ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week:
Agrifood investing. Lok Capital invested $6.2 million in drone startup Marut Drones… New York-based Bowery, an indoor vertical farming producer of lettuce and other leafy greens, is shutting down. The company had raised $700 million from a range of investors including KKR and General Catalyst, as well as Justin Timberlake, Natalie Portman and other celebrities.
Climate finance. Ampd Energy raised $27.3 million in Series B funding, co-led by Kibo Invest and Openspace, to make battery storage systems for mining, manufacturing and other heavy industries… Blue Forest launched ‘watershed resilience bond’ to finance conservation on private lands… CalSTRS allocated $150 million to Ninety One’s Global Environment fund… Japan’s Mizuho Bank invested $20 million for a minority stake in Pollination, a UK-based climate and nature-based investment firm.
Education access. LINGO landed $2.3 million investment for STEM education access.
Electrify everything. Coalition for Green Capital committed $175 million for green real estate and electric buses… Hala Mobility raised 510 million Indian rupees ($6 million) in equity and debt funding to provide EVs-as-a-service for gig workers and delivery companies… Vermont-based Beta Technologies raked in $318 million for its fully-electric and battery-powered planes.
Employee ownership. Appalachian Field Services, a Baltimore-based construction company that is part of the worker-owned cooperative WaterBottle, secured $350,000 in debt funding from Rochdale Capital… JPMorganChase grants $2 million to expand access to employee ownership.
Energy efficiency. Luxwall raised $51 million in Series B financing to scale up production of its energy saving windows at a new Michigan facility. It is opening up a second facility in Detroit with an additional $31.7 million grant from the US Department of Energy… Transaera, which is developing an energy-efficient approach to cooling and dehumidification, raised $8.2 million in seed capital from Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Impact Partners and MassMutual Ventures.
Inclusive finance. ALIVE Ventures invested in Colombia’s AgriCapital to finance smallholder farmers… Upaya Social Ventures backed Ecoright to create dignified jobs in sustainable fashion.
Investing in health. Vara raised $8.9 million for breast cancer detection in emerging markets.
Low-carbon transition. CREW Carbon raised $5.3 million in seed capital to use minerals for wastewater treatment and carbon capture and sequestration… Growth Investment Partners, a Ghanaian small business investment firm launched and funded by British International Investment, backed Truecoco for soybean processing and a biochar carbon removal project… SeaO2 snagged €2 million ($2.2 million) for technology that extracts CO2 from seawater and returns carbon-free water to the ocean to sustain oceans’ natural ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
Wildfire resilience. Germany’s OroraTech raised €25 million ($26.9 million) from the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund, family office Korys and Bayern Kapital for its AI-based software that predicts wildfires… San Francisco-based insurance tech venture Delos Insurance clinched $9 million in a Series B round led by HSBC Management to insure homes in communities abandoned by other insurers due to wildfire risk.
