More methane

Hiya,

(Somewhat) quieter week around the horn from my vantage point. Still plenty in this email to chew on, including updates across natural gas and methane, lithium production, greener steelmaking, short-lived climate pollutants, and more.

In today’s email:

• One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• Climate and energy headlines from the week

• Climate tech fundraising announcements

THIS WEEK IN CLIMATE TECH & ENERGY

One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• News to me: The world has quadrupled lithium production in a decade. Link. (h/t Teddy Feldman)

13 headlines

• Natural gas prices continue to test multidecadal lows; at this stage, prices in the U.S. haven’t been lower since 1997. Link. 

• As natural gas prices fall and production reaches record highs, U.S. utilities are proposing many more new gas plants to meet rising electricity demand. Link.

• A number of studies released this week also show methane emissions from oil and gas are higher than previously thought or certainly than reported. Oilfields in the U.S. are estimated to release up to three times as much methane as previously thought; as much as 9% of natural gas produced in New Mexico is lost to the atmosphere. Globally, methane emissions from oil and gas were at or near record highs in 2023 despite pledges to reduce them. Link. Link. Link.

• Further on the methane beat, as we roughly posited in our LNG piece, new IEA analysis outlines that the oil and coal industries globally emit more methane than the natural gas industry does. Link.

• And more on the methane beat: As many new startups and satelittes launch to monitor methane emissions from space via satelitte, scientists have also learned how to use commonly-captured weather data to accomplish the same. Link.

• Earlier this month, a constellation of dozens of companies, universities, and other organizations published an open letter urging more action on short-lived climate pollutants, including methane and other faster-acting greenhouse gasses like nitrous oxide, tropospheric ozone, and more. According to the letter, cutting emissions of SLCPs could prevent up to 0.6°C of warming by 2050, more avoided warming than even best-case carbon dioxide emissions reductions would drive over that timeframe. Link.

• Boston Metal commissioned its first steelmaking plant to use molten oxide electrolysis to reduce the emissions intensity of its steel manufacturing under a Brazilian subsidiary. Link.

• It’s been a good year for geothermal energy project updates so far. Eavor continued that trend this week by reporting it has drilled more than 7,000 meters into the Earth as construction continues on its first commercial plant in Geretsried, Germany. Link.

• The DOE’s Loans Program Office approved two conditional loans this week, including $2.26B for Lithium Americas Corp to develop the country’s largest lithium deposit in Nevada and for the construction of a solar plus storage microgrid on tribal lands in California. Link. Link.

• The state of Illinois allocated $680M in funding to develop a new ‘Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing Tech Hub.’ Link.

• Blink Charging will build a new factory in Maryland to triple its EV charger production capacity. Link.

• At least two interesting companies came out of stealth this week: Atomic Canyon, based out of San Luis Obispo, CA, aims to use AI-driven software to help nuclear developers navigate federal licensing processes, while Reflect Orbit wants to put mirrors in space to reflect more sun onto solar panels on Earth (ambitious!). Link. Link.

• Chinese companies are dumping cheap wind turbines and solar panels in Western markets (and may soon do the same with EVs), complicating businesses for Western competitors. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds

⚡ Nozomi Networks, based out of San Francisco, raised $100M in Series E funding for its cybersecurity company that services energy infrastructure. Mitsubishi Electric and Schneider Electric invested. More here. (U.S., Energy)

⬇️ CarbonCapture, based out of Los Angeles, raised $80M in Series A funding for its direct air capture technology. Prime Movers Lab led. More here. (U.S., Carbon Removal)

Medium-sized funding rounds.

📊 Ocient, based out of Chicago, raised $49.4M in additional Series B funding for its ‘hyperscale’ data analytics platform that helps companies, like utilities, analyze data more efficiently. Buoyant Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Data Applications)

⚡️ Holu Hou Energy, based out of Honolulu, raised $35M in equity funding for its solar plus energy storage system design platform. Irradiant Partners led. More here. (U.S., Energy)

🏠 Sealed, based out of New York, raised $30M in equity funding to make home energy improvements and electrification projects easier for contractors. Keyframe Capital led. More here. (U.S., Built Environment)

🛴 Voi, based out of Stockholm, raised $25M in equity funding to partner with towns and cities to rent e-scooters and e-bikes. VNV Global, Raine Group, Nineyards Equity, and others invested. More here. (Sweden, Transportation)

♨️ Quaise Energy, based out of Cambridge, MA, raised $21M in extended Series A funding to advance its drilling technology for geothermal energy applications. Prelude Ventures and Safar Partners co-led. More here. (U.S., Energy)

🧪 ProteinDistillery, based out of Ostfildern, Germany, raised ~$16.4M in seed funding for its biotech protein development technologies that leverage biomass fermentation. Green Generation Fund led. More here. (Germany, Food & Agriculture)

⛏️ Pure Lithium, based out of Charlestown, MA, raised $15M in Series A funding for its lithium extraction technology used to produce electrode materials for batteries. Oxy Low Carbon Ventures invested. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🛰️ Simera Sense, based out of Cape Town, South Africa, raised $14.7M to make high-rez optical equipment for small Earth observation satellites. NewSpace Capital led. More here. (South Africa, Data Applications)

🔋 Lohum, based out of Delhi, India, raised $14.5M in Series B funding for its lithium-ion battery recycling business. Singularity Growth led. More here. (India, Industry)

⚡ Sublime Energie, based out of Paris, raised ~$12.5M in equity funding for its biogas liquefaction technology. The Révolution Environnementale et Solidaire led. More here. (France, Energy)

🧪 Tierra Biosciences, based out of San Leandro, CA, raised $11.4M in Series A funding for its custom protein synthesis platform targeted at pharmaceutical, industrial, and agricultural applications. Prosus Ventures and In-Q-Tel invested. More here. (U.S., Industry / Food & Agriculture)

🍎 Bene Bono, based out of Paris, France, raised ~$10.9M to resell rejected products from supermarkets. AVP led. More here. (France, Food & Agriculture)

📦 Packfleet, based out of London, raised ~$10.2M in Series A funding to provide businesses with all-electric package delivery options. General Catalyst and Voyager Ventures co-led. More here. (U.K., Transportation)

Smaller funding rounds

🔌 Necture, based out of Vienna, Austria, raised ~$7.6M in Series A funding for its EV fleet management solutions. Smart Energy Innovationsfonds and Verbund X Ventures led. More here. (Austria, Transportation)

🧱 Furno, based out of Mountain View, CA, raised $6.5M in seed funding to make modular, carbon-neutral kilns for cement manufacturing. Energy Capital Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Built Environment)

🔋 Telo, based out of San Carlos, CA, raised $5.4M for its smaller electric trucks. Neo led. The company also appears to be seeing strong demand from fleets. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

🛰️ Orbio Earth, based out of San Francisco, raised $4M in seed funding to use satellite imagery to monitor and measure methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Initialized Capital led. More here. (U.S., Data Applications)

🚲 Dodai, based out of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, raised $4M in Series A funding to make ebikes. Nissay Capital, Musashi Seimitsu, and Inclusion Japan invested. More here. (Ethiopia, Transportation)

💦⚡ Suiso, based out of Rotherham, U.K., raised ~$3.8M in equity funding from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance for its hydrogen technologies that convert natural gas or biomethane into H2 and solid, emissions-free carbon black. More here. (U.K., Industry) 

🔨 GScan, based out of Tallinn, Estonia, raised ~$3.3M in seed funding to provide 3D imaging of infrastructure to inform maintenance operations. More here. (Estonia, Infrastructure)

🔩 Allium Engineering, based out of Somerville, MA, raised $3.3M in seed funding for its more sustainable and resilient steel rebar manufacturing process. Propeller led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🌞 SolarMente, based out of Barcelona, raised $2M in seed funding for its residential solar installation business targeted at the Spanish market. Leonardo DiCaprio and others invested. More here. (Spain, Energy)

🔋 Anaphite, based out of Bristol, U.K., raised ~$1.2M in equity funding for its proprietary dry-coating-based battery production process. Elbow Beach Capital, Wealth Club, and Bristol Private Equity Club invested. The company also received ~$870k in grant funding. More here. (U.K., Industry)

☕ Cotierra, based out of Zurich, Switzerland, raised $1M in pre-seed funding to make biochar from coffee tree residues in coffee-growing regions like Colombia. The biochar can then be applied back to local land to sequester carbon and improve the soil. Carbon Removal Partners, Climate Founders, Partners in Clime, Carbon Drawdown Initiative, and more invested. More here. (Switzerland, Carbon Removal)

📊 Winnow, based out of London, U.K., raised an undisclosed amount of equity funding from ABC Impact for its food waste reduction-focused software. More here. (Singapore, Food & Agriculture)

📊 PowerGem, based out of Clifton Park, NY, raised an undisclosed amount in equity funding from TA Associates for its simulation software designed for the energy industry. More here. (U.S., Energy)

📊 MioTech, based out of Singapore, raised an undisclosed amount of funding for its sustainability data and software business. ZhenFund, Horizons Ventures, and others invested. More here. (Singapore, Data Applications)

Other funding rounds

🛢️ EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., will buy Equitrans Midstream, a major pipeline operator, for $5.5B. Both companies are based out of Pittsburgh, PA. This deal is the latest in a wave of consolidation in the U.S. oil and gas industry. More here. (U.S., Energy)

🌞 Primergy Solar, based out of Oakland, CA, raised $588M in debt financing to build a 408 MW solar farm in Hill County, TX. It will sell electricity from the new solar farm to Microsoft. More here. (U.S., Energy)

🔋 Vianode, based out of Oslo, Norway, received ~$32.7M in grant funding from Innovation Norway for its Herøya plant, where it will manufacture synthetic graphite for use in battery anodes. More here. (Norway, Industry)

💦⚡ Nel, based out of Oslo, Norway, received ~$90M in grants from the DOE for seven research and development projects focused on hydrogen. More here. (Norway, Industry)

🔋 Li-Cycle, based out of Toronto, raised $75M in convertible note funding from Glencore for its imperiled battery recycling operations. More here. (Canada, Industry)

💦⚡ Electric Hydrogen, based out of Natick, MA, received $46.3M in grants from the DOE under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Clean Electrolysis Program to scale its electrolyzer manufacturing. More here. (U.S., Industry)

💦⚡ Ballard Power Systems, based out of Burnaby, Canada, raised $40M in grants from the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office to build a fuel cell gigafactory in Rockwall, TX. More here. (U.S., Industry)

💦⚡ Verdagy, based out of Moss Landing, CA, raised $40M in grants from the DOE for its electrolyzer factory in the Bay Area. More here. (U.S., Industry)

New funds

💸 Elaia, based out of Paris, raised ~$65.3M for a new deep-tech seed fund. More here. (France, Funds)

💸 The Bezos Earth Fund, based out of Washington, D.C., noted it will allocate $60M to launch new research centers for alternative protein development. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture)

Talk Thursday,

– Nick