🥦 Help from Kelp and a Fusion Profusion?
(025) A week of big promises
Good Morning
Between the infrastructure bill passing and world leaders throwing down (clean commitments) at COP26, it’s been a busy week for those interested in the future of the climate.
The infrastructure bill passed late last week. It includes some climate-related mandates, including $7.5B to build a national network of charging stations for EVs. However, it’s only the first half (and the smaller half) of Biden’s social spending plan. The budget reconciliation package could feature tax rebates for clean tech companies to the tune of $300B+. (Forbes)
Meanwhile, COP26 goes on. There are new promises and new protests. One noteworthy tidbit - there are nearly double the number of fossil fuel delegates than indigenous delegates. (Heated)
Top Deals of the Week
Helion Energy has raised $500 million in Series E funding led by Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. (TC)
The story: Helion is an 11-year-old, Seattle-based clean energy company committed to creating a new era of plentiful, zero-carbon electricity from fusion.
Why we’re excited about it: Nuclear fusion promises the benefits of nuclear fission generators with hugely less risk and waste involved. The only issue - fission tech at scale has been 15 years away for 30+ years now. If and when it does reach commercial viability, fission will be a boon to a future clean power grid because it would offer a much more reliable source of energy than wind or solar.
Lime closed $523 million in convertible debt and loans, led by Abu Dhabi Growth Fund. (TC)
The story: As the San Francisco-based shared electric micro-mobility company prepares to go public, they sought a large round to fund their expansion.
Why we’re excited about it: Lime’s scooters are an excellent example of both the sharing economy and electric transport. In a world with better public transport, and more widespread ride-sharing, scooters can still play an important role in the last mile problem. On top of that, they’re super fun!
Other Deals This Week
EV asset financing startup Inspiration raised a $200M round from ArcLight Capital Partners (TC)
Earth observation startup HawkEye 360 raised a $145M Series D led by Insight Partners and Seraphim Space Investment Trust (TC)
Ample, a five-year-old, Bay Area-based startup developing battery swapping technology for electric vehicles, has scored another $30 million from The Blackstone Group and Spanish multinational financial services company Banco Santander. (TC)
Novata, a months-old, New York-based provider of ESG reporting metrics for PE firms and private companies, raised $21 million in Series A funding (B)
Blackshark.ai, a two-year-old, Graz, Austria and San Francisco-based startup that says it's creating a digital twin of planet earth, powered by satellite data & artificial intelligence, has raised $20 million in Series A funding co-led by M12 and Point72 Ventures. (TC)
Evergrow, a months-old, San Francisco-based fintech startup that aims to be the world’s first dedicated carbon offtake company — funding climate developer projects and initiating long-term offtake agreements for these projects -- has raised a little more than $7 million in seed funding. XYZ Venture Capital and Congruent Ventures co-led the round (TC)
AKUA, a 4.5-year-old, New York-based startup that makes kelp burgers, jerky, and pasta, has raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Vibrant Ventures. (TC)
Osmoses, a six-month-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based developer of membrane technology for gas separations - which has potential applications for carbon capture and green hydrogen fuel creation - has raised $3 million in seed funding led by The Engine, with participation from Fine Structure Ventures, Orbia Ventures and Little Green Bamboo. More here.
One Actionable Item
Give us some feedback!
Help make the Green Bite a more effective engine for sharing inspiring ideas in planetary health by telling us what you think. What’s your favorite part of the newsletter? Least favorite? <3
Green Theory
Follow the Money
We are all limited by our bias, including the people generating climate-focused media. Money plays a pivotal role in our biases, and we want to take this week to note a troubling trend in the broader green technology media ecosystem. As Upton Sinclair explained: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it”.
Certain voices in the climate media space may not be sharing an honest and complete picture. Why? They’re funded by some of the most egregious polluters. POLITICO’s Morning Energy newsletter comes to us from none other than Chevron, and the American Petroleum Institute (a leading lobbying force against emission reduction policies, disguised sloppily as “Energy for Progress”), to name the two latest sponsors. Axios’ Generate newsletter, focused on climate, claims ExxonMobil as a sponsor.
We reached out to the Axios authors, who claim to operate independently of the advertising arm, but how can we trust them to stand up to their revenue source? While oil-enthused writers may not outright spread disinformation, the omission of key information, or subtle changes in the positioning of policies, events, and solutions, could be even more damaging.
Wood Mackenzie is a global energy consultancy with deep ties to the fossil fuel industry. They bought Green Tech Media in 2016, but allowed the founder and podcast hosts to continue producing their own content. That changed two weeks ago when they replaced the staff of two leading shows—The Energy Gang and The Interchange—with their own “Vice-Chair of Energy, Americas” and “Global Head of Strategic Banking”, respectively.
The Green Bite is proud to not be sponsored by the oil & gas industry and their professional services firms, and we encourage you to question climate writers who are.
The Closer
Live video of skydiving fish. Please tell me why this is so satisfying to watch...
Never heard of HawkEye 360 or the blackshark.ai, but both look neat. My group has very very strong opinions against digital twins.
Feedback: not that it’s needed, but CTVC often writes data-driven article with neat graphics. It’d take a lot of work, and would be a different kind of content, but could be neat to see some analysis.