GreenTech

Who will fare better in the current venture downturn? Will it be the legacy investors with years of experience amassed through multiple market cycles — but who also have a sizable portfolio to worry about — or the emerging managers who are looking at the market with fresh eyes and a clean slate? We’re about

Marjella Lecourt-Alma Contributor Tech companies have historically been viewed more positively than other sectors when it comes to ESG issues, but over the past 24 months, impending climate-related regulations, and the rapid move toward greater accountability has meant that many tech companies are left exposed. Issues such as energy consumption, workforce diversity, human capital, security,

Barely a day goes by without news of layoffs emerging from the tech world — from cybersecurity to gaming, no industry is impervious. It’s not limited to any particular size of company, either — everything from fledgling startups and scaleups, to billion-dollar public entities such as Netflix have all “downsized” or put their hiring plans on

A number of startups have cropped up to tackle the challenge of making hydrogen cheap and accessible for industrial users, including the latest, Aurora Hydrogen. The startup announced a $10 million Series A yesterday led by Energy Innovation Capital and joined by Williams Companies, Shell Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures and the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

Priyanka Srinivas Contributor Priyanka Srinivas is the co-founder and CEO of Live Green Co, a Chilean food tech startup that uses artificial intelligence to suggest plant-based alternatives for meat and artificial additives in food. When it rains, it pours. The dampened outlook for startup funding at the start of 2022 thanks to the pandemic’s lingering

Like a groundhog and its shadow, many venture capitalists see a shrinking economy and burrow away, resting their check-signing hand for better days. But climate-focused VCs are on a tear lately, pumping well over a billion dollars per quarter into startups that strive to mitigate emissions as the Earth bakes. Buoyant Ventures is one such firm

Volkswagen dropped a bombshell announcement late last week: Herbert Diess was out as CEO. As a manager, Diess was controversial, with a style that chafed both executives and labor leaders alike. But as a strategist, he was on firmer ground, deftly steering Volkswagen out of the Dieselgate scandal and setting it on a path toward

World Fund, a newcomer in climate-VC land, is taking the lead in a $128 million round for IQM, with hopes the Finnish quantum computing company will one day deliver carbon cuts by the megatonne. Quantum computing trades the bits of conventional computers for quantum bits, and in theory, quantum machines may be better suited for

Tesla’s mythical solar roofs may be on ice right now, but its conventional solar business is a whole ‘nother story. This afternoon, the automaker said the division notched its “strongest” quarter in more than four years, with a total of 106 megawatts deployed in Q2 2022. “Although we continue to experience import delays beyond our

Crop One Holdings and Emirates Flight Catering announced this week they opened Emirates Crop One, what they say is “the world’s largest vertical farm.” The over 330,000-square-foot facility is located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates near Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central. It has the capacity to produce over 2 million pounds of

While the venture capital world slows, climate tech is bucking the trend as startups in the space continue to ink deals at a record pace. In the process, the sector is climbing the ranks. In the first quarter of this year, five climate tech deals made it into CB Insight’s top 10 lists covering seed

Citing “disturbing” levels of power used by cryptocurrency miners, a group of Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren is urging the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy to crack down on the controversial industry. The letter, signed by four senators and two representatives, calls on regulators to compel cryptominers to disclose their carbon

Systemiq Capital, a backer of early-stage climate tech startups, says it has secured $70 million to kick off its second fund. The London-based VC aims to raise as much as $130 million more; that would mark quite a step up for the firm, which says it has funneled $30 million into 19 startups since 2018.

Lithium-ion batteries are one of the driving forces behind the transition away from fossil fuels, but the rechargeable battery that started it all — lead-acid — has received very little attention. Invented over 160 years ago, lead-acid batteries have been upgraded a few times, but today’s cells are largely unchanged from those sold in the

General Motors is teaming up with Pilot Flying J to build a national fast-charge network for EVs. The partnership between GM and Pilot will help accelerate EV sales by filling in gaps along the charging infrastructure. Access to charging stations remains American drivers’ top concern over buying or leasing an EV, according to a July

Powin, an energy storage technology developer, said today it has raised $135 million in funding led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, with participation from existing investors Trilantic Energy Partners North America and Energy Impact Partners (EIP).  The investment comes on the back of the recent funding from Samsung Venture Investment and a strategic partnership

Biofuels are the sirens of renewable energy, luring startups with enchanting promises of enormous markets, from aviation to trucking and shipping. Companies just can’t help throwing themselves at the problem, and more than a few have been dashed to pieces in the process. One new startup, though, hopes it’s Ulysses in this tale, able to

Persistent Energy has raised $10 million Series C funding to grow its clean-tech venture building business in Africa, in a round led by Kyuden International Corporation, a subsidiary of the Japanese Kyushu Electric Power Group, and Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa Investments. The equity round also saw the participation of six new private investors, high

The fashion industry has come under fire of late for its outsize impact on the environment. From cradle to grave, it accounts for between 4% and 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and around 20% of the world’s wastewater. Only about 15% of the clothes in the U.S. are recycled, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates.

Investors are used to using their acumen and financial heft to find companies that might disrupt markets. But it turns out their views and investments might disrupt public opinion, too. A massive survey of Facebook users from around the world shows a vast group of people who are neither convinced that climate change is the

Electric vehicle charging has come a long way in recent years. Until somewhat recently, road-tripping required lots of advance planning. Charging speeds were slow, necessitating stops that easily stretched past 30 minutes. Sessions were stymied by broken or vandalized equipment or inconsiderate fossil-fueled car owners blocking the charging points. Thankfully, those days are largely over.

Five and a half years on (well, really 5.69), Tesla’s solar roofs are looking less like a revelation and more like a hobby. Though Elon Must set a goal of 1,000 solar roof installations per week, the company’s latest averages are reportedly a tiny fraction of that figure. Citing an anonymous source, Electrek reports that

Fyto wants our plants to work smarter, not harder. The San Francisco–based company is developing both hardware and software to automate and scale the production of aquatic plants, or what founder and CEO Jason Prapas calls “superplants,” in a controlled environment as a more resilient option for feed, food and soil health. Prapas launched Fyto

Over the weekend, Tesla showed off its latest gadget: a solar trailer, featuring extendable panels, a satellite internet terminal and even a lick of matte-black paint. Tesla may have designed the trailer to add some range to electric vehicles—or, to advertise Starlink’s new $25-per-month “portability” feature, which SpaceX announced in May. Whatever it’s for, you

Rhode Island leaped ahead in the race to 100% renewable power last week as Governor Dan McKee signed a bill that would mandate the state reach the target by 2033, the most aggressive state target so far. Only Oregon comes close, and it’s shooting for 2040. In some respects, Rhode Island has it easy. With

My work in early-stage startups focused on operations, so I used Wikipedia to find the formula for calculating a company’s post-money valuation: PMV = N x P N = number of shares the company has post-investment P = price per share at which the investment was made So, if a company offers a round with

YC-backed climate tech startup, Pina Earth, has closed a $2.5 million seed round of funding a year after being founded and a few months since it presented at the accelerator’s Winter 2022 Demo Day in March. The seed is led by Franco-German VC XAnge, with participation from London-based VC firm Nordstar, as well as a

This week’s Supreme Court decision to curtail the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions may not have been unexpected, but it was still a bombshell. Not only did it kill the prospect of quick executive action on the matter, it potentially cut off a number of regulatory solutions. The EPA had sought

Stacks of teeny lenses that look like inverted pyramids could juice up solar panels, helping them capture more light from any angle on both sunny and overcast days. Solar panels perform best in direct sunlight, which is why some solar systems track the big fireball across the sky, turning to face it for maximum light.

AlgiKnit is on a mission to offer more environmentally conscious materials for the heavily polluting fashion and textile industries. The startup is developing materials from seaweeds such as Macrocystis Pyrifera, one of the planet’s most renewable and regenerative organisms, creating yarns and fibers that don’t rely on petroleum or toxic chemicals. Aleks Gosiewski, Aaron Nesser