Happy Friday
What we’re reading this week:
The New Yorker’s Killing Invasive Species Is Now a Competitive Sport
Interview with Ro Khanna, congressman leading the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Big Oil (H)
‘Dilbert’ Dude Declares War on Sustainable Investing (G)
Top Deals of the Week
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05b42f0f-fa0f-4714-a107-899562a302d5_700x700.png)
InnovaFeed, a vertical insect farm operator, raised a $250M Series D led by QIA (TC)
Iontra, a nine-year-old Denver startup that claims its technology can increase charge speeds and lifetimes of existing battery products by over 2x, raised a $38 million Series B round led by Volta Energy Technologies (TFN)
ZwitterCo, a four-year-old, Woburn, Ma.-based outfit whose chemically engineered water filtration system aims to help large farms and industrial processors recycle their wastewater, raised $33 million in Series A funding led by DCVC. CNBC has more here.
Ojjo, a solar foundation provider, raised a $40M Series C led by NGP (PRN)
Invert, a personalized carbon offsetting platform, closed $25M in financing led by Altius Minerals (BW)
Next Level Burger, an eight-year-old startup based in Bend, Or., that operates a plant-based fast-food chain offering traditional burgers, shakes, and fries, raised a $20 million round; investors included Alex Payne and Nicole Brodeur. Restaurant Business has more here.
InnerPlant, a 4.5-year-old, Davis, Ca.-based startup that says it's using plant physiology to gather data and make global farming more efficient and sustainable, has raised $16 million in Series A funding led by John Deere (TC)
Somewear Labs, a startup enabling critical communications in wildland fires, raised a $13.7M Series A led by David Dorman, former CEO of AT&T (PRN)
Datamaran, an eight-year-old London startup that helps companies assess ESG risks based on such factors as sector and geography, raised a $13.4 million Series B round led by Fortive (Y)
ENACT Systems, an eight-year-old startup based in Pleasanton, Ca., that helps salespeople remotely design, price, and sell solar systems while also enabling end customers to track their energy and financial outcomes, raised an $11.5 million Series A round. Investors included Energy Growth Momentum (TC)
Leoparda Electric, a four-month-old, Brazil-based startup that's building a regional swappable battery network that will cater to electric motorcycle owners, has raised $8.5 million in its first funding round. Monashees co-led the round with Construct Capital (AI)
Carbon Ridge, a developer of modular onboard carbon capture and storage solutions for the maritime industry, raised a $6M round led by the Grantham Foundation (BW)
Future, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that offers consumers a Visa card that pays 6% cash back on greener alternatives to everyday spending across transportation, food, fashion, devices, beauty, and furniture, raised a $5.3 million seed round. Accomplice was the deal lead (F)
Transaera, a startup building air conditioners that provide energy-efficient dehumidification, raised a $4.5M seed round led by EIP (BW)
Rentle, a four-year-old Finnish startup that has built a commerce platform to help retailers meet their environmental goals, raised a $3.8 million seed round. Investors included Tera Ventures (TFN)
ProFuse Technology, a startup aiming to improve the quality and cost of cultivated meat production, raised a $2.5M seed round led by Green Circle (PRN)
RenewCO2, a four-year-old startup based in Cranford, N.J., that is developing catalyst technology to convert carbon into feedstock, raised a $2 million led by Energy Transition Ventures. The company has raised a total of $3.4 million. More here.
Kaiko Systems, a Berlin-based startup helping maritime shipping technical operations go paperless, raised a $2M seed round led by Schoeller Holdings, Vineta Ventures, A Round Capital, and more (TC)
Arbonics, a startup based in Tallinn, Estonia, that is launching a tool it easier for European landowners to calculate the potential carbon income of land and forests, raised a $1.8 million pre-seed round. Plural Platform and Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus participated in the round. More here.
Green Theory
Burning Through Summer
In the two months since we last checked in on the fire season, California has lost over ten-fold the acreage it had in the first half of the year. The recent mosquito fire accounts for almost one fifth of this year’s lost acres, and sits at 60% contained as of writing. Still, this updated chart reveals the state could be on track for a 2016-esque year, in contrast to the far more damaging 2018 season.
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Decreasing response times to incidents helps ensure fewer acres burned. Spotting the fires earlier makes a critical difference, so remote lookout towers house spotters to monitor the cool swathes of forest. Almost 200 years ago, “fire finders” helped lookouts provide precise coordinates for new blazes, mounting a large optical sight over a topographical map. Cross-referencing with a bearing from another tower, fire fighters could pinpoint the smoke column and swiftly coordinate action. Today, software firms, such as Pano AI, may replace the need for the now century-old hardware, employing imagery to detect likely fires, and alert first responders directly on their cell phones. While automating much of spotting has proved itself on a pilot scale, the actual work of suppression hasn’t found a software solution. Hundreds or even thousands of people (sometimes incarcerated, working for no pay or below minimum wage) put their lives at risk to control and manage the largest blazes.
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The full toll of the 2022 fire season remains to be seen, but new insights and lessons help guide strategies for the future. For instance, lands where high-intensity burns began were 80% more likely to be private. Further, many fires sourced to public lands sit suspiciously close to one particular type of private land: industrial facilities. Better zoning, and planning for vulnerabilities near these borders, could reduce risk and help us all breathe a little easier. Until then, uplifting indigenous wisdom and engaging in prescribed burns remains central to preserving our forests.
The Closer
Check out the New Yorker’s Killing Invasive Species Is Now a Competitive Sport
There's a really interesting company called Benchmark Labs which is doing weather forecasting for prescribed burns : )
The whole fire community is working with tech from a different decade - sad and scary at the same time...