🌎 ClimateHack Vol. 69: 40+ LatAm Climate VC’s

Hey There,

We often talk about the climate tech scene with a US / European lens, but climate is a global problem, with global solutions.

Though the reality is; Latin America and Africa (combined) still only receive 4% of all climate funding.

To close the funding gap, there’s a growing number of VC’s in emerging markets raising funds primarily for climate.

So this week, we spotlight the 40+ LatAm Climate VC’s that you need to know.

In Today’s Edition;

🛰 Amsterdam-based Overstory raised $14M to expand its vegetation intelligence platform.
🏡 Berlin's Cloover comes out of stealth with €7M for their renewable energy fintech solutions.
🚛 Swedish electric commercial truck company Volta Trucks has filed for bankruptcy.

Digest x Climate

🌳 Cool Infographic: On Nature Tech by Mathias Boissonot of Handprint.

📈 What’s up? A new report from the International Energy Agency says that the world must add or replace 49.7 million miles of transmission lines by 2040 if countries are to meet their climate goals and achieve their energy security priorities.

📉 What’s down? Scientists at the University of Leeds revealed that 71 of the 162 ice shelves that surround Antarctica have reduced in volume over the 25 years from 1997 to 2021, releasing 7.5 trillion tonnes of meltwater into the oceans.

🇺🇸 California Governor Gavin Newsom signed several climate and environmental disclosure laws into effect this week. These establish some of the country’s most robust rules for businesses to “disclose greenhouse gas emissions, the content of their carbon offsets, and the financial risks they face due to climate change”.

⛷ Excavators have been digging up glaciers in Zermatt in preparation for Ski World Cup races, causing outrage amongst citizens and environmentalists.

💡 Good Read: PwC released its fourth annual State of Climate Tech report.

Carbon x Climate

🌎 Danish startup Klimate.co secured €3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Eneco Ventures. It will use the funds to scale its platform, which helps companies reach Net Zero by combining the world’s best carbon removal methods into portfolios that match its clients’ budgets and ambitions.

🎮 Berlin-based gaming company Zeedz raised $1 million seed funding and launched the first play-for-purpose game in which players fight global carbon emissions by collecting plant-inspired creatures, or Zeedles, and can access in-game educational resources to learn about climate zones and actionable tips for reducing emissions.

☀️ Engineers at MIT have come up with the conceptual design for a system that can efficiently produce "solar thermochemical hydrogen", harnessing the sun's heat to directly split water and generate hydrogen.

Food x Climate

🌱 Japanese plant-based meat company DAIZ raised $47.4 million Series C funding to build a new 40,000 sq ft facility for its ‘miracle chips’ for vegan analogues made via its proprietary soy germination tech.

🧫 Moolec Science secured $30 million to expand its molecular farming platform, which bioengineers plants such as yellow peas and soybeans to produce bovine and porcine proteins.

🪰 Scottish startup Beta Bugs, which genetically engineers black soldier fly eggs for large-scale alternative protein farming and for use as livestock feed, raised £1.72 million in a round led by Tricapital Syndicate.

🍄 US fungi startup MycoTechnology is launching a Fermentation as a Service (FaaS) platform, aimed at helping companies that are struggling to secure fermentation capacity to scale their operations.

🤝 Tyson Foods, Inc. is joining forces with Dutch insect ingredients company Protix to upcycle food manufacturing byproducts into sustainable insect proteins and lipids for use in the pet food, aquaculture, and livestock industries.

Construction x Climate

🏢 Tallinn-based Bisly raised €3.6 million to expand its intelligent building platform, which creates energy-efficient buildings through manufacturing, installation, building management software, and digital twin infrastructure.

Wildfires x Climate

🛰 Amsterdam-based Overstory raised $14 million, in a Series A funding round led by B Capital, to expand its vegetation intelligence platform, which provides utilities with visibility, risk analysis, and optimisation recommendations for vegetation management by applying artificial intelligence to satellite imagery.

🎈 Urban Sky, based in the US, secured $9.75 million Series A funding to scale its Earth imaging operations and expand its data products. It uses reusable stratospheric balloons to offer a range of services, and is developing systems to support wildfire monitoring and other environmental surveillance.

Energy x Climate

⚡️ Estonian fast energy storage firm Skeleton Technologies secured €108 million in an equity and debt funding round led by Siemens and Marubeni to scale its SuperBattery tech and support its factory automation plans.

📊 Cosmos Innovation came out of stealth to announce $19.7 million in total funding. The Singapore-based startup uses AI to optimise the design of perovskite silicon tandem solar cells, and is working on building the world’s first self-learning fab in the solar and semiconductor space.

🏡 Cloover, based in Berlin, secured €7 million in pre-seed funding. It will use the funds to further expand its fintech platform, which provides a solution for renewable energy companies to offer subscription services.

🔌 UK-based Elyos Energy raised $3 million seed funding as it prepares to launch its software platform for smart energy devices, designed to to reduce pressures on the national grid and cut commercial electricity bills, in the UK this month.

☀️ Berlin-based Circadian Technologies, which specialises in solar energy management systems, secured €1.25 million in a funding round led by BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures to expand its SaaS data platform, designed to support solar developers and asset owners, particularly in African grid-challenged emerging market countries.

🗑 Cool infographic: This graphic by Dan Gearino really puts solar panel waste into context.

Transport x Climate

🚗 London-based EV data startup Volteras raised $2.9 million and has connected with some big partners, including Mercedes, BMW, and Volvo, to bring “Tesla-level control” to every vehicle and charger.

🏕 Californian startup Pebble, founded by a veteran of Apple, Cruise and Zoox, unveiled a prototype of its flagship product, the Pebble Flow, an all-electric travel trailer that can live off-grid for seven days.

⛽️ Tesla is pushing for stricter fuel standards in the US, potentially irritating companies such as Ford and General Motors, and likely to give it “more of an edge”, if successful.

📉 Following the collapse of its battery supplier, Swedish electric commercial truck company Volta Trucks has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden and will file for administration in the UK.

Materials x Climate

📦 Sustainable materials innovator Notpla, based in London, has been awarded a £1 million grant by Innovate UK to scale its Notpla Rigid solution, made from the fibrous by-product of industrially processed seaweed.

♻️ Researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology have developed a new and highly efficient method for recycling 100% of the aluminium and 98% of the lithium from used electric car batteries.

Funds x Climate

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scottish VC Par Equity secured £67 million at the first close of its startup fund for UK tech companies located outside of London working within health tech, climate, robotics, advanced materials and AI.

💰 RevRoad Capital raised $61 million for its debut fund, which will focus mainly on seed-stage investments in areas including electric vehicles, AI, SaaS, retail and manufacturing.

👀 Breakthrough Energy, founded by Bill Gates, has unveiled their latest cohort of leaders in climatetech and commercialization.

Memes x Climate

🕶 ouch.

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Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola.