Q1 climate tech VC and PE round up
26 deal summaries, plus an interview with hydrogen CEO Mo Vargas at BayoTech, and behavioral science for climate persuasion.
CEO interview with Mo Vargas at BayoTech, fresh off a $157M private equity growth round.
With that kind of dry powder, Mo’s a busy man.
Thankfully, after an intense game of Rock Scissors Paper, I was able to convince him to “sit down” with me for a interview on our Climate Torch podcast. *
What does BayoTech do?
Provide distributed on-site hydrogen power systems
What is their goal?
To provide low to zero-carbon hydrogen at the cheapest cost possible
What led him here?
Wisdom and scars collected as a leader at cleantech startups and Fortune 500 companies
Check our our interview and podcast here.
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* Ha! Not quite. But given the popularity of this game in Japan, I once spontaneously played this kids’ game — jan ken po in Japanese — with a local (adult) on a moving bus in Kyoto when trying to decide who would take the final remaining seats. I lost.
Corporate climate tech deals closed in Q1 2021.
It’s hard to keep track of the headlines, so we’ve curated 26 deals to know about — Series A and beyond — across agtech, carbon, renewable energy, energy storage, and cleantech.
Agtech
New Wave Foods raised a $18.3M Series A in January.
Summary — Plant based seafood substitutes
CEO — Mary McGovern
Sample investors — Big Idea Ventures, Tyson Ventures
Outstanding Foods raised a $21.4M Series A in January.
Summary — Plant based food products
CEO — Bill Glaser
Sample investors — SternAegis Ventures, NBA
Cooks Venture raised a $19.9M Series A3 in February.
Summary — Producer of sustainable chicken and beef products
CEO — Matthew Wadiack
Sample investors — SJF Ventures, Cultivian Sandbox Ventures
Imperfect Foods raised a $110M Series D in February.
Summary — Sustainable produce delivery service
CEO — Philip Behn
Sample investors — Insight Partners, Norwest Venture Partner
Annuvia Plant Nutrients raised a $73M private equity growth round in March.
Summary — The company offers fertilizers, soil neutralizers and other related products for agricultural, turf and lawn applications, enabling clients to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient loss while improving yield and soil health.
CEO — Amy Yoder
Sample investors — TPG Alternative & Renewable Technologies, Piva Capital
Battery/Energy Storage
FreeWire Technologies raised a $50M Series C in January.
Summary — Mobile Electric Charging Solutions
CEO — Arcady Sosinov
Sample investors — Riverstone Holdings, ABB Technology Ventures
Solid Power Battery raised a $5.13M Series B in February.
Summary — Solid State Battery Development
CEO — Douglas Campbell
Sample investors — BMW i Ventures, Ford
Lionano raised a $22.7M Series C in February.
Summary — Manufacturer of nano-engineered batteries
CEO — Siyu Huang
Sample investors — Ithaka Partners, Helios Capital Ventures
Malta raised a $50M Series B in February.
Summary — Long duration battery storage
CEO — Ramya Swaminathan
Sample investors — Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Proman Group
Enovix raised a $175M PIPE in February.
Summary — Lithium Ion Battery Technology Developer
CEO — Harrold Rust
Sample investors —Eclipse Ventures, Intel Capital
Carbon
Opus-12 raised a $27.9M Series A in February.
Summary — Converts Carbon Dioxide into useful chemicals using proprietary retrofit technology
CEO — Nicholas Flanders
Sample investors — Alpha Bridge Ventures, City Hill Capital
CarbonCure raised its 8th round of VC funding in February.
Summary — Provider of carbon capture retrofit systems for cement plants
CEO — Robert Niven
Sample investors — Carbon Direct, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems
Renewable Energy
Pellucere raised a $6M Series A in February.
Summary — Developer of anti reflective thin film pv technology
CEO — Bob Lukefahr
Sample investors —Fortistar, VertueLab
Ubiquitous Energy raised a $8M Series A3 in March.
Summary — Developer of window integrated PV solution
CEO — Susan Stone
Sample investors — California Energy Commission, Red Cedar Ventures
Dandelion raised a $31M Series B in February.
Summary — Residential Geothermal heating and cooling services
CEO — Michael Sachse
Sample investors —Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Catchlight Ventures
Eavor raised a $50.7M Series A in February.
Summary — Developer of industrial scale geothermal heating systems
CEO — John Redfern
Sample investors — BP Ventures, BDC Capital
Uplight Energy closed a private equity growth capital round in March.
Summary — Residential energy use and demand response provider
CEO — Adrian Tuck
Sample investors — AES, Schneider Electric
SkySpecs raised a $10M later stage funding round in March.
Summary — Provider of autonomous drone inspection services designed to inspect onshore and offshore wind turbines.
CEO — Daniel Ellis
Sample investors — Equinor Investors, Evergy Ventures
CleanTech (other)
Palmetto raised a $80M Series C in February.
Summary — Energy Management and Solar Consumption Tracking
CEO — Christopher Kemper
Sample investors — Energy Impact Partners, ArcTern Ventures
Enernet Global raised a $6.55M Series A2 in February.
Summary — Distributed Energy Services Provider
CEO — Paul Matthews
Sample investors — Kyushu Electric Power
Peak Power raised a $12M Series A in February.
Summary — Building energy use optimization
CEO — Derek Lim Soo
Sample investors — Sensata Technologies, Hatch, The Atmospheric Fund
LO3 Energy raised a $11M Series B in March.
Summary — Developer of blockchain based microgrid design and management platform
CEO — William Collins
Sample investors — Ascend Venture Capital, Shell Ventures
Encamp raised a $12M Series B in March.
Summary — Developer of compliance software intended to align corporate and environmental goals using technology.
CEO — Bob Henry
Sample investors — Allos Ventures, High Alpha
75F raised a $22.8M in its 4th round of VC funding in March.
Summary — Commercial building HVAC optimization platform
CEO — Deepinder Singh
Sample investors — Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Clean Energy Trust
WiTricity raised a $52M later VC round in February.
Summary — Wireless Vehicle Charging
CEO — Alexander Gruzen
Sample investors — Future Shape Ventures, Foley Ventures
Blocpower raised a $63M Series A in March.
Summary — Energy Management Software and Building Retrofits
CEO — Donnel Baird
Sample investors —Cleo Capital, Salesforce Ventures
Behavioral science for climate persuasion with Stanford University expert.
BJ Fogg is “the man” when it comes to persuasion.
Or as Fortune Magazine called him — a “New Guru You Should Know.”
He’s also the Founder & Director of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University.
While his early work focused on how computers can be designed to influence attitudes and behaviors (i.e., warnings that are now coming true), today he uses those skills to help thousands of folks boost health, sustainability, financial wellbeing, learning, and productivity.
He’s also got a book called Tiny Habits, which sounds underwhelming, but don’t let that fool you. It’s a NYT bestseller with 2,400 five-star reviews on Amazon.
Free training on climate persuasion
Importantly, last year he created a free training to “best train climate professionals in behavior change methods so they can be more effective in saving our planet.”
Uh, hello? I’m persuaded. Sign me up.
You can get on the waiting list here.
Or learn more via his interview on My Climate Journey with Jason Jacobs, which is always time well spent.
Got feedback?
I craft these newsletters on email-free Fridays to help you scale ventures and investments that address climate change, boost personal productivity, and become better leaders.
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Make it a great week (because it’s usually a choice),
Chris
P.S.
We finally gave in and launched our Climate Torch podcast on most of the platforms out there. If you want to listen to the first 13 episodes with badass climate CEOs, or leave a kind review (pretty please with vanilla stevia on top), that would be awesome. But don’t do it for my ego. (My nine-year-old daughter already has that taken care of.) Do it instead so that more folks can discover the podcast and be inspired by these climate CEO’s stories.
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Dr. Chris Wedding
Founder and Chief Catalyst, Entrepreneurs for Impact
Peer-to-Peer Advisory Groups + Executive Coaching + Investor Intel for Climate CEOs
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