All Access

Climate Deals

Standard

Climate Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

Climate Deals Alerts

Alert

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Climate Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Elevated Signals has closed a C$7.9 million ($5.8 million) round to expand its tracking software from cannabis to climate tech, the company tells Katie.

Why it matters: The startup's data can play an important role in helping companies in emerging sectors like vertical farming and mineral extraction grow their operations.

Zoom in: CEO Amar Singh said the company plans to use the funding to attract customers in those markets.

Singh said the Vancouver company's software, which he likens to inventory tracking, paired with scientific data, has already gained considerable traction with cannabis operators like Joi Botanicals and Rubicon Organics.

"The cannabis industry kind of fell into our lap as this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Singh, adding that the company's main focus was always food security.

The company raised the Series A round led by Yaletown Partners, with participation from Third Kind Venture Capital, WGD Capital, Colin Harris, Raiven Capital, and Pareto Holdings.

Big picture: Manufacturing and operations management software is dominated by older legacy software vendors that sell what's called "Enterprise Resource Planning."

But companies in brand new sectors, or young startups, are looking for something that's more flexible, quicker to deploy, and lower cost.

Companies in particular that sell biological organisms — like indoor crops or cannabis — need to collect and manage different data sets.

What's next: Once a system like Elevated Signals collects data about a facility, a company can use that data to deploy other AI tools.

1 big thing: Sprouting from cannabis to climate

Illustration of plants being grown vertically surrounded by money elements and shapes.

Underground mapping startup Exodigo has raised a $105 million round to expand its business, Katie writes.

Why it's the BFD: Infrastructure-heavy industries like utilities and transportation are turning to AI and computing tech to get more data about their assets.

Zoom in: Exodigo, based in Palo Alto, Calif., and Tel Aviv, raised the Series A round led by Greenfield Partners and Zeev Ventures.

Other investors in the round included SquarePeg, 10D VC, JIBE and National Grid Partners.

The round also converted a $30 million previously secured in SAFEs (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) for a total of $118 million since its launch.

The company creates underground maps using hardware scanners and AI, enabling customers like construction companies, utilities and transportation firms to see subsurface assets.

Big picture: As the Biden administration kicks off an infrastructure and manufacturing boom, companies that are building infrastructure will need better data tools.

2. The BFD: Below the surface 

A worker using a scanner to collect data about the subsurface environment.

A worker uses a scanner to collect data about the subsurface environment. Photo courtesy of Exodigo

X-energy, a startup developing small modular reactors, sees an attractive market in slaking the energy thirst of the rapidly unfolding artificial intelligence boom, Ben Geman writes in Generate.

Why it matters: One year after canceling a planned SPAC merger, the company is eyeing an eventual IPO. 

The big picture: X-energy CEO Clay Sell called the round-the-clock needs of data centers a good fit for small reactors.

The intrigue: Sell, a top DOE official under George W. Bush, isn't worried about potential policy change if Republican candidates retake the White House or both houses of Congress.

"It is deeply, deeply supported on both sides of the aisle," Sell said of nuclear energy.

Catch up fast: X-energy is backed by DOE's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Projects, which began in the Trump era and first received major funding in the 2021 infrastructure law.

It canceled plans last year with Ares Management to go public via a SPAC deal, instead raising $80 million for a Series C that topped out at $235 million.

The latest: The company is working with Dow to deploy four reactors at the chemical giant's Seadrift Operations site in Texas by 2030, a project receiving up to $1.23 billion in DOE funding.

It's also working with Washington-based utility Energy Northwest.

Reality check: Scaling new tech is hard. And SMRs in particular face regulatory and financial challenges.

What's next: Sell expects X-energy will go public — but not for a few years.

"I don't anticipate reviving a SPAC approach," he said. "I do anticipate in the future we will go to the public markets ... in the classical IPO approach."

Generate has the full rundown. Plus, our Energy Policy colleagues will have more from the interview in their next Axios Pro newsletter.

3. X-energy eyes a nuclear IPO

Photo illustration of Clay Sell with an image of the XE-100 Reactor

X-energy CEO Clay Sell. Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios. Photo: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg via Getty Images, courtesy of X-energy

🌊 More ocean-based removal: Equatic, a marine carbon removal startup, just unveiled plans for a demo plant in Singapore it's developing with officials there and a UCLA climate tech accelerator, Ben also writes in Generate.

Equatic, a UCLA spin-out, said it will be the world's largest ocean-based removal demonstration project to date. It builds on pilots the company began last year in LA and Singapore.

✈️ Reality check on electric planes: The arrival of electric planes that can carry hundreds of people thousands of miles hinges on developing a new generation of batteries, motors and other technologies beyond what's powering today's electric cars, colleagues Joann Muller and Alison Snyder report.

Smaller, shorter-range electric planes and electric air taxis could become commercially available as early as 2025, with others in development. The moonshot, though, is to electrify larger planes that can take off and land like conventional airplanes that run on jet fuel.

🏭 $112b incentives for red states: More than three-quarters of the $170 billion in new or expanded factories and mining facilities for the EV and clean energy supply chains are going to Republican states, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The total is $112 billion for red states, including $26 billion in investments for Georgia. Many of the facilities could start operating as soon as this year.

🔋Texas grid battery boom: Texas will add more grid batteries than any other state in 2024, thanks to cheap land and its competitive energy market, per Canary Media.

Developers are expected to deploy 6.4 GW of new grid battery capacity in Texas this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration, outpacing California for the first time.

4. Temperature check

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

• The Qatar Investment Authority is launching a $1b venture capital fund-of-funds. https://axios.link/49GYqKU

• SF-based Zacuna Ventures raised $56m for its debut fund focused on construction tech. https://axios.link/3OXPAA9

• Tsubame BHB, a Japanese company working on the commercialization of ammonia production plants, raised ¥5.3b in a Series C funding from Heraeus, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, and Energy & Environment Investment. https://axios.link/3TdRorm

• Insolare, a Bengaluru-based solar energy provider, raised INR 66 cr (about $8m) in a funding round led by Negan Capital. https://axios.link/3uPo1Cq

• EQT yesterday closed its 10th flagship fund at its €22 billion hard cap, with a continuing focus on private equity deals in Europe and North America. https://axios.link/3To73ol

• Renault's forthcoming electric crossover SUV, the R5 E-Tech, has an optional baguette holder. https://axios.link/3Ih1JN3

5. Hot deals

• Jeff Currie joined Carlyle as chief strategy officer of energy pathways, leading Carlyle's energy transition analysis, per Reuters. Currie left Goldman Sachs last August after 27 years there. https://axios.link/3wxeNLy

• Raef Sully has become the new CEO of Oakland, Calif.-based Lilac Solutions, which extracts lithium from brines. Sully was previously the Chief Operations Officer of Lilac. Former CEO Dave Snydacker has become President and CTO. https://axios.link/3OVOUv6

• Judi Storey has become the CEO of EV charging safety accessory company EVject. https://axios.link/49u3LFz

• Paul Mathews was promoted from EVP, service and supply chain to EVP, chief operating officer at Sunnova Energy International. https://axios.link/3Ig5wdk

• James Humfrey, formerly of Shell, was named CEO of Xlinks mega project. https://axios.link/3IfkrVh

• John Miller was appointed to the board of directors at turbine gear maker Capstone Green Energy. https://axios.link/3UVm9Th

• Benjamin G.S. Fowke III, was named interim CEO and president of American Electric Power. Fowke was previously a member of American Electric Power's board of directors and the former chairman and CEO of Xcel Energy. https://axios.link/3TgWV0A

6. It's personnel

Autonomous flying startup Rain and Lockheed Martin company Sikorsky demonstrated in December how a self-piloted Blackhawk could be used to fight wildfires, Katie writes. It held the demo at Sikorsky headquarters in Stratford, Connecticut. 

7. Photo of the day: Self-flying firefighter

A military-style Blackhawk helicopter dumps water from a bucket hanging beneath the craft, without a pilot.

Look, ma, no pilot. Photo: Courtesy of Rain

❓Trivia Tuesday: Where and when was geothermal energy first generated in the U.S.?

Last week's answer: Moritz von Jacobi is said to have completed a first successful demonstration of an electric boat in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1838.

😸 The Pokemon of the day from Katie's family is Jigglypuff.

☃️ Alan last week shared that the 2.5-year-old had, overnight, become obsessed with "Frozen." Since then, after broadly enjoying the movie's soundtrack, she's now completely locked in to "Let It Go." 

Thank you to Michael Flaherty and Chris Speckhard for today's edits.

And thank you for reading Climate Deals! Please share with your friends, family and ground-focused entrepreneurs.

February 27, 2024

1 big thing: Sprouting from cannabis to climate