All Access

Climate Deals

Standard

Climate Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

Climate Deals Alerts

Alert

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Climate Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Low-carbon cement producer Fortera aims to fire up as many as seven commercial plants in the next five years, the company tells Alan exclusively.

Why it matters: The startup is pursuing $1 billion in financing to fund its aggressive expansion — a significant step up from the $30 million the company raised just two years ago.

Catch up fast: Fortera captures the carbon dioxide emitted by conventional cement factories, converts it into a powdery mineral, and mixes it into new cement.

The result is 60% fewer emissions from cement production, Fortera says.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company is building its first facility on a one-acre site alongside an existing cement plant in Redding, Calif.

The latest: Fortera is planning another five to six such plants. Most would be in the U.S. due to incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Zoom in: The company is pursuing about $1 billion in "project financing from multiple sources for multiple projects," Fortera said in a statement.

Each production plant would cost about $150 million and take about three years to build.

"Banks, growth funds, infrastructure funds, and traditional VC investors — there's nobody we aren't talking to," CEO Ryan Gilliam tells Axios.

Of note: Fortera's investors include Temasek and Khosla Ventures. Both led the company's $30 million Series B in 2021.

1 big scoop: Fortera's $1B ambitions

Illustration of a pair of hands laying down bricks made of hundred dollar bills.  

Car-sharing company Turo may finally start its IPO roadshow next month, Bloomberg reports, after tapping the brakes on its effort to list.

Why it's the BFD: The timing update for the company's aging plans to go public is another sign that the IPO market is perking back to life, albeit slowly, Axios Pro editor Michael Flaherty writes.

Details: Bloomberg's report is thin on specifics, other than saying the company has recharged its listing-process battery. The company has raised around $500 million.

Its service provides a sort of Airbnb for cars.

Big picture: Car/ride-sharing is a climate-tech play in that the business takes a ton of vehicles, and the pollution that comes with them, off the road.

Turo competitor Getaround published a piece on that very subject.

Turo's largest investors include IAC/InterActiveCorp, August Capital, Canaan Partners, G Squared, Shasta Ventures and GV and their affiliates, according to a filing.

Of note: Two other listings issued more details today, showing that the market is ready for them but with muted expectations. Axios' Dan Primack has more on the Instacart and Klaviyo roadshow launches.

Turo was working with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan last year, according to its prospectus.

2. The BFD: Turo listing moves into fast lane

An auction for new renewables projects in the U.K. drew no bids for offshore wind farms, per results published Friday, Alan writes.

Why it matters: The lack of interest further underscores just how ugly things have gotten for the offshore wind sector.

What's happening: Offshore wind developers said the potential U.K. projects were unviable due to inflation, ongoing supply chain problems and continued mechanical issues with turbines.

Developers have cited similar cost challenges in the U.S.

Of note: The British government added £22 million to the incentives it was offering, bringing the total potential subsidies to £227 million. But that wasn't enough to entice bids from developers, per Reuters.

Meanwhile, on the European continent, wind developers in Germany say that long delays for road-transport permits are preventing them from hauling needed parts to new wind farms, further delaying projects and driving up costs there.

3. More trouble for offshore wind

Illustration of wind turbines in a field with red dollar signs on the ground as shadows.

🌬️ Roadblocks for tribal renewables: The Standing Rock Sioux reservation, near the border of North and South Dakota, has some of the most powerful sustained winds in the country, but the tribe has struggled to access federal incentives, reports Reuters.

"The project is going nowhere fast," and is an example of how difficult it's been for tribes to tap federal clean energy funds.

🫤 VCs say YC valuations too high: Investors have been grumbling about an investing clause for Y Combinator portfolio startups that is giving YC the most favorable terms a startup gives any other investors in the round, reports Kia Kokalitcheva in Pro Rata this weekend.

The result is that some investors are no longer willing to invest in startups that come out of the program.

YC has backed dozens of climate-tech startups, including Pachama, Remora and GBatteries.

🐄 RNG lobbies for LCFS accounting practice: Oil and energy companies that make up the renewable natural gas sector are lobbying for the Treasury Department to allow clean-hydrogen tax credits in the IRA to go to dirty hydrogen producers that buy carbon offsets that allow them to claim they are clean, reports Canary Media.

The practice, called "book and claim," has its roots in California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and critics argue that LCFS just subsidizes conventional hydrogen projects and factory-farm manure lagoons.

🚘 BMW to make e-Mini's in U.K.: BMW says it plans to invest £600 million (~$751 million) into a 110-year-old Oxford plant, home to the Mini brand, to make EVs, reports Bloomberg.

The German automaker had previously said it would shift production of an electric Mini to China.

4. Temperature check

a box of matches that pictures a small outline of the earth and text that reads "Temperature Check"

• Open Cosmos, a U.K. startup building low Earth satellites for climate and ag applications, has raised $50m led by London-based climate investors ETF Partners, European investment firm Trill Impact Ventures and Spanish investors A&G, and including investors Accenture Ventures, InnoEnergy Climate Tech Fund, IREON, Wille Finance and Claret Capital Partners. https://axios.link/3PbVqNQ 

• Autonomy, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based EV subscription company, has acquired EV car-sharing company EV Mobility. https://axios.link/3sHzhiG

• China battery maker Gotion High-tech announced plans Friday to establish a $2b EV lithium battery factory in Manteno, Ill. https://axios.link/44NzZs0

• BKV, a Denver-based natural gas producer, and a subsidiary of French energy giant Engie signed a contract for the sale and purchase of natural gas and associated "carbon sequestered credits." https://axios.link/3PyCHNM

• A Nikola electric semi truck caught fire near the company's Phoenix headquarters, the company said Friday, the second such fire in a week. https://axios.link/3ra8smV

• Freyr Battery, the Norwegian battery maker, continues with its plans to move its headquarters to the U.S. https://axios.link/3ZjssQQ

• Canadian graphite maker Graphite One says it has a new $4.7m contract with the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Logistics Agency to make a graphite and graphene-based foam fire suppressant. https://axios.link/465dD6n

5. Hot deals

• Ross Kirschner has joined Mountain View, Calif.-based battery materials maker Mitra Chem, as general counsel. Kirschner previously led Meta's legal department's global special investigations team. https://axios.link/4886iox

6. It's personnel

What we're watching: Alan's ear is tuned to the hallway chatter at the RE+ and Blueprint conferences in Vegas, while Katie will be chatting with folks about growth funding.

💻 Katie is finally getting around to watching "The Morning Show." It's good!

📛 Alan's attending three conferences in the next two weeks. Coffee, please!

Thank you to Michael Flaherty and Phoebe Neidl for today's edits.

And thank you for reading Climate Deals! Please share with your friends, family and car-sharing enthusiasts.

September 11, 2023

1 big scoop: Fortera's $1B ambitions