Recent Deals – 17 March
Looking for the latest information on cleantech deals? Find insight on recent innovation developments here.
Agriculture & Food
TruLeaf, developer of multi-layer, controlled plant farms to grow produce throughout the year, raised $51.9 millison in growth equity from McCain Foods. This is McCain’s second investment in the start-up, making it its largest shareholder. TruLeaf is currently offering eight types of sustainably grown greens in Canada, reducing the need to transport from long distances. Funding comes on the heels of TruLeaf’s plan to expand throughout Canada by year-end, before venturing out of the country.
Energy & Power
Turntide Technologies, developer of an energy conservation measure solution for motors to reduce HVAC consumption in buildings, raised $80 million in growth equity round led by Breakthrough Energy. Other participating investors include FootPrint Coalition, Amazon, Keyframe Capital Partners, Fifth Wall and Captain Planet. The funding will enable accelerated development and deployment of its newly acquired solution Riptide, a building automation system. Turntide will also use the new funds to increase production of its Smart Motor System.
Materials & Chemicals
Montinutra, manufacturer of high-value products from forest industry side streams, secured $1.2 million in seed funding from Metsä Spring and other undisclosed private investors. Metsä Group, Metsä Spring’ parent company, may also provide access to waste material from its sawmill in Finland. Montinutra aims to build a pilot-scale production facility to continue work on developing its first set of products from sawdust, with use in food and cosmetics.
Resources & Environment
Plan A, developer of a carbon monitoring software to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint, secured $3 million from Demeter, SoftBank and Coparion in a Series A round. The solution offers industry carbon emissions benchmarking, emissions data visualization and certified offsetting schemes in an integrable SaaS platform. The funding will reportedly be used to tailor Plan A’s software for customers in Europe, as well as to help expand internationally.
Transportation & Logistics
Volocopter, developer of both manned and autonomous electric helicopters for urban aviation, raised $237 million (EUR 200 million) in growth equity from Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Intel Capital, btov Partners, BlackRock, Daimler, Avala Capital, Team Europe, Tokyo Century, Continental, NTT Venture Capital, DB Schenker, Jericho Capital, Atlantia and Klocke. The funding will go towards certification and commercialization of VoloCity, an electric air taxi. The company expects to start its commercial air taxi routes within the next two years and is working with Lufthansa Industry Solutions to build an intelligent urban air mobility platform.
