ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week:
Affordable housing. Arctaris Impact Investors led a $27 million equity investment for a hotel-to-residential conversion project in an opportunity zone in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. The former hotel will become 227 units of affordable housing… Turner Impact Capital, through a joint venture with Dallas-based Kalterra Capital Partners, acquired a 376-unit rental housing community in McKinney, Texas. Turner and Kalterra will convert over half of the units to income-restricted affordable housing.
Climate finance. Boston-based Chloris Geospatial clinched $8.5 million in Series A funding from AXA IM Alts, Future Energy Ventures and At One Ventures for its AI and satellite tech that monitors forest carbon and ecosystem change… Green Climate Fund approved $1.23 billion for 17 climate projects around the world… LP news: A bill signed into law by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek required the state’s $100 billion Public Employees Retirement Fund to manage climate risks and become carbon neutral within 25 years. Nearly 60% of its portfolio is invested in private markets, including in private equity and real assets.
Electric vehicles. Cariqa snagged €4 million to streamline EV charging payments and price transparency in Europe… Dutch development Bank FMO provided a $1 million loan to Zembo Motorcycles, an electric motorbike seller with its own network of battery-swapping stations in Uganda… Helsinki-based Donut Lab, a maker of plug-and-play electric motors, batteries and software for EVs, raised €25 million ($29.2 million) in seed funding… HIVED raised $43 million in a series B funding from investors including NordicNinja, Elemental Impact and Marunouchi Innovation Partners for its all-electric package delivery service in the UK.
Energy infrastructure. BlueEarth Capital, ResponsAbility, and Franklin Templeton Alternative Investments provided a 1.5 billion rupees ($19 million) loan to Indian education-focused lender Varthana to expand its school network and set up renewable energy infrastructure in its partner schools… Deeptech investors Earlybird, Protagonist and Visionaries Tomorrow led a €22.1 million ($22.7 million) seed round for Paris-based Arago. The startup develops energy-efficient AI chips powered by light to cut the energy used for AI computations by up to 10 times… Tulum Energy, a Milan-based company developing a methane pyrolysis technology for clean hydrogen production in hard-to-abate sectors, clinched $27 million from CDP Venture Capital’s Green Transition Fund, TDK Ventures and other investors.
Energy transition. City First and DC Green Bank provided $5.3 million for solar power for DC’s low-income neighborhoods… Klima led Dexter Energy’s $27 million round to optimize Europe’s grid for renewable energy.
Financial inclusion. Spanish bank BBVA, via its in-house lender for enterprises and venture capital firms Spark, extended a $35 million credit line to Colombian fintech Addi. The startup plans to strengthen its buy-now-pay-later offering.
Fund news. Global Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure investor in energy, transportation, digital infrastructure and waste management that was acquired by BlackRock last year, raised $25.2 billion for its fifth flagship fund… Switzerland’s SECO Startup Fund relaunched with $6.3 million for emerging market businesses… Tikehau Capital raised more than €1 billion for a continuation fund for Egis, a designer, developer and operator of climate-smart infrastructure and buildings that it acquired in 2022. Funds owned by Apollo, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Neuberger Berman invested alongside Tikehau’s second decarbonisation fund.
Good jobs. Carlyle sold Safety SA, a South Africa testing, inspection, certification and training company focused on food and workplace safety in Africa, China and the Middle East, to Centre Testing International. Carlyle acquired the company through its Sub-Saharan Africa Fund in 2018.
LP/GP. New on The Liist: The Builders Fund is investing in growth-stage impact companies, Renewal Funds is backing growth-stage climate and circular solutions, and CSD Social Venture Fund is investing in accessible technology for the Deaf. View ImpactAlpha’s full Liist of GPs launching impact strategies in the market.
Waste management. Circulate Capital raised $75.8 million to recycle plastic in Latin America and the Caribbean… Goodwell Investments and Alitheia Capital invested equity in Nigeria’s Hinckley E-Waste Recycling via their joint impact fund. The funding will help enable battery recycler Hinckley to recycle up to 30,000 tons of lithium-ion and lead acid battery e-waste annually… Southeast Asia-focused investor Openspace Ventures and climate investor Radical Fund have invested $600,000 in a pre-seed round, for Indonesian B2B waste management startup Sirsak. The startup plans to strengthen its packaging waste traceability technology.
