What's in a name?

Hey there,

At the top of the newsletter today new data from Heatmap reminds us that sometimes, the words we use alone can matter as much as anything else (specifically looking at the impact of intentional obfuscation between ‘natural gas’ and ‘methane.') From there, as always, we round up the week in climate tech and energy, ranging from the biggest year-over-year jump in atmospheric CO2 ever measured to $100B nuclear supercomputers. Let’s take a look.

In today’s email:

• One story in a chart and a sentence

• Climate tech and energy headlines from the week

• Climate tech fundraising announcements

THIS WEEK IN CLIMATE TECH & ENERGY

One story in a sentence (and a chart)

• While we’re often deep in the weeds over here, it’s worth noting that many people don’t know the difference between natural gas and methane (hint, there isn’t much of one). Link.

12 headlines

• Zeekr, the Chinese EV subsidiary of Geely, went public in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, raising $350M+ at a $5B+ valuation. Zeekr’s shares performed well on the first day of trading, rising some 35%+. We’ll see if that continues. This is an important bellwether of the IPO environment in general and for the health of the climate tech capital raising environment. Link. Link. 

• Renewables crossed the 30% of global electricity generation threshold for the first time, according to Ember. Solar was the fastest growing generation technology. Ember’s full report on trends in global energy is also well worth a read. Link. Link. Link.

• The Biden Administration quadrupled tariffs on Chinese EVs, batteries, and solar cells to protect domestic cleantech industries. The full range of potential impacts here is vast; at the most basic level, look for Chinese trade retaliation and for costs of solar and batteries domestically to increase if these tariff hikes actually come to fruition. Link.

• Microsoft and Stockholm Exergi announced an agreement for Stockholm Exergi to provide Microsoft with more than 3.3M tons of carbon removal over 10 years beginning in 2028, the world’s largest carbon removal agreement to date. Stockholm Exergi operates a BECCS plant to generate carbon removal credits. Link.

• Microsoft and OpenAI are supposedly planning to build a $100B supercomputer powered by multiple nuclear power plants. Color me skeptical. Link.

• Climeworks, a direct air capture startup, opened its second and largest facility so far in Iceland. The ‘Mammoth’ plant is capable of removing up to 36,000 tons of CO₂ annually. Link.

• The DOE announced 10 federal ‘corridors’ it identified as critical for the development of new ultra-high-capacity transmission lines. Link.

• The American Petroleum Institute filed a petition in federal court for the EPA to revise specific components of its new fees on fugitive methane emissions from oil and gas operations. Specifically, API is looking for potential exemptions for oil and gas equipment that’s only used temporarily, as well as more guidance on approving new methane leak detection technologies. Holistically, challenges to the rules could slow implementation and enforcement. Link.

• Ambri, a next-gen battery developer, filed for bankruptcy. The company has been developing its technology for a decade and raised $144M in 2021. Electriq, an energy storage and management provider, also filed for bankruptcy. Link. Link. Link.

• Beyond Meat saw its sales fall (again) 18% year-over-year in its most recent quarter, signaling continued struggles for the plant-based meat industry. Link.

• Atmospheric CO2 levels increased more than ever before (as long as humans have measured increases, at least) between March 2024 and March 2023. Link.

• 77% of climate scientists surveyed recently see global temperatures rising by 2.5° C or more, a threshold representative of about twice as much warming as the world has experienced so far since the Industrial Revolution. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds

⚡💦 Hysata, based out of Wollongong, Australia, raised ~$111.3M in Series B funding to make electrolyzers for green hydrogen production. bp Ventures and Templewater co-led. More here. (Australia, Industry)

🍄 Meati Foods, based out of Boulder, CO, raised $100M in Series C-1 funding to make mushroom-based meat alternatives. Grosvenor Food & AgTech led. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture)

Medium-sized funding rounds

🔌 EnviroSpark, based out of Atlanta, raised $50M in equity funding from Basalt Infrastructure Partners for its EV charging network. More here. (U.S., Transportation)

♻️ Li Industries, based out of Pineville, NC, raised $36M in Series B funding to build LFP battery recycling facilities. Bosch Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and LG Tech Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🍫 Voyage Foods, based out of Oakland, raised $30M in extended Series A funding to make cocoa-free chocolate and nut-free spreads. Level One Fund and Horizons Ventures co-led. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture)

♨️ Zanskar, based out of Salt Lake City, raised $30M in equity funding for its geothermal exploration company. Obvious Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Energy)

🐄 ArkeaBio, based out of Boston, raised $26.5M in Series A funding to develop a vaccine to reduce livestock methane emissions. Breakthrough Energy Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Food & Agriculture)

🧪 Insempra, based out of Munich, raised $20M in Series A funding to make more sustainable lipids for use in the cosmetic, food, and fashion industries via biotechnology approaches. EQT Ventures led. More here. (Germany, Industry)

🔨 Inkbit, based out of Medford, MA, raised $19M in equity funding for its additive manufacturing business. Ingersoll Rand led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

📊 Dendra Systems, based out of Oxford, U.K., raised ~$15.8M in Series B funding for its ecology data platform that uses AI and drones to direct reseeding on degraded lands. More here. (U.K., Data Applications)

🍇 Superplum, based out of India, raised $15M in Series A funding to supply more sustainable fruit and for its fruit supply chain traceability technologies. Erik Ragatz led. More here. (India, Food & Agriculture)

🍚 Rize, based out of Singapore, raised $14M in Series A funding to help rice farmers implement farming practice changes that reduce methane emissions from their rice cultivation operations. Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GenZero, Temasek, and Wavemaker Impact invested. More here. (Singapore, Food & Agriculture)

Smaller funding rounds

🧊 Paxafe, based out of Milwaukee, WI, raised $9M in Series A funding for its cold chain logistics service. Framework Venture Partners led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🧊 Pascal, based out of Cambridge, MA, raised $8M in seed funding to make more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient solid refrigerants for HVAC applications. Engine Ventures led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🔨 Rapid Liquid Print, based out of Boston, raised $7M in Series A funding for its additive manufacturing business. HZG Group led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🌧️ Rainmaker, based out of El Segundo, CA, raised $6.3M in seed funding to make it rain more via cloud-seeding. Long Journey Ventures, Day One Ventures, Tamarack Global, 1517 Fund, and others invested. More here and here about the company from our podcast. (U.S., Adaptation)

📊 Electricity Maps, based out of Copenhagen, raised $5.4M in equity funding to help companies quantify the carbon intensity and origin of their electricity. Transition and Revent co-led the deal. More here. (Denmark, Data Applications)

🔋 WinBat, based out of Portage, WI, raised $5M in seed funding to make hemp carbon batteries. Infinite Power Systems led. More here. (U.S., Industry)

🍄 Mycocycle, based out of Bolingbrook, IL, raised $3.6M in extended seed funding to use fungi to convert waste and trash, like old tires, into reusable bio-based raw materials. Closed Loop Partners led. More here. (U.S., Materials)

🔥 Umgrauemeio, based out of Jundiaí, Brazil, raised $3.6M in equity funding for its wildfire monitoring service. Baraúna Investimentos, Indicator Capital, Yield Lab Latam, and others invested. More here. (Brazil, Adaptation)

🥩 Cultimate Foods, based out of Berlin, raised ~$2.4M in seed funding to make lab-grown meat. High-Tech Gründerfonds led. More here. (Germany, Food & Agriculture)

💻 Mavarick, based out of Limerick, Ireland, raised ~$1.4M in pre-seed funding for its sustainable manufacturing software. Act VC led. More here. (Ireland, Industry)

👕 Renegade Plastics, based out of Golden, CO, raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding to make more sustainable fabric coatings. Schneider Resources Holding led. More here. (U.S., Materials)

Other funding rounds

🛥️ Compagnie Maritime Monegasque, based out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, raised $94M in debt financing from Summit Ridge Capital Partners to build ethanol-powered boats. More here. (Brazil, Transportation)

New funds

💵 KKR and HASI committed $2B together for a new vehicle to invest in "climate positive [infrastructure] projects across the United States." More here. (U.S., Infrastructure)

💰 Infinity Recycling, based out of Rotterdam, Netherlands, raised ~$188M for its first 'Circular Plastics Fund,' from which it will invest in growth-stage recycling companies. More here. (Netherlands, Materials)

💸 Betagro Public, based out of Bangkok, Thailand, launched a $30m venture arm to invest in food and ag-tech-focused startups. More here. (Thailand, Food & Agriculture)

Adios,

– Nick