Good Morning
What we’re reading this week:
Bitcoin Mining as a Solution to Landfill Methane Emissions (MCJ)
The Missing Mammal That May Have Shaped California’s Kelp Forests (NYT)
The Greendicator
Top Deals of the Week
Swedish autonomous and electric truck startup Einride raised a $500M Series C which consisted of $200M in equity led by Northzone and others (TC)
Sound Agriculture, an agtech startup sustainably improving farm production, raised a $75M Series D led by BMO and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (PRN)
Customcells, a startup developing batteries for electric planes, raised a $63M Series A led by World Fund (TC)
GoBolt, a five-year-old startup that is building a fleet of electric delivery vehicles, raised a $55 million round co-led by Yaletown Venture Partners and Export Development Canada (FW)
ZincFive, a startup building nickel-zinc batteries for immediate power applications, raised a $54M Series D led by Helios Climate Ventures (BW)
BeeHero, a startup building a data-driven pollination platform, raised a $42M Series B led by Convent Capital (BW)
Reach Power, a startup beaming electricity wirelessly, raised a $30M round led by DCVC (RT)
Black Sheep Foods, a plant-based meat startup, raised a $12.3M Series A led by Unovis (TC)
CleanFiber, a nine-year-old startup based in Buffalo, N.Y., that takes used cardboard boxes and turns them into cellulose insulation that can be blown into the walls and attics of new and existing homes, raised a $10 million round from AXA IM Alts. (TC)
Plant-based milk brand MALK Organics raised a $9M+ Series B led by Benvolio Group and Rotor Capital (PRN)
Onomotion, a six-year-old, Berlin-based has come up with a scalable way to do micromobility-powered urban logistics — cargo e-bikes with built-in cover from the elements and attachable containers, has raised €6 million ($6.3 million) in Series A funding, along with and €15 million ($15.7 million) in debt. The equity comes from Proeza Ventures and others (TC)
RepAir Carbon, a two-year-old Israeli startup that has created a device that it claims can capture carbon dioxide from the air at a gigaton scale by utilizing renewable electricity to separate CO2, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Extantia Capital (RC)
3Bee, a five-year-old Italian startup that develops systems to improve bee health and protect biodiversity, raised a $5.2 million Series A round. (3)
Intelligent Traffic Control, a three-year-old Tel Aviv startup that has developed computer vision and AI/machine learning algorithms that can leverage existing cameras and traffic light infrastructure to predict traffic patterns and prevent traffic congestion, raised a $5 million Series A round. Champel Capital and Mobilitech Capital co-led the deal. (F)
Gaia AI, a two-year-old Somerville, Ma.-based developer of forestry management software, raised a $3 million in pre-seed round. E14 led (TC)
Accacia, an India-based startup founded this year that aims to provide real estate developers, asset managers, and financial institutions with the metrics they need to decarbonize their portfolios, raised a $2.5 million seed round co-led by Accel and B Capital (BI)
Gridless, a startup founded this year based in Accra, Ghana, that designs, builds, and operates bitcoin mining sites alongside small-scale renewable energy producers in rural Africa where excess energy is unused, raised a $2 million seed round co-led by Stillmark and payments company Block. CoinDesk has more here.
Green Theory
New Year: New Lights to Shine on your Carbon Shadow
There are 3 weeks left of the year: the time when goals may be bound into resolutions on how we want to live in 2023. In the US, at least, most resolutions center on personal health, wealth, and happiness. The only notable change since 2021’s resolutions was way fewer people looked to cut down on smoking and drinking this past year. On the other hand, the trend linking resolutions still rings true–resolutions mostly focus on individual action.
Given this annual chance for reflection and commitments to ourselves, how can we express our desires for a cleaner, safer, greener world through our New Year’s resolutions?
Resolve to Pick Carefully
Beyond looking at ways to calculate and lower your carbon footprint (generally considered the direct emissions you cause), think about your carbon shadow. For instance, resolving to find a job in green tech could have a far more significant impact than starting a personal compost project, even though you wouldn’t plug your new socially positive career into a carbon calculator. Next, the experience of pursuing the resolution arguably matters just as much as the direct outcomes. For example, composting not only averts warming emissions but also requires physical separation of, and reflection on, the food we throw out. Finally, while many suggestions for slashing personal emissions sound like “no more of this” and “eliminate that,” take these starting points as opportunities to find actions that could replace old ones. If you’re resolving to drive fewer miles, what might you do with the extra time away from the responsibilities of the wheel? Considering a wide view of our impacts, the experience of fulfilling the resolution, and a positive frame for our goal, we’ll be ready to try and refine our resolution.
![](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%2F525311be-7add-4beb-9f0b-8fa3e6c4127a_1326x780.png)
Dial it In
Now that you’ve selected a great resolution, it’s time to define success. For the sake of realism and reliability, you’ll want to craft manageable, measurable goals. “Eating less meat,” lacks the specificity of a plan such as “eat vegetarian on Wednesdays” or “cut beef from my diet.” Whether you succeed or not, just setting the goal helps encourage attainment. Similarly, measurable results help guide action, but setting the wrong measure may skew your incentives away from your underlying goal. Looking at what you did last year serves as a good starting point to see what “less” would mean in 2023.
Every Bit Counts
Just as with holiday gifts, it’s the thought that counts. It’s the conscious thought to try and make the world better that will inspire action, and each action, no matter how small, leaves an impression on the actor and others. Setting a resolution transforms those thoughts into concrete actions, and each step toward pursuing the goal serves to help. When harnessing the time of year to raise our aspirations of what we can achieve, rest assured that the ripple effects of the smallest choices impact society, and the cumulative experience of your decisions impacts you.
As we said last year, “Changing ourselves and changing the world are both hard, but we have infinitely more control over one of those two. We each have one life to live, one year—and one decision—at a time.” With the many decisions that 2023 will demand, we hope you can use those choices to express your values more authentically.
Did you set a sustainability-related resolution for 2022? How did it go?
The Closer
James’ flamingos dot the algae-stained shallows of Laguna Colorada, Bolivia.