One whole TWh

Hello there,

Can’t believe we’re now double-digit days into March. What they always tell you as a kid—that time will move more quickly as an adult—is invariably true and will probably remain incomprehensible to kids even as I start telling em’ the same as I’m on the cusp of turnin’ 30 in few weeks.

Anywho, I’m ramblin’, let’s get to the news, as there’s plenty to cover as ever.

In today’s newsletter:

• One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• This week in climate tech & energy

• Keep Cool Podcast

♡ If you find this work valuable, you can support it here. I put a lot of time into it. ♡

ONE STORY IN A SENTENCE (AND A CHART)

• Natural gas remains the #1 workhorse fuel for electricity generation (and many other applications) in the U.S.; while its combustion is preferable to coal across many environmental and climactic dimensions, it still comes with a substantial greenhouse gas emissions footprint. Link & h/t to Jeff Davies at EnerWrap for always bringing the data visualization heat (see what I did there).

THIS WEEK IN CLIMATE TECH & ENERGY

THE GOOD

• Global battery demand exceeded one terawatt hour for the first time in 2024, 85% of which is for EVs, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). For perspective, one TWh is about enough storage capacity for a modal EV to drive around the Earth 120 times or to power 100 million homes for an hour. Link. Link. Link.

• The EPA unfroze $7 billion in funding for the IRA's "Solar For All" program, which helps build solar power in otherwise underserved communities. Here’s hope: Some laws still stand! Link.

• Speaking of sticky laws, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) blocked a vote by US auto safety regulators that would have advanced plans to repeal California's authority to set its own vehicle emissions rules. California and 17 other states have already adopted rules requiring 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035, with California's standards covering about 40% of new US auto sales. Note: Just the beginning of a regulatory tug-of-war, but state’s rights still count for something. Link. Link.

• Taiwanese semiconductor company TSMC plans to make a $100 billion investment in the U.S. to scale up semiconductor manufacturing and build five additional chip facilities in the country in coming years, its CEO announced with President Trump, although without offering a timeframe. As a key manufacturing partner to Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Advanced Micro Devices, TSMC is central to the U.S. (and global) chip industry; bringing more production to U.S. soil could help ameliorate supply chain risks. Mind you, semiconductors aren’t just for computers; they’re central for many types of electrical infrastructure. Link.

• A first for everything: Alabama Power plans to develop the state's first utility-scale battery energy storage system ('BESS') at the former Plant Gorgas site in Walker County. The 150 MW Gorgas Battery Facility will feature a 2-hour duration BESS with ~2-hour recharge rates. Construction is slated for 2026, and project completion is expected by 2027. Link. More Keep Cool reading: Don't put "too" much stock in announcements.

• EVs captured north of 60% of new car sales in Sweden last month, making it a close follow to the dramatic adoption we’ve seen in Norway, where almost no new light-duty combustion engine vehicles are sold. Market to market, things can shift quickly! Link.

• ABB, based out of Zurich, announced a $120 million investment to expand transformer manufacturing in the U.S. to build an advanced manufacturing facility in Selmer, Tennessee, and double the size of its existing site in Senatobia, Mississippi. The new facilities will produce transformers, which are essential electrical distribution equipment for all kinds of electrical infrastructure. Transformer shortages have been hamstringing cleaner energy deployment. The Selmer facility is expected to open in Q4 2026, and the Senatobia expansion is expected to be complete by Q2 2026. Link.

• By some estimates (estimates in these types of analyses will vary considerably), NYC could reap close to $1B in economic benefit from its congestion pricing program, including increased retail sales south of 60th Street ($900 million higher in January 2025 compared to Jan 2024). Attribution is hard, but as much as Trump wants to play kingmaker, congesting pricing seems legit. Link.

• I’ll be damned: A major offshore wind project near Massachusetts may actually get finished this year, with another in the works, according to Ignacio Galán, exec chair of Spanish power giant Iberdrola. And that’s despite Trump's abject disdain for wind energy in general and an order to freeze new wind permits and review existing ones. Speaking to investors, Galán expressed confidence that Iberdrola's renewable energy investments would continue under Trump, even as the company negotiates a deal to sell power to Massachusetts from a second project called New England Wind 1. At present, the U.S. has virtually no offshore wind (relatively speaking at least, there is some). Link.

• Colossal Biosciences successfully inserted woolly mammoth DNA into mice, creating "woolly mice" with shaggy fur and enhanced fat metabolism—traits that helped mammoths survive the Ice Age. With the gene-editing processes now validated, the next step is to move from mice to elephants, obviously a much more complex process. Still, the company aims to have a living woolly mammoth by 2028. Beyond the cool biotech applications here, wooly mammoths could be helpful insofar as their sheer size, movement, and migration could help recompact Arctic permafrost so it leaks less methane. Link.

• A new archaeological study found that ancient Amazonians created massive amounts of biochar over 2,500 years ago. That biochar still sequesters carbon safely out of the atmosphere, making a strong case for biochar as a durable and permanent carbon removal pathway when executed soundly. Biochar is created by burning organic materials in anoxic (low-oxygen) environments. The study estimates that ancient Amazonian communities could have sequestered over 25 million tons of carbon in soil, as biochar is also a rich soil amendment. These findings should lend a boost to biochar carbon removal efforts, which, mind you, already top the leaderboards in terms of actual delivered removals (second link). Link. Link. ++ hat tip to Dr. Erica Doerr, an LCA expert at Riverse for her work on this and feature in the Grist article!

• The state of Massachusetts is launching a first-of-its-kind statewide vehicle-to-everything (V2X) pilot program that will deploy 100 bidirectional chargers across homes, schools, and fleets, creating 1.5 MW of new storage capacity while providing participants with fully-covered charging infrastructure and potential revenue from sending energy back to the grid. The two-year initiative, led by Resource Innovations and The Mobility House, aims to create a scalable blueprint for V2X technology nationwide while ensuring access for disadvantaged communities. Enrollment is open through June 2025 for owners of eligible bidirectional vehicles. While welcome, I’ll soon write about why I’m not all that bullish on V2G and V2X technology. Link. Link.

• Google, SLB (formerly Schlumberger), and nonprofit Project Innerspace announced a partnership to accelerate global geothermal deployment. The collaboration combines Project Innerspace's GeoMap tool (powered by Google Cloud and AI services) with SLB's consulting and infrastructure expertise to identify and develop geothermal resources worldwide. SLB plans to commercialize the service and will begin discussions with energy companies at next week's CERAWeek conference in Houston. Link.

• Keep Cool Alumni: Base Power, based out of Austin, TX, partnered with Bandera Electric Cooperative to deploy distributed battery storage across the Texas Hill Country. The partnership will install Base Power's 'PowerPods' at homes throughout BEC's service territory to form a virtual power plant, which purportedly will provide backup power during outages while also supporting grid services. Note: This marks an interesting evolution in rural electric co-ops embracing distributed energy resources rather than just centralized generation. The approach could become a model for other rural utilities facing reliability challenges and high transmission costs. Link. We wrote about the business previously here. Congrats folks!

• Tesla and Honda are both expanding their US manufacturing presence as new tariffs begin to impact automotive supply chains. Tesla is reportedly exploring a site in northeast Mexico for a new gigafactory, while Honda has announced a $700M investment with LG Energy Solution to build a battery plant in Ohio. These moves come as the Trump administration implements new tariffs, including a 100% duty on electric vehicles imported from China and a 25% tariff on vehicles from Mexico and Canada. Note: The shifting tariff landscape is accelerating manufacturing reshoring and nearshoring decisions for automakers, potentially creating jobs but also raising costs for consumers. For EVs specifically, these developments could bring more battery and vehicle production closer to US markets while challenging affordability goals. Link. Link.

THE INBETWEENS

• Autonomous driving startup Wayve announced plans for a new testing and development hub in Stuttgart, Germany, as part of its global expansion efforts. The company raised a $1 billion Series C funding round in May 2024 (backed by SoftBank, Microsoft, and Nvidia); now it has its sights set on tackling competition like Waymo and inking commercial deals with automakers. Link. Link.

• I was a bit concerned to read that financial engineering is getting back into complex mortgage-backed securities—the ones that sank the economy in 08—including with respect to data center bonds backed by lease payments from companies renting computing capacity. I could easily see a scenario where there’s a near-term data center overbuild and that drives system financial risk, not just capital misallocation risk. Link. More Keep Cool reading here.

• Good news on the whole, unless you’re a non-Chinese battery and EV manufacturer: Chinese EV maker BYD is preparing to raise as much as HK$40.7 billion ($5.2 billion) in what would be Hong Kong's biggest share sale / IPO in nearly four years. The planned offering follows a meteoric rise by the Shenzhen-based automaker in recent years, which sold more than 318,000 pure electric and hybrid passenger vehicles last month alone—a 161% year-on-year boost. Link.

• Venture Global LNG announced it will expand its existing Plaquemines export facility in Louisiana with a roughly $18 billion investment. That's a massive infrastructure investment that underscores the centrality of natural gas to global energy production. It would raise the capacity of the facility by over 18 million tons of annual LGN production, cresting over 45 million annual tons of production capacity total? It could become North America's largest LNG facility. Who are the potential customers? There's a laundry list, from Japan and South Korea to Europe and beyond. Germany (trying to wean off Russian gas) is the first customer in line right now. DOE boss Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (both Trump's picks) are on board so far. Link. Link. Related Keep Cool reading here, which goes into the 'Is LNG worse than coal?' question (it's not).

THE BAD

• The Supreme Court watered down the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate water pollution, siding with the city of San Francisco in a 5-4 decision. Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the permitting rules were too vague, making it harder for the EPA to limit water pollution in the future. Link.

• The Trump administration granted exemptions to some automakers from the new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada at least for a month. The announcement followed a meeting between administration officials and the heads of Stellantis, GM, and Ford. Tariffs could spike car prices by $4,000 to $10,000 and wouldn’t necessarily hit EVs or internal combustion engine cars any less hard. This is all still massively in flux, though, so it's probably wise for many of us (perhaps not the business owners themselves) to sit in the uncertainty, as hard as it is. Link. Link.

More tariff tit for tat: Ontario, Canada's second-largest energy producer, primarily generates power from uranium and has interconnections with Manitoba, Quebec, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. Most imports come from Quebec while exports primarily go to New York and Michigan. The proposed tax would not take effect immediately, according to a Ford representative, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced retaliatory tariffs of 25% on $30 billion (Canadian) worth of U.S. imports, with another $125 billion (Canadian) set to take effect in three weeks. China also clapped back at new 10% US tariffs with 15% tariffs on American chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton, and 10% duties on soybeans, pork, beef, seafood, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products. Mexico has not yet made its formal moves but probably will do something if tariffs remain as they are slated to and actually take effect. Link. Link. Link.

• In keeping with our popular piece from Thursday on corporate and country-level climate commitment backslide, the EU tampered with deadlines for its new vehicle emissions rules, granting automakers more time to comply. The EU wants to bring vehicle emissions to zero by 2035 but will now allow some manufacturers three years to meet new emissions targets that would have required about one-fifth of all cars sold to be electric this year to avoid fines. Many automakers had been planning to "pool" their emissions and buy credits from Tesla and other EV makers, but the extension may "enable them to buy fewer emission credits from Tesla," Electrek noted. To be sure, not all are happy; Volvo CEO Jim Rowan criticized the change, saying his company "has made the heavy investments needed to be ready for 2025" and "should not be disadvantaged by any last-minute changes to legislation." Link.

• Ascend Elements and the DOE mutually agreed to cancel a $164 million grant intended for cathode active material manufacturing infrastructure at the company's Apex 1 project. A separate $316 million DOE grant for cathode precursor infrastructure is still active for now. The company's vice president of Government Affairs noted: "We're just not seeing significant market demand for CAM right now, but we have buyers lined up to purchase sustainable, domestically produced pCAM and Lithium Carbonate." Link.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) reported that natural disasters and diseases have reduced Florida's orange production by 92% since the 2003–04 season. USDA forecasts Florida orange production for 2023–24 at 846,000 tons—the second-lowest harvest in almost 90 years. Link.

• The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) booked a loss on its $325 million investment in Northvolt, the now defunct Swedish electric vehicle battery maker/ Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec also wrote down its $150 million investment to zero, and Investment Management Corp. of Ontario marked down its $400 million investment as well. Can’t win em’ all. Link.

• Sunnova Energy shares fell precipitously (71%) this week as the company warned there's substantial doubt it will be able to remain in business. The collapse follows First Solar Inc. reporting increasing customer delays and Sunrun projecting flat installation volumes this year. Solar getting absurdly cheap doesn’t necessarily make it a great stand-alone business; in fact, it might portend the opposite for legacy players who haven’t gotten creative (especially in the rooftop sectors where subsidies are fickle, even state to state. Link.

• Invenergy, a major renewable energy developer, canceled its proposed 300 MW Palomino Solar Energy project in Ohio, making it the fifth large-scale solar project to be abandoned in the state since 2022. The cancellation follows a string of rejections from the Ohio Power Siting Board and increasing local opposition to utility-scale solar in rural communities. Amazon was slated to be the project's offtaker. NIMBY’s man... Link.

• The Atlanta Federal Reserve downgraded its forecasted first quarter GDP to -2.8%, compared to -1.5% just a few weeks ago and a positive 3-4% forecast a month or so ago. We may be headed for even tougher economic times, including a mini-recession. Ideally, it stays mini… Link.

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been hit by another round of departures, with ~500 employees booted from the agency on Friday after taking "deferred resignation offers." Tack these departures on to 800+ probationary staff fired previously. So far, about 10% of NOAA's roughly 13,000 employees. Link.

• The U.S. Coast Guard Academy eliminated "climate change" and related terminology from its curriculum, as per an executive order from President Trump withdrawing past climate change policies and a February 14 directive from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordering department officials to "eliminate all climate change activities and the use of climate change terminology in DHS policies and programs." Link.

• Despite plenty of cold days out here in New York City (“brick,” as we say here sometimes), last month was the third hottest February since the Industrial Revolution and sophisticated temperature measurement began (circa mid-19th century). Global temperatures remain higher than the 1.5° Celsius threshold the 2015 Paris Agreement hoped to hold warming to, averaging 1.59°C above pre-industrial levels. That said, Zeke Hausfather noted that temperatures dropped sharply in February, which "may be a sign that the short-term cooling effect of La Niña is at long last kicking in, though it is too early to know for sure." Suffice it to say the Earth’s climate system is complex. Link.

• More wildfires: At one point last week, firefighters battled 175 separate wildfires across South and North Carolina amid windy and dry conditions, threatening homes and prompting evacuations. The fires burned a combined 4,200 acres across South Carolina. Meanwhile, more than a thousand people were evacuated as Japan battled its largest wildfire in more than three decades in the forest of Ofunato in the northern Iwate region Link. Link.

• Global sea ice levels also hit an all-time low in February, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Arctic sea ice cover fell 8% below average, the lowest since records began in 1979 and "the third consecutive month in which the sea ice extent has set a record for the corresponding month." Antarctic sea ice cover was even more dramatic at 26% below average. "One of the consequences of a warmer world is melting sea ice, and the record or near-record low sea ice cover at both poles has pushed global sea ice cover to an all-time minimum," said Samantha Burgess at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Note: Melting sea ice creates a dangerous feedback loop by reducing Earth's albedo (ability to reflect sunlight), further accelerating warming. Link.

• Eviation Aircraft laid off the majority of its staff and put a "temporary pause" on its electric aircraft program while searching for fresh funding despite having completed a maiden flight in 2022 and having secured over 600 aircraft pre-orders worth more than $2.5 billion. Former CEO Gregory Davis attributed the company's challenges to an industry-wide "funding gap" with venture capital now focused on AI and defense tech, suggesting that surviving electric aircraft companies will likely be those securing direct investment from military programs. Link. Link.

• Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida is reportedly set to resign within the week, according to Nikkei and The Financial Times. His departure could revive merger talks with Honda, which previously collapsed when Honda proposed Nissan become a subsidiary rather than an equal partner. Potential replacements include CFO Jeremie Papin, Chief Planning Officer Ivan Espinos, and Chief Performance Officer Guillaume Cartier. In sum, Nissan is still struggling mightily, as are many non-Chinese car brands. Link.

• Yet another scuffling EV maker: Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson was "forced out" by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which holds a 58.4% controlling stake in the company, with COO Daniel Winterhoff stepping in as interim CEO amid sluggish sales growth and $2.7 billion in losses for 2024. The EV maker has repeatedly missed production targets since 2022 and seen eleven high-level executive departures since October 2023, with its average selling price dropping from above $150,000 in early 2022 to approximately $76,000 by the end of 2024 despite aggressive price cuts and purchase incentives. Link. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds:

• EcoDataCenter, based out of Falun, Sweden, raised ~$490 million in equity funding to build more sustainable data centers built with mass timber techniques and that leverage renewable energy and advanced cooling technologies. Areim, the company’s owner, invested. Link.

• Epirus, based out of Torrance, CA, raised $200 million in Series D funding co-led by 8VC and Washington Harbour Partners for its advanced microwave technology designed to disable electronic devices, including drones and drone swarms. WHY? Link.

• Zeitview, based in Los Angeles, raised $60 million in equity funding led by Climate Investment for its AI and drone technology platform, which is designed to facilitate infrastructure inspections, including for assets like solar farms, wind turbines, and transmission. Link.

• Tandem PV, based out of San Jose, raised $50 million in Series A funding and debt funding, led by Eclipse with participation from Constellation Energy (a large nuclear fleet owner in the U.S.). The company's tandem perovskite panels currently achieve 28% efficiency, which is about a 30% improvement over silicon-only solar panels. Link.

Medium-sized funding rounds:

• Atmosic Technologies, based out of Campbell, CA, raised $40M in equity funding led by Sutter Hill Ventures to make "low-power compute and connectivity tech" to expand and extend electronic device battery life. Link.

• Renaissance Fusion, based out of Grenoble, France, raised $34.5 million in a Series A-1 funding round led by Crédit Mutuel Impact to make commercial magnetic confinement fusion reactors. The company is building "a demonstrator for its simplified stellarator fusion reactor, which uses high-temperature superconducting magnets to stabilise plasma more efficiently." Link.

• Atmosic Technologies, based out of Campbell, CA, raised $40 million in equity funding to make ultra-low power wireless connectivity technology designed to reduce or even fully eliminate the need for batteries in IoT devices. Sutter Hill Ventures led. Link.

• Spiritus, based out of Los Alamos, NM, raised $30 million in Series A funding for its direct air capture technology that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere electrochemically. Aramco Ventures led. Link.

• Viam, based out of New York, raised $30 million in Series C funding to help companies apply AI to real-time data from robots, sensors, and industrial machines without requiring deep technical expertise. USV led. Link.

• Steady Energy, based out of Rauma, Finland, raised ~$24 in equity funding to design, build, operate, and own small nuclear reactors for district heating and industrial applications. 92 Ventures led. Link.

• Echandia, based out of Solna, Sweden, raised ~$20.7 million (220m SEK) in equity funding to make batteries for maritime transportation. Klima VC led. The company specializes in lithium-titanate oxide battery systems for heavy-duty maritime vessels, providing clean energy solutions for the shipping industry. Link.

• Epoch BioDesign, based out of London, raised ~$18.5 million in Series A funding to make enzymes that break down hard-to-recycle plastics into valuable chemicals. More specifically, the company "uses AI and synthetic biology to engineer enzymes that break down plastic waste into valuable chemicals" and will use the funding to build its first plant, expand its plastic-eating enzyme library, and begin serving the textile, automotive, and chemical industries. Extantia Capital led. Link. More Keep Cool content; we podcast with the venture capital firm that led this round → listen here.

• ReSource Chemical, based out of Oakland, raised $15 million in Series A funding to build its first bioplastics technology pilot plant in the Bay Area. Khosla Ventures led. Link.

• Capow, based out of Be'er Sheva, Israel, raised $15 million in Series A funding to make in-motion electric charging systems for robots. Toyota Ventures led. Link.

• VIE Technologies, based out of San Diego, CA, raised $15 million in Series A funding to monitor industrial equipment like transformers to predict and prevent failures and reduce maintenance costs. Energy Impact Partners led. Link.

• Stargate Hydrogen, based out of Tallinn, Estonia, raised ~$12 million in Series A funding to make green hydrogen electrolyzers. Giga, UG Investments, and SmartCap Green Fund participated. Link.

• Decibel Bio, based out of Boston, emerged from stealth with $12M in equity funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Future Ventures, Bayer, and Syngenta (big industry names!) to make "the world's first crop epigenetic platform, enabling farmers to reprogram plant traits in real-time for improved yield, efficiency, and resilience to environmental stresses without genetic modification." Tl;dr: This is a non-GMO approach to crop improvement, with the goal of offering faster regulatory pathways and heightened consumer trust while still adding climate resilience to crops. More Keep Cool reading re: the history of breakthroughs in crop resilience here. Link.

• Avalo, based out of Research Triangle Park, NC, raised $11 million in Series A funding and partnered with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners to develop more climate-resilient sugarcane varieties that require less water and fertilizer. Link. As above, more Keep Cool reading re: the history of breakthroughs in crop resilience here.

• Glimpse, based out of Somerville, MA, raised $10 million in Series A funding for its battery defect detection startup. Japanese electronics giant TDK's venture group led. Link.

• AgZen, based out of Somerville, MA, raised $10M in Series A funding led by DCVC Bio to develop “efficient crop spraying equipment and software" that purportedly reduces pesticide, fertilizer, and water consumption by up to 50%. Link.

Smaller funding rounds:

• Vrify, based out of Vancouver, raised ~$8.6M in Series B funding led by LGVP for its AI-powered mineral exploration software platform. Link.

• Moonwatt, based out of Amsterdam, raised $8.4 million in seed funding to make advanced energy storage systems using sodium-ion battery technology. Daphni and LEA Partners co-led. Sodium-ion technology could offer a more sustainable and potentially lower-cost alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries (not to mention safer), especially for power grid applications as well as residential and commercial applications. Link.

• Mote Hydrogen, based out of Los Angeles, raised $7M a first close of its Series A funding round (targeting $15M ) co-led by Nella Invest and Preston-Werner Ventures to "[gasifiie] woody waste biomass and [turn] it into hydrogen and carbon dioxide" and sequester the CO₂. That offers a business model for selling hydrogen and carbon removal credits. While clever, I see steep uphill climbs in both, but I wish them luck. The company has a pilot project near Bakersfield that is expected to produce "carbon0-negative" hydrogen by 2026. Link.

• Watter, based out of Dallas, CA (yes, Dallas, California), raised $5M in seed funding led by Hunt Innovative Technologies and 17Shoals to "[harness] wasted heat from compute devices to warm water for homes and businesses." Link.

• Skyfora, based out of Helsinki, raised ~$4.4 million in equity funding to use AI and leverage existing telecom infrastructure to improve weather forecasting. Ugly Duckling Ventures and Lumo Labs led. Link.

• Installer, based out of Oslo, raised ~$4.3 million in seed funding to match companies and clients with skilled installers of assets like EV chargers, solar panels and heat pumps. Brighteye Ventures led. Link.

• Telescope, based out of Norway, raised ~$4 million in seed funding led by Scale Capital and Dreamcraft Ventures to help "European real estate owners turn sustainability risk management into a strategic advantage, amid increasing regulatory pressure." Pattern matching: Multiple European software companies going after the built environment in today’s fundraising roundup. You can call it ‘PropTech,’ too. Link.

• Radical Dot, based out of Munich, Germany, raised ~$2.9 million in pre-seed funding led by UVC Partners and Visionaries Tomorrow to make "a continuously operated chemical recycling prototype at the Technical University of Munich" that turns plastic waste into valuable chemicals via chemical versus mechanic recycling approaches. Link.

• Kvist, based out of Oslo, raised ~$1.4 million in equity funding to build a standalone environmental certification platform for the construction and real estate sectors. Kiilto Ventures, Dnb Ventures, Alliance Venture, and others participated in the round. The company's platform helps property developers and owners meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations and certification requirements. Link.

• GaltTec, based out of Tartu, Estonia, raised ~$1.1 million in pre-seed funding led by 2C Ventures to develop "solid oxide fuel cells for portable and off-grid energy." Link.

• Ocean Ledger, based out of London, raised just under $1 million in pre-seed funding for its geospatial analytics startup that provides "AI-powered coastal risk forecasting solutions, which use satellite imagery and machine learning to help engineering firms, municipalities, and insurers manage climate-driven shoreline threats." Note: More adaptation! German Keep Cool reading lives here. Link.

Other funding rounds

• Oklo, based out of Santa Clara, CA, acquired Atomic Alchemy, an Idaho Falls, Idaho-based radioisotope producer, for $25M in an all-stock deal. The Altman-backed Oklo develops advanced small modular reactor nuclear energy technology. Note: This acquisition may signal interest in diversifying revenue streams beyond electricity production; radioisotopes for medical or biotechnology applications also represent high-value markets. Link.

Funds

• BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners is nearing a $25 billion (!) close for its fifth fund, which could even exceed its target. This would be one of the largest infrastructure funds, rivaling those from Brookfield, KKR, and Blackstone. Link.

KEEP COOL / CLIMATE CAPITAL PODCAST

ICYMI last week, I’ve got a new podcast episode out 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).

Until next time,

– Nick