ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week:
Agrifood investing. GAIN and Incofin backed three businesses to expand production of nutritious food.
Artificial intelligence. Cathay Innovation raised $1 billion to transform industries with AI… Japan’s SORA Technology, which uses AI-powered drones for medical supply delivery and disease surveillance in Africa, raised 670 million Japanese yen ($4.8 million) in a seed round that included debt… Jua, a Swiss climate tech startup developing an AI-powered earth simulator for climate and weather forecasting, clinched $11 million of Series A funding co-led by Ananda Impact Ventures and Future Energy Ventures… Latvia’s Aerones, whose AI software and robots are designed to monitor and repair damaged wind turbines, swept up $62 million in a funding round co-led by S2G Investments and Activate Capital.
Clean energy for data centers. GridFree AI raised $5 million, led by UK-based Giant Ventures, for data centers co-located with grid-independent power, battery storage and cooling infrastructure. The Houston-based company, led by former BP and Microsoft execs, is the latest AI company to emerge from Montauk Climate’s venture studio… Capricorn Investment Group, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Energy Impact Partners are among the investors in Heron Power’s $38 million Series A round. The Scotts Valley, Calif.-based company is commercializing its next-generation solid-state transformers to help meet data center energy demand.
Clean technologies. Altérra committed $56.3 million alongside I Squared Capital for Italian solar and battery storage projects… Australia’s Amber Electric raised A$45 million ($29 million) from ETF Partners, Rubio Impact Ventures, Breakthrough Victoria and other investors for its smart tech software that helps homeowners manage their energy usage… Macquarie and APG backed Dutch sustainable aviation fuel producer SkyNRG… SAEL Solar raised $132 million for a 300 megawatt solar plant in India… TAE Technologies, based in Foothill Ranch, Calif., raised $150 million from Chevron, Google and other backers on the promise that it can “deliver the cleanest, safest and most economical approach” to commercial fusion.
Climate finance. Energize Capital raised $430 million to invest in ‘asset-light’ climate solutions… New York-based venture capital firm Planeteer Capital closed its maiden fund at $54 million, shy of its $75 million initial target. The fund will support pre-seed and seed stage climate solutions… Prime Coalition’s Trellis Climate raised capital for first-of-a-kind projects.
Electric vehicles. Untapped Global, an emerging markets-focused impact investor, backed Pobad International to expand access to EV charging for gig drivers and mobility entrepreneurs in Ghana.
Green infrastructure. Frontier Infrastructure Holdings, a portfolio company of Dallas-based green infrastructure private equity investor Tailwater Capital, closed a $130 million senior secured loan with Kennedy Lewis Investment Management.
Inclusive lending. How the Mission Driven Bank Fund is tackling wealth inequalities in US communities… Indian non-banking financial services company Saarathi Finance closed its 475 crore rupees ($55.5 million) Series A round from TVS Capital Funds, Lok Capital and others to extend credit to micro to medium-sized businesses operating in rural and peri-urban areas.
Legal tech. UK-based Valla clinched £2 million (roughly $2.7 million) in seed financing, led by Ada Ventures, to provide affordable legal support to workers who have been wronged by their employers.
Private equity impact. International Finance Corp. made a $100 million equity commitment in TPG Rise Climate’s Global South Initiative, which is seeking up $2.5 billion in institutional capital for high-growth climate investments in emerging markets. TPG co-launched the Global South Initiative with the UAE’s Altérra at COP28 in Dubai… TPG Rise Climate is acquiring the UK’s Aurora Energy Research, which offers data-driven market intelligence to global energy transition investors and portfolio managers.
Waste to value. Climate Fund Managers invested $3 million in Ivory Coast’s Société Des Energies Nouvelles, or SODEN, to develop the world’s first grid-connected cocoa waste-to-energy power plant in Divo, a major cocoa-producing region in the country.
