The Green Bite 7.3.21
We're halfway through 2021 and we're already having a record-breaking year of funding and IPOs
One Big Thing to Chew On
There’s a TON of content this week. In fact, we’re halfway through the year and across industries we’ve already broken records on total annual funding in VC and IPOs. There aren’t specific numbers for greentech because the space is hard to define, but it’s certainly one of the hottest spaces right now and the ecosystem is only growing.
Hope you enjoy this week—make it to the end for some great bee content.
Greentech Updates by Category
Transportation
Ubco’s new bike. Apparently utility means ready for World War Z.
Ubco, a New Zealand-based electric utility bike startup, raised $10m in funding from Seven Peak Ventures, Nuance Capital, and TPK Holdings.
Energy & Infrastructure
Electric Hydrogen, a four-month-old, San Francisco-based renewable energy startup, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the round, joined by Prelude Ventures and Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund. Founder and CEO Raffi Garabedian was the former CTO of First Solar. More here.
Solfácil, a three-year-old, Brazil-based financing platform for solar energy projects, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by QED Investors, with participation from Valor Capital Group, among others. Reuters has more here.
IoTech, a Piscataway, NJ-based EV charging company, raised$13m in Series B funding led by BP Ventures.
Electra Vehicles, a Boston, MA-based battery optimization software startup, raised$3.6m in Seed funding from BlackBerry Limited, LIFTT S.p.A., Club degli Investitori, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Hyperplane Venture Capital, Prithvi Ventures, Launchpad Venture Group, and TiE Boston Angels.
Kitepower, a Netherlands-based developer of airborne wind energy systems, raised$3.6m in Seed funding from ENERGIIQ, Windhandel Beheer, and Stichting ifund.
Circunomics, a Germany-based circular battery platform, raised$2.2m in Seed funding from Kalodion, Circularity Boost, and TES.
Low carbon cement manufacturer Fortera raised a $30M Series B led by Temasek and Khosla Ventures (PR)
Sustainable tech developer Turntide Technologies raised a $225M convertible note financing led by CPPIB
CPG
Equinom, an Israel-based developer of “smarter seeds” for plant-based foods, raised$20m in Series C funding from Phoenix Insurance Co., Fortissimo Capital, BASF VC, Trendlines Group, and Maverick.
August, a one-year-old, New York based company creating biodegradable period care products for GenZ, has raised $1.95 million in seed funding led by Hannah Grey VC, with participation from Bullish, xFactor Ventures, and individual investors affiliated with Glossier, Refinery29, Lively and more. WWD has more here.
Oxwash, a UK-based on-demand sustainable laundry service, raised $3m in Seed funding from Future Positive Capital, Clean Ventures, and Conduit-Ascension EIS Impact Fund.
Finance
Circulate Capital announced a $14m first close of its new VC fund aimed at investing in innovations in materials and deep tech solutions to combat plastic waste and advance the circular economy.
BMW i Ventures, the venture capital arm of BMW Group, has announced a new $300 million fund to further its investment in technologies that make transportation, manufacturing and supply chains more sustainable. The unit insists it doesn't operate as a traditional corporate venture capital fund, even while it's fully backed by the German automaker. (TC).
Other
Sendle, an Australia- and Seattle, WA-based shipping carrier focused on carbon neutrality and small business, raised$35m in Series C funding from AP Ventures, Federation, Full Circle, and NRMA.
Rheaply, a Chicago, IL-based provider of a resource management and exchange platform enabling the circular economy, raised$2.2m in funding from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund and MIT Solve.
Outdoorsy, a six-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based on-demand marketplace for recreational vehicles (it also sells insurance), has raised $90 million in fresh funding from Moore Strategic Ventures, ADAR1 Partners, Monashee Capital, SiriusPoint, and Convivialite Ventures. More here.
BreezoMeter, a seven-year-old, Israel-based air quality analytics platform built for the iPhone, has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by Fortissimo Capital. The company has now raised $45 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Beeflow, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based startup focused on improving crop yields with bees, has raised $8.3 million in Series A led by Ospraie Ag Science, with participation from Future Ventures’ Steve Jurvetson, former Amazon exec Jeff Wilke, Vectr Ventures, SOSV and Grid Exponential. TechCrunch has more here.
The “Not Business But Still Good Content” Section
Some inspiring feet
I like to measure the quality of a podcast not by how much I think I liked it immediately after listening, but by how much I think about it days or weeks later.
Recently listened to one by Freakonomics about not wearing shoes. This is vaguely sustainable because a. Shoes are hard to recycle and b. You can feel closer to the earth without shoes(?).
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about and sharing this podcast for over a month now—hope you enjoy it too.