Good Morning
On Tuesday, China announced they will entirely cut off funding for coal plants worldwide. This is a huge deal.
The announcement came hours after the US stated it will double spending to help developing countries transition to clean energy.
I’m usually a fan of international cooperation rather than competition, but a “Green Race” between these two is definitely something I could get behind.
(Public Radio reports)
Top Deals of the Week
So many raises for inspiring companies this week! Take your time looking through these, there are some really amazing consumer-facing startups featured.
![](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%2F8cb15112-c324-44dd-9cc8-f1c22663732c_939x773.png)
CleanFiber raises $11.7M from Aligned Climate Capital to grow their expansion plans. (Y)
The story: This Buffalo, NY-based startup makes high-performance building insulation from recycled material (cellulose!)
Why we’re excited about it: Adding building insulation is a very juicy low-hanging fruit in the world of climate change mitigation. It’s so easy to do, and saves money by reducing energy usage from heating. CleanFiber is making this move even greener for businesses. And they have a great, dog-picture-filled website.
Eat Just adds $97M, led by Resilience Reserve, to bring their round to $267M, and scale their bioreactor capacity. (BBG)
The story: This SF-based startup makes a shockingly realistic egg substitute, and is expanding into cultured chicken. Looks like the egg came first in this case.
Why we’re excited about it: Animal substitutes (especially for protein) will prove essential in transitioning our food systems in service of human, animal, and planetary health. While the eggs aren’t Shakshuka-ready, and the chicken will take time to get on your plate, this additional funding is a promising sign for a blossoming industry.
Other Deals This 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%2F47815016-d392-4faf-95a7-30d3a3936309_533x711.png)
Gardyn, a three-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based startup that has developed vertical hydroponic system that take up two square feet of space and can ostensibly yield the same amount of produce as a 1,300-square-foot outdoor garden, raised $5 million from JAB Ventures. (TS)
Sophie’s Kitchen, an 11-year-old, Sebastopol, Ca.-based company that makes vegan seafood from plants, including to mimic crab meat, shrimp, scallops, tuna and salmon, has raised $5.6 million in funding from Billy Goat Brands. (PEW).
Electric utility bike startup Ubco raised a $10M Series B led by TPK (TC)
EarthOptics, a three-year-old, Arlington, Va.-based agriculture tech company that says it can map the physical and chemical composition of fields faster, better, and more cheaply than traditional techniques, raised $10.3 million in Series A funding. Leaps by Bayer led the round. (PRN)
Near Space Labs, a four-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company that aims to gather geospatial intelligence from the stratosphere using small autonomous wind-powered robots attached to weather balloons - which can be used for climate change adaptation - has raised $13 million Series A round. Crosslink Capital led the round. (TC).
Altana AI, a three-year-old, New York-based startup that says its platform connects and learns from billions of data points to help governments and the private sector build better supply chains - including more sustainable ones - has raised $15M in Series A funding. GV led the round. (PRN).
Paris-based Calyxia, a startup striving to solve the global microplastics problem, raised a $17.6M Series A led by Astanor Ventures (TC)
HumanCo, a two-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based holding company that invests in and builds brands focused on healthier living and sustainability, has raised $35 million in a bridge round of funding. Investors include 8VC, among others. (PRN)
Iron Ox, a six-year-old, Bay Area-based automated farming startup that's growing produce using robotic greenhouses, has raised $53 million in Series C funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. (TC).
Ripple Foods, a plant-based dairy producer, raised a $60M Series E led by Rage Capital, Ajax Strategies, and S2G Ventures (PRN)
Battery Resourcers, a six-year-old, Worcester, Ma.-based company that says it both recycles lithium-ion batteries and has also engineered a process to turn that recycled material back into critical battery materials, has raised $70 million in Series C funding. Hitachi Ventures led the round. (TC).
Vestiaire Collective, a European marketplace platform for pre-owned luxury goods and certified B Corp, raised 187M euros led by SoftBank and Generation Investment Mgmt. (YN)
One Actionable Item
Switch to clean energy for your home - renters, check this out
Here’s a cool company we featured last week. Arcadia is working to democratize access to clean energy for those who can’t install solar in their homes. Renters, I’m looking at you! In SF, it cost my roommates and me $5/mo to make this switch - yes, that’s a buck and change each - and it saves the equivalent carbon of ~4 long-haul flights per year. Took me about 5 minutes to sign up (plus a few more to do my due diligence, of course). Learn more here.
Green Theory
Green Game Theory
The Prisoner’s Dilemma represents a classic, simple model for exploring game theory. In the game, two accused persons have been separated by authorities. Individually, each decides to either betray the crimes of the other (defect), or stay silent (cooperate). Two players with two options yields three possible outcomes:
Both cooperate: both serve a light sentence
One cooperates, while the other defects: the betrayer walks free while the silent partner serves a long sentence
Both defect: both serve a medium sentence
How to win? There’s no purely dominant strategy, but the winner in a 1980 tournament (of repeated games between pairs of strategies) was the “Tit for Tat” approach. This algorithm first cooperates, and then simply repeats the decision of the other player from the last round. Over a series of games, it performed better, especially if it occasionally forgave betrayal, to avoid a doomed spiral of mutual distrust and retaliation.
To extend this finding as an analogy to our climate predicament, we must overcome individualism, and instead employ measured cooperation to succeed. Start from a place of empathy and hope in a new relationship or endeavor. Do not tolerate misdirection or deceit, be it from entrenched corporations, shifty politicians, or flashy technologists. For other explorations of this metaphor, read this piece. Together, with our mutual well-being in mind, over the long run, we can all share the lightest sentence of just a decade or two of warming.
The Closer
The Windy Fire is burning through Sequoia National Park. Firefighters wrapped General Sherman, the largest tree in the world, in some tin foil to try to protect it. There’s a climate change battle metaphor in here somewhere...