Series A from Carbon Removal Partners, Brose Ventures, and others. More here. (Austria, Carbon Removal)

🍃 Leaf Agriculture, based out of New York, raised $11.3 million in Series A funding for its farm data API. Spero Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture)

Smaller funding rounds

⚡ Axle Energy, based out of London, raised ~$9 million in seed funding to connect distributed energy to electricity markets via new back-end infrastructure. Accel led. More here. (U.K., Energy)

⚡ Greenely, based out of Stockholm, Sweden, raised ~$8.6 million in Series A funding for its residential energy management software. Korys led. More here. (Sweden, Built Environment / Data Applications)

✈️ Sora Fuel, based out of Boston, raised $6 million in seed funding to make sustainable aviation fuel. The Engine Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

🏠 AeroShield Materials, based out of Waltham, MA, raised $5 million to make energy-efficiency products for the built environment. MassMutual Ventures, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and MassVentures participated. More here. (U.S., Built Environment)

🌞 Marcely, based out of Hannover, Germany, raised ~$4.3 million in equity funding for its residential solar business targeted at deploying more solar energy in multifamily buildings. Virida Capital and Venture Stars led. More here. (Germany, Energy / Built Environment)

⚡ Amperecloud, based out of Berlin, raised ~$3.6 million in extended Series A funding for its energy asset management business. Encevo led. More here. (Germany, Energy)

📊 Sustainability Group, based out of London, raised ~$3.5 million in seed funding for its sustainability management and ESG reporting platform, ‘FuturePlus.’ More here. (U.K., Data Applications)

📊 Raad Labs, based out of New York, raised $2.25 million in equity funding for its blockchain-based infrastructure data measurement and forecasting network driven by sensors that form a DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) model. Tribe, EV3, and Protagonist participated. More here. (U.S., Data Applications)

👷 OpusFlow, based out of Deventer, Netherlands, raised ~$1.9 million in equity funding from Peak for its B2B software for low-carbon energy installers. More here. (Netherlands, Built Environment)

🔎 OnSight Technology, based out of San Francisco, raised an undisclosed amount of equity funding from Convective Capital for its solar asset monitoring service. More here. (U.S., Energy)

Other financing rounds

🔋 esVolta, based out of Newport Beach, CA, closed on a $258 million senior secured credit facility to build more battery energy storage projects. More here. (U.S., Energy)

♨️ Ecop, based out of Vienna, Austria, received ~$9.2 million from the European Innovation Council Accelerator for its heat pump manufacturing business. More here. (Austria, Built Environment)

✈️ Metafuels, based out of Adliswil, Switzerland, received a $4.9 million grant from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy to build a SAF pilot plant. More here. (Switzerland, Transportation)

New funds

💵 Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, based out of London, raised more than $3 billion for its Net Zero Power Fund. More here. (U.K., Funds)

💵 Breakthrough Energy Ventures, based out of Kirkland, WA, raised $839.4 million for its third fund. More here (paywall). (U.S., Funds)

💰 ArcLight Infrastructure Partners, based out of Boston, created a new unit (“SkyVest Renewables”) with $500 million in funding to purchase and operate / upgrade solar and wind farms. More here. (U.S., Funds)

💸 Moxxie Ventures, based out of San Francisco, raised $95 million for its third fund. The firm has many climate tech investments. More here. (U.S., Funds)

CLIMATE JOBS

Customer Success Manager, Yard Stick PBC

Yard Stick PBC is hiring for a Customer Success Manager! They’re looking for a stellar individual contributor to join the team, skilled both in customer success and cross-functional project management. If you’re excited to join a growing startup, fight climate change with soil, and have a hand in bringing our Customer Success team to the next level, check out our job description here to learn more and apply.

Bye,

– Nick