🧊 ClimateHack Vol. 80: Refreezing the Arctic

Hi There,

We just opened applications for our next ClimateHack cohort. 

This edition we’re focussing on underrepresented markets where the climate tech communities are still emerging - the full list of cities includes:

• Accra, Bangalore, Cairo, Copenhagen, Kigali, Lagos, Mexico City, Paris, Nairobi, Sao Paolo, Singapore.

Becoming an ambassador might be the single fastest way to grow your climate tech network in 2024. You’ll meet local founders, funders, LPs, operators and enthusiasts as well as tap into a global community that spans across 45 cities.

Past and current ambassadors have gone on to land new jobs in climate tech, start their own businesses and meet their co-founders, lifelong friends, partners and more.

If you’re interested, or know someone who might be - check out the details here.

In Today’s Edition;

🧊 UK startup Real Ice claims they can refreeze the Arctic via “underwater drones”.
🏦 Sweden’s Northvolt secures Europes largest green loan raised to date - totalling $5bn.
🛩 Germany's INERATEC secured over $129 million in new funding to scale up their renewable e-Fuels.

Digest x Climate

🌎 Dalus Capital released an updated version of the their LATAM climate innovation startup radar - featuring the most promising startups across Agtech & Foodtech, Energy & Decarbonisation, Mobility, Clean & Circular Economy.

📈 What’s up? German energy platform operator 1KOMMA5° more than doubled its revenue in 2023, and expects to continue on its upwards trajectory.

📉 What’s down? Data from the Media and Climate Change Observatory shows that media coverage of climate change dropped by 4% in 2023, despite it being the hottest year on record.

📆 Today is the last day to apply to the Climate Founders Accelerator - a 6-months remote acceleration journey for start-ups that are looking for their first significant funding and are on the way to find their product-market fit.

💡 Sentiment check in - are you Bullish, Bearish or unsure on where climate tech funding (both for startups and funds) this year will land in comparison to 2023:

AgriFood x Climate

🛰 SeeTree, based in Israel, secured $17.5 million in a Series C funding round co-led by HSBC Asset Management and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Its “tree intelligence platform” uses military-grade drones, ground sensors, AI, multi-spectral imaging and in-field data collection to digitise the process of monitoring tree health within orchards and forests.

🌱 Mediterranean Food Lab raised $17 million Series A funding to scale its AI-powered solid state fermentation technology, which it uses to create ingredients it claims can “transform the sensory experience of eating plant-based foods”.

🥩 Israel’s Aleph Farms has been awarded the world’s first regulatory approval for cultivated beef, allowing it to market its products in the country, with plans to roll out to restaurants and, eventually, retailers.

🧫 UK-based Multus unveiled what it says is the world’s first commercial-scale production facility for affordable, serum-free growth media for the cultivated meat industry, supported by its £7.9 million raise in January 2023.

🔎 ADM announced its first successful shipment of traceable soybeans from the US to Europe, in anticipation of new EU regulations that will prohibit imports of soybeans from deforested land, due to come into effect at the end of the year.

🍈 Fiber Foods, based in Uganda, secured an undisclosed investment from agrifoodtech fund Foodsparks. It is creating a scalable, gender-friendly value chain for a versatile and affordable jackfruit ingredient for plant-based meat alternatives for foodservice.

Chemicals x Climate

🧪 California-based ZymoChem raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by Breakout Ventures. It develops microbes and bioprocesses that enable profitable and eco-friendly production of chemicals from renewable sources such as sugar.

Energy x Climate

☀️ Soly, based in the Netherlands, secured €30 million in a funding round led by ArcTern Ventures to “make solar energy available to everyone” by expanding its solar energy systems, batteries, and charging stations leasing operations into new countries.

🏦 Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt raised the largest green loan raised in Europe to date at $5 billion, to support the expansion of both its original gigafactory, Northvolt Ett, and its first recycling plant, Revolt Ett.

🇦🇺 Australian green energy infrastructure startup National Renewable Network raised $10 million from Catalytic Impact Capital to support its goal of providing low cost solar and battery setups to 250,000 homes across the country by 2030.

📊 Barcelona-based Delfos Energy secured €6.3 million seed funding for its AI-powered real-time virtual engineer software, which helps provide renewable energy estates with automated performance and reliability workflow management to help avoid costly downtime. 

🔋 French startup Tiamat secured investment from Stellantis Ventures for its sodium-ion battery technology, which offers a lower cost per kilowatt-hour and is free from lithium and cobalt.

🇬🇧 The UK’s largest waste collection fleet operator, Veolia, unveiled a world-first vehicle-to-grid innovation designed to enable its waste collection trucks to power UK homes by feeding back stored energy from their batteries to the grid.

🤝 Tetra Pak is joining forces with Swedish solar thermal company Absolicon to integrate the latter’s scalable solar thermal module into current and new UHT lines, to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

🍇 Researchers from the Universities of Jaén and São Paulo in Brazil have developed a method for harnessing clean hydrogen from vine shoots, which are normally wasted from the grape harvesting process.

Transport x Climate

🔌 Paris-based Electra raised a record-breaking €304 million in equity funding to expand its network of fast-charging EV stations across Europe, with the goal of installing 15,000 charging points by 2030.

⛽️ INERATEC secured $129 million in a Series B funding round led by Piva Capital. It will use the funds to support its goal of transforming 1GW of renewable energy into 125 million gallons of sustainable e-Fuel by 2030.

🔋 US-headquartered International Battery Company raised $35 million, in a pre-Series A funding led by RTP Global, to bridge the demand-supply gap in India’s growing EV market with its lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles.

⚡️ Scottish startup Trojan Energy secured £26 million to accelerate the rollout of its on-street electric vehicle chargers, helping to support the UK government’s goal to grow the UK network of public charge points from around 50,000 to over 300,000 by 2030.

🏍 Electric motorcycle startup Land Moto, based in the US, raised $3 million to scale its Power Tap battery technology accessory, which allows its motorcycle batteries to also act as home batteries, since it adds a 400W, three-prong outlet and four USB-C plugs to the side of the bike.

🛒 UK supermarket Sainsbury’s launched a new EV charging business, Smart Charge, to help give drivers access to ultra-rapid EV charging points across its stores.

🚤 Electric boat startup Navier, based in California, partnered with Stripe to launch its first official pilot program for its hydrofoiling watercraft, bringing passengers from San Francisco’s outskirts to the downtown area.

Materials x Climate

📱 Everphone, based in Berlin, raised €270 million Series D funding to add one million device users to its circular Device-as-a-Service model and promote sustainable device usage among business customers.

🔎 Sweden’s TrusTrace raised $24 million, in a funding round led by Circularity Capital, to further expand its platform for supply chain traceability and compliance, which allows standardisation of how supply chain and material traceability data is captured, digitised and shared. 

💻 Amsterdam-based Pickler secured €500,000 in a funding round led by Shamrock Ventures. Its footprint calculation software uses accessible Life Cycle Assessment based methodology, predictive algorithms and data to help packaging companies to calculate, reduce, and share the impact of packaging.

👕 Germany’s AMSilk GmbH is partnering with Danish bioproduction leader 21st.BIO to scale its bioproduced spider silk proteins, which are biodegradable, biocompatible, and sourced from renewable vegan raw materials. As part of the collaboration, 21st.BIO has developed precision-fermented microorganisms to produce silk proteins on an industrial scale.

💰 Swedens H2Green Steel signed a €130 million, seven-year agreement with KIRCHHOFF Automotive, a global supplier to the automotive industry, for the delivery of near zero emissions steel.

Water x Climate

🏭 Germany’s Membion raised €5 million in a funding round led by TechVision Fonds and DeepTech & Climate Fonds. It develops and produces membrane bioreactor modules for wastewater treatment to help reduce operating costs for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants.

💧 Mumbai based Cleantech startup INDRA raised $4M in a round led by Mela Venture, founded in 2017 INDRA solves issues of water treatment in the industrial and sewage segment with it patented electro-chemical oxidation and coagulation process

🧊 UK startup Real Ice claims to be able to refreeze the Arctic. It uses underwater drones to bore holes in the ice from underneath, so water is pulled from under the ice and sprayed on top of it, removing the layer of snow that settles on it during winter and acts as an insulating layer, preventing the ice from expanding.

Funds x Climate

🇬🇧 Carbon13 secured the first close of its latest fund, which has a target size of €30 million. It will use the initial funds to support 19 startups, including scalable EV charging service VoltVogel and maritime carbon reduction technology company Mardeca.

🔮 In case you missed it: Last week we asked 20 top Climate Tech VC’s what they’re excited about - from SpeedInvest to FirstMinute Capital, Extantia to Planet A Ventures here’s what they’re looking to invest in over the next 12 months.

Community x Climate

Free ClimateHack meetups coming up in:

• Istanbul - 20th January. Details here.

• Amsterdam - 25th January. Details here.

• London - 25th January. Details here.

• Zürich - 21st February. Details here.

Memes x Climate

Lights cigarette and leaves..

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Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola