Recent Deals – 23 June
Looking for insight into the latest rounds of cleantech investment? We’re happy to say that the continuing disruption connected to Covid-19 hasn’t derailed the progress of sustainable innovation completely. This past week saw some interesting developments across all of our sectors.
Agriculture and Food
Greenlight Biosciences, a developer of RNA-based products that can be used to more naturally and safely solve healthcare and agricultural issues including bio-pesticides, raised $102 million in a growth equity round from investors including Morningside Ventures, S2G Ventures, Cormorant Asset Management, Continental Grain Company, Fall Line Capital, Tao Capital, Baird Capital, MLS Capital, Lewis and Clark Ventures, and Lupa Systems.
The funding will drive the expansion of GreenLight’s human health efforts and also accelerate development and commercialization of GreenLight’s pipeline of safe and effective products for more sustainable crop production.
Energy and Power
Trende, an online renewable energy retailer selling electricity to residential customers in Japan, raised $9.35 million in a Series B round from ITOCHU Corporation. Trende’s current products include an online service offering residential customers simple and affordable energy plans and a service which incentivizes customers to become prosumers. Trende is also developing a peer-to-peer electricity trading system. The companies are jointly developing a new service that combines distributed solar generation with energy storage expected to release later this year.
Materials and Chemicals
Velo3D, a developer of printers and software for metal 3D printing applications, raised $12 million in growth equity from strategic investors. Velo3D’s Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) Sapphire system uses intelligent fusion technology, which simulates and predicts part deformation to eliminate support structures. The funding, which is in addition to the $28 million funding announcement in April, will be used to provide further support to customers and grow the company’s product portfolio with new machines and alloys.
Resources and Environment
Zero Mass Water developer of solar-powered water purification systems, raised $50 million in a Growth Equity Round. The round was led by BlackRock with participation from Duke Energy, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and the Material Impact Fund. Founded in 2014, Zero Mass Water has systems installed in 45 countries providing safe, clean drinking water for industrial, commercial, residential and community applications. The funding will be used to scale global installations of Zero Mass Water’s systems and launch direct-to-consumer solutions. The investment will also help accelerate further innovation and R&D in renewable powered water purification technologies.
Transportation and Logistics
Linear Labs, developer of an innovative, ultra-efficient and smart electric motor for last mile mobility, will receive a $68.9 million economic incentive package from The City of Fort Worth, Texas. The package, approved earlier this week, will support the development of the city as a technology innovation hub. Linear Labs will secure a 500,000 square foot facility to manufacture the company’s innovative electric motor and create thousands of new jobs.
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