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Billionaire investor Chris Sacca yesterday said that spraying particles into the Earth's atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays and slow global warming may now be the only way to save humanity, Alan writes.

Why it matters: The Lowercarbon Capital founder has helped turn a fringe idea into one now attracting serious attention.

Driving the news: "We have no opportunity for survival on this planet unless you reflect back sunlight," Sacca said at a summit in New York City organized by venture capital firm Equal Ventures.

"If we don't do it as a species, it's all over."

Catch up fast: Sacca was an early investor in Uber, Twitter, Stripe, Instagram and Kickstarter, and later a regular guest on "Shark Tank."

His climate-focused firm, Lowercarbon, this week announced that it raised another $550 million, bringing its total assets under management past $2 billion.

The latest: Sacca previously called for research into solar radiation management. He was especially forthright yesterday in arguing that the tech is needed to "buy time" to switch to low-carbon energy sources and remove carbon from the air.

He and his wife, Crystal, have funded research into spraying salt particles into the atmosphere.

The intrigue: The White House this summer outlined a potential research program focused on solar reflection, such as with salt, and the European Commission called for high-level talks on the issue.

The other side: Former Vice President Al Gore has criticized geoengineering proposals, citing potential unintended consequences.

A UN panel in February called for at least a temporary moratorium on deploying the tech.

What they're saying: "Bless Al Gore, this movement would not have happened without him and 'Inconvenient Truth,'" Sacca said yesterday. "But he has for years shamed anyone paying attention to that space because he's considered it a moral hazard."

"We've all been geoengineering the planet for decades," he continued. "If we don't normalize research in sunlight reflection, we're all f__ed."

Editor's note: This story was updated to correct the term in paragraph 7 to solar radiation management from sunlight radiation management.

1 big thing: Chris Sacca's plan to salt the Earth

Illustration of a spray head on a salt shaker spraying salt.

British bank HSBC said it plans to make $1 billion in funding available to early-stage startups.

Why it's the BFD: Venture investors and founders have lately lamented a lack of banks willing to provide such financing, especially to earlier stage startups looking to build their first commercial factory or production plant.

Details: The financing will back EV charging, battery storage, carbon removal, and food and ag-tech companies.

HSBC previously launched HSBC Innovation Banking and HSBC Asset Management's Climate Tech Venture Capital.

2. The BFD: HSBC's $1B for climate startups

Illustration of three batteries increasing in size overlaid with money and surrounded by abstract shapes.

Rain, a startup building aerial firefighting tech, has closed a seed round of $9.7 million led by DBL Partners, the company tells Katie exclusively.

Why it matters: Wildfires are a massive and growing climate problem across the globe, and fire agencies need better tools to more rapidly stop them.

Details: The Alameda, Calif.-based startup, which equips autonomous aircraft with firefighting capability, said other participating investors include VoLo Earth Ventures, Kapor Capital and Convective Capital.

The company's list of participating angel investors in the round include: lean startup entrepreneur Steve Blank, Stripe co-founder brothers John and Patrick Collison, Sunrun co-founder Edward Fenster, and SpaceX exec Brian Bjelde.

DBL are the investors behind Tesla, SolarCity and Nextracker.

Rain, founded in 2019, will use the funding to deploy pilot projects for its systems, which pre-position autonomous aircraft in wildfire-prone regions and leverage data from early fire- and lightning-detection systems.

Rain co-founder and CEO Maxwell Brodie said he was inspired to develop the technology after a large portion of his hometown of Kelowna, British Columbia, was destroyed in a catastrophic wildfire in 2003. The fire was started by a single lightning strike.

Big picture: Climate change is leading to more active, more intense and longer wildfire seasons. This summer, firestorms blazed across Maui, Canada, Algeria and Tunisia, among other regions.

Computing technology — from faster chips to smarter algorithms — can enable new technology for firefighting like Rain's autonomous aircraft.

The Biden administration and the state of California have signaled support for new computing-enabled wildfire tech.

3. Exclusive: Rain raises $9.7M led by DBL

A Rain autonomous aircraft demonstrates its wildfire-fighting system. Photo: Courtesy of Rain.

"Capital is aligning for a decarbonized future," Saloni Multani, co-head of venture and growth for Galvanize Climate Solutions, tells Katie.

Why she matters: Multani, who was CFO for Joe Biden's presidential campaign, helps lead Tom Steyer's new billion-dollar fund for climate-tech startups, particularly companies using software across sectors like agriculture, energy and carbon accounting.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

What was the biggest news in climate investing this month?

"Your story about growth deals picking up amid the much-lamented lack of growth-equity funding.

My takeaway from that is that large-scale climate-transition deals are getting done, and capital is aligning towards a decarbonized future."

"I would add that decarbonization is enabled by digitally enabled foundations, and ultimately expressed in our physical world.

Climate-tech venture, yes, but also growth equity, project capital, infrastructure funding, government grants and loans, supplier and customer financing, and offtake. Putting that suite of things together is all necessary to build durable, scalable businesses in climate."

"We have so many better, faster, cheaper and greener solutions across industries. But the challenge is deployment. Just overcoming the inertia of inaction, which expresses itself as high customer-acquisition costs.

Those costs are coming way down as climate awareness, power prices and heat waves go up.

And regulation is a tailwind here, too. SB 253 and SB 261, will be signed imminently by the California governor; CSRD is being implemented in Europe.

These mandates for climate disclosure about both emissions and broader climate risks will be instrumental in moving us towards high-integrity, globally scaled measurement and transparency, which are critical predecessors to action."

One tip for climate-tech investors or founders:

"I would ask where we have superior green technology, investigate why it's not everywhere. Target those incumbent economy bottlenecks and build from there."

👑 Proudest investment: "The energy that has gone into and continues to be spent on building Galvanize and our range of investments to date, including companies with value propositions that address some of our biggest emissions wedges and resilience challenges."

🤦 Facepalm investment: "Watching my dad, who had zero experience with the capital markets, put too much of our very modest savings into Excite@Home on a high-conviction tip from a friend, not long before it filed for bankruptcy. It made me a fundamentals diligence-driven investor for life."

💡 In three-ish words, the change you would make to climate-tech investing: "Level the playing field."

4. Expert Voices: Galvanize's Multani on deals

an illustration of  Saloni Multani surrounded by circles and digital texture

Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios; Photo: Courtesy of Galvanize

The CEO of battery maker Redwood Materials, JB Straubel, spoke at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference about Redwood's IPO plans — or lack thereof, Katie writes.

"We don't have predictability, yet, and actually I don't want us to have that level of predictability yet," said Straubel, a former Tesla CTO.

"We have to give up something of our innovation and creativity and dynamic nature to have the predictability."

5. JB on Redwood: Not ready for an IPO

A photo of Redwood Materials CEO JB Straubel speaking on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference.

Redwood Materials founder JB  Straubel at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference yesterday. Photo: Kimberly  White/Getty Images for TechCrunch

🔋 Oklahoma battery recycling: Battery recycler Blue Whale Materials will build a processing plant in Bartlesville, Okla., to access lithium, cobalt and other materials from spent lithium-ion batteries, Ben Geman writes for Generate.

Singapore-based battery-recycling startup Green Li-ion is also building in Oklahoma.

❎ SEC, EU target greenwashing: The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules to crack down on misleading investment-company names, a policy designed partly to prevent greenwashing, Ben also writes.

The measure broadens a mandate that 80% of a fund's investments match its name to better cover funds including ESG and sustainability-themed vehicles. It also has new disclosure requirements.

Meanwhile, the EU plans to ban companies from declaring themselves "climate neutral" or "eco" unless they prove the description is accurate. The Financial Times has more.

🦫 Hill hydro hopefuls: Hopes are riding high on Capitol Hill for enacting hydro-permitting legislation, writes Jael Holzman for Axios Pro Energy Policy.

Just as with nuclear power, there's a lot of bipartisan support to get something done so that hydro projects can be approved at a faster clip. Right now, permitting delays abound.

6. Temperature check

Illustration of a thermometer shaped like a smoke stack with smoke spewing out.

• Openvolt, an Irish developer of an API for energy data, raised €1.5m in pre-seed funding. Cavalry Ventures led, and was joined by Übermorgen Ventures. https://axios.link/3PLDgUt

• LesserEvil, a Danbury, Conn.-based maker of sustainable popcorn and salty snacks, raised primary and secondary funding from Aria Growth Partners. Return backers included Valor Equity, Invest Eco, and Touch Capital. https://axios.link/4517I1r

• Pension fund AustralianSuper, the top shareholder of Australian electricity and natural gas company Origin Energy, increased its stake to just under 14%, which could complicate Origin's agreement to be acquired by Brookfield for A$15.35b. https://axios.link/3PuyJV0

• REV Renewables, a New York-based owner and operator of energy storage and renewables-generation assets, withdrew registration for an IPO that it filed in January 2022. https://axios.link/45WQ5AZ

• Canberra Airport Group, an Australian airport company, plans to invest $10m in equity into Australian solar thermal company Vast Solar, which plans to go public via a SPAC managed by energy company Nabors. https://axios.link/3rcJLXe

• American Battery Technology Company, a Reno, Nevada-based battery materials and recycling company, has gotten approval for its shares to move from the OTC to the Nasdaq, and is supposed to start trading today. https://axios.link/460OaeN

• Solar manufacturer Maxeon signed a definitive agreement to acquire Complete Solaria's dealer network and patent portfolio for its shingle-based solar tech in a $20m all-stock deal. https://axios.link/3PrDbUD

• French utility Engie SA announced plans to spend up to €2b by 2030 to buy and upgrade European biomethane assets as buyers there switch from natural gas to fuels made from agricultural waste and other sources. https://axios.link/3Rpyc9G

• French energy giant TotalEnergies announced plans to invest $300m to form a joint venture with Adani Green Energy to develop renewable energy in India, per Reuters. https://axios.link/3PKh8Km

• Swiss DAC developer Climeworks and Nairobi-based developer Great Carbon Valley are teaming up on plans to build large-scale DAC and storage projects in Kenya, Ben Geman writes in Generate. https://axios.link/3ZtTKUM

• NextEra Energy employees have seen their $5.4b retirement plan lose about $500m this year as the renewable energy company's own stock has sagged, per Reuters. https://axios.link/3LvViHQ

• Family-owned French ski resort La Sambuy said it's permanently closing due to lack of snow. It was open just a few weeks last season, per The Information. https://axios.link/48BUCuH

7. Hot deals

• Climate activist and social media presence Sophia Kianni joined the 776 Foundation, a fellowship program from Seven Seven Six, the venture firm launched by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. https://axios.link/46oIF9L

• Lisa Jackson, a former EPA administrator, was named co-chair of climate advocacy coalition America Is All In. Jackson is VP of environment, policy and social initiatives at Apple.

• Joseph Cappello joined Nikola as president of its energy business, effective Sept. 25. Cappello was previously CEO of Iwatani Corporation of America. https://axios.link/3rljBRW

• Giulio Profuma is stepping down as CFO of Micromobility.com, parent company of scooter- and bike-share networks Helbiz and Wheels. Business development head Gian Luca Spriano will serve as interim CFO. https://axios.link/3ELEKrt

• Ibrahim Lamrini left Goldman Sachs to join Rothschild & Co. as a senior director of Middle East M&A. https://axios.link/3ZrWtxR

• Stephen Madsen joined Blue Wolf Capital Partners as a managing director focused on business development. He previously was with Monomoy Capital. https://axios.link/3ZylSpB

• Malin Posern joined Berlin-based Project A Ventures as a partner and managing director of the U.K. Posern was previously with Passion Capital and Index Ventures. https://axios.link/44YVbM0

• Amit Sobti joined Platinum Equity as head of Asia. He previously co-led Asia-Pacific direct investments for Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. https://axios.link/3PjfmOE

The private equity firm owns golf-cart maker Club Car, which is investing in neighborhood electric vehicles.

• Dana Jacobs is joining the Carbon Removal Alliance as chief of staff. She was previously deputy director of communications at Carbon180.

• Justin Field stepped down as chief strategy officer of the National Venture Capital Association to work on a climate-tech startup he recently launched.

8. It's personnel

🗓️ Katie is looking forward to SOSV's climate startup event next week.

💆 After RE+, Blueprint, and Climate Week NYC, Alan's looking forward to some quiet(ish) days with the kiddo.

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 salty folks.

September 21, 2023

1 big thing: Chris Sacca's plan to salt the Earth