Good Morning
What we’re reading this week:
EVs could match gasoline cars on price this year…sooner than expected (NYT)
Solar tech firm Nextracker raised $638M in US's largest IPO since October (AX)
What Is Electrochemistry, and Why Is It So Important to a Green-Energy Future? (WSJ)
The Greendicator
Top Deals of the Week
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Redwood Materials, the nearly six-year-old, Carson City, Nev.-based battery materials and recycling startup founded by former Tesla CTO and cofounder JB Straubel, has secured a conditional commitment for a $2 billion loan from the Department of Energy as part of the Biden administration’s bid to build up a supply chain for EVs in the United States. The conditional commitment from DOE’s loan program office is part of the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program. TechCrunch has more here.
PowerField, a 6.5-year-old North Holland, Netherlands-based company that develops, builds, and manages solar parks, charging stations, and energy storage systems, has raised €500 million in structured equity and portfolio financing from EIG and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW). Silicon Canals has more here.
Zeitview, a startup using drones to capture air / ground data, raised a $55M round led by Valor Equity Partners (TC)
Carbonplace, a three-year-old London startup that uses blockchain technology to facilitate carbon offsets, raised a $45 million seed round from nine banks - BBVA, BNP Paribas, CIBC, Itaú Unibanco, National Australia Bank, NatWest, Standard Chartered, SMBC, and UBS. Carbon Herald has more here.
Zypp Electric, an EV-as-a-service platform catering to e-commerce companies and gig workers, received a $25M investment from Gogoro (TC)
Rebellyous, a plant-based chicken startup, raised $20M in funding from YB Choi of Cercano Management, Mike Miller of Liquid2 Ventures, and Owen Gunden (TC)
Therma, a cooling intelligence platform combating food / energy waste, raised a $19M Series A led by Zero Infinity Partners (PRN)
Gradient, a startup building sustainable HVAC systems, raised an $18M Series A led by Sustainable Future Ventures and Ajax Strategies (BW)
Liminal, an eight-year-old startup based in Emeryville, Ca., whose technology helps battery manufacturers detect design and production anomalies, raised a $17.5 million Series A2 round. ArcTern Ventures was the deal lead (LI)
Recycleye, a three-year-old London startup whose refuse sorting robots are designed to discern between plastics, aluminum, and cardboard, raised a $17 million Series A round led by DCVC (TEU)
Turno, a one-year-old, Bangalore, India-based platform for commercial electric vehicle (EV) distribution and financing, has raised a $13.8 million Series A. The round was co-led by Quona Capital and B Capital (F)
New School Foods, a three-year-old, Toronto-based plant-based "seafood" maker, says it has secured $12 million in seed funding, including from Lever VC (TC)
Stratus, a seven-year-old Pittsburgh startup that aims to develop and manufacture next-generation cathode active materials for lithium-ion batteries, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (Y)
VFlowTech, a Singapore startup that develops vanadium-based redox flow batteries that it claims are more energy-efficient for renewable energy storage than the competition, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Real Tech Holdings (DSA)
The Ugly Company, a four-year-old, Farmersville, Ca.-based producer of dried snacks made of fruit that has been passed over for being "ugly", has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Sun Valley Packing and Value Creation Strategies. More here.
Fable Food, a mushroom-based meat startup, raised an $8.5M Series A led by K3 (TC)
BloomX, a startup creating bio-mimicking tech to improve plant pollination, raised an $8M seed round led by Ahern Agribusiness (TC)
Ionblox, a six-year-old startup based in Fremont, Ca., that is developing high-energy lithium-ion batteries, raised $8 million, increasing the size of its Series B round to $32 million. The round was led by Lilium and Applied Ventures (I)
Kelpi, a three-year-old startup based in Bristol, UK, that is developing sustainable packaging made out of seaweed for the food, beverage, and cosmetics sectors, raised a $3.6 million seed round. Science Creates Ventures and Green Angel Syndicate were the co-leads (TS)
SunFi, a two-year-old startup based in Lagos, Nigeria, that helps consumers and businesses finance purchases of solar power equipment, raised a $2.3 million seed round. Factor[e] and SCM Capital Asset Management co-led the deal (TC)
Meala FoodTech, a functional plant-based protein platform,raised a $1.9M pre-seed round led by The Kitchen FoodTech Hub and DSM Venturing (PRN)
Green Theory
Which Came First, the Chicken or the Process?
When a new alternative protein hits the market, most don’t jump to try it. A 2022 study set out to examine the motivations behind food choice, and receptivity to new animal protein substitutes, to understand levers of a potential social protein transition. Researchers dug into the perceptions that underlie dietary preferences, including “healthiness, taste, convenience, environmental benefits, and appearance” of different foods. Any alternative protein is likely to draw criticism on at least one of these fronts, especially talking to a passionate consumer of the animal protein version.
Familiarity plays another overarching role in food choice, as the authors go on to describe. Fear of or aversion to new foods makes for a great survival strategy in places with reliable, known food sources, but also reinforces barriers to adopting alternative proteins. Today, in the same refrigerated grocery aisles, single-ingredient meats may offer familiarity in the illusion of natural simplicity (supported by generous marketing, lobbying, and government subsidies), while multi-ingredient imitation “meats” simply scare buyers off.
Hungry Minds’ Holdups on New Proteins
It’s hard enough to envision shifting dietary habits, let alone take action to change. Slowing the protein transition, any objection to an alternative protein, no matter how superficial, helps return the eater to the comfort of familiarity.
To accomplish this retreat, skeptics of alternative protein ask questions that cut so close to the root of why we choose food, that every day most people still justify choosing a land, life, and water-sucking cheeseburger over an Impossible burger, when given the choice. Averse to an ingredient’s name, source, or process, many ask: Could “processed” plant-based protein be healthier than “natural” meat?
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Comparing alternative proteins to vegetables, grains, and other “whole” plants, some plant-rich eaters may, too, find kinship with meat eaters in uniting against these new products. As one Green Bite reader importantly posits: “We still have to expend energy to create these products…why not simply eat a lovely ear of corn, an asparagus spear, a stalk of broccoli, etc.? The vegetable itself is a delicious enough reason to eat it.” Even where delectable vegetables don’t abound, long-lasting, accessible, affordable sources of non-animal, non-novel proteins (such as beans) can make a strong case for their own centrality in providing plant-rich nutrients to humanity, especially over products freshly invented, marketed to an unfamiliar consumer.
Dinner for 1 vs. Dinner for 10 Billion
To ultimately weigh whether a new food is worthy of overcoming our aversions, we must explore what it could add to our experience of nourishing ourselves, in the direct nutrients and delight, and perhaps the broader public health or planetary impacts, as well.
In determining if a new food ought to be produced at all, we must explore instead the relevant counterfactual scenario, or imagined universe, where the new food product doesn’t exist. Once we figure out whether we’re more likely to be talking about a replacing a meat burger or a fresh vegetable with our alternative, for example, we can be more confident in evaluating the relative merits of the two foods’ “healthiness, taste, convenience, environmental benefits” and beyond.
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As we explore questions of feeding ourselves and feeding our communities over the weeks to come, tell us your reasons for liking or disliking different proteins or plant/animal-based alternatives, by responding to this email, or leaving a comment. What foods are you comparing and why, and what foods might you be leaving out? And what makes a process more or less natural, after all?
The Closer
“The first five days after the weekend are always the hardest…”
You guys should do a piece on the invasive Asian carp in the MS, IL, MO, and OH watersheds in terms of protein. Solves two problems.