Turning waste-wood into skyscrapers; mycoprotein for fish farming; saving landfill-bound products from the hangman’s noose– Recent deals worth looking at:

Agriculture & Food

EniferBio (2019) is greening-up the industry of sustainable fish farming with its biotech food and animal feed protein products. The single-cell protein is extracted from fungi Pekilo mycoprotein and protein-rich cell biomass pulled from underutilised side or food waste streams. This waste-to-high-value-product technology differs from the original fermentation methods developed by forestry scientists in the 1960s, and offers 70% protein, 20-30% fibre, 10% fats and minerals, and a high concentration of vitamin B for high-quality animal feed.

EniferBio has secured $12M in Series A funding from Aqua-Spark, TESI, Valio, Voima Ventures, and Nordic FoodTech VC.

The funding will go towards scaling its technology and production capacities.

Energy & Power

Energy Dome (2019) is fighting climate change with its CO2 battery. The energy storage solution offered by Energy Dome is based on the thermodynamic transformation of CO2, a closed loop process using CO2 to store energy and make renewable power dispatchable. This innovative long-term energy storage system allows large quantities of energy to be stored in any site dependency, allowing businesses to store electricity affordably.

Energy Dome has closed a $44M Series B round from Eni Next, Neva SGR, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, CDP Venture Capital, Invitalia Ventures, Novum Capital Partners, 360 Capital Partners, Japan Energy Fund Ventures, and Elemental Excelerator.

The funding will go towards enabling further commercialization of Energy Dome’s technology around the world and will support the expansion of Energy Dome’s team in key markets, with a specific focus on the U.S.

Materials & Chemicals

WooDoo (2016) has developed dieback bionic wood, a molecularly-enhanced translucent wood that overcomes all standard wood limits for its application in the building industry. Its technology transforms damaged wood species at a molecular scale into high-performance material alternatives for steel, glass, leather, and plastics. These materials are claimed to ‘outperform steel and concrete in strength, weight, look and cost’.

The Parisian company has secured $31M in Series A funding from One Creation, Lowercarbon Capital, and Purple Ventures with angel investors also participating in the round.

The funding will go towards scaling its production capabilities to meet their growing demand while exploring other commercial opportunities. The transformation of dead wood into a skyscraper is no small feat, taking the world’s bottom-line and aesthetics-based culture and aligning them with environmental needs.

Resources & Environment

Cyclic Materials (2021) offers recycling services to support circular supply chains by saving one landfill-bound product at a time. It’s a circular supply chain service platform specifically aiming to facilitate the recycling of critical earth metals and materials used for high-performance magnets to get them re-circulated and back into the manufacturing process. Emission-reducing industries receiving these materials include wind turbine, electric vehicle, and electronics for CO2 manufacturers.

Cyclic Materials has raised $27M in an oversubscribed Series A funding round led by Energy Impact Partners (EIP) and BMW i Ventures (BiV), including Fifth Wall, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC), and Planetary Technologies.

The funds will be used to scale up its growth in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Transportation & Logistics

Virta (2013) is bringing electric mobility closer to daily routines with its services covering the whole electric charging value chain. Its international charging network connects EV drivers and provides access to over 350,000 charging points for both businesses and local communities.

Virta has raised a cumulative of $91M in growth equity funding to support its European and APAC region expansion plans; $71M is from Jolt Capital, co-invested by Future Energy Ventures, with the remaining $20M from Business Finland.

The aim is to be the connector for all key players within the electric vehicle ecosystem by offering a channel to launch, scale and operate commercial services within the EV industry.

Enabling Technologies

Ursa Major Technologies (2015) brings high-performing rocket engines, hypersonics and a range of turnkey propulsion solutions to the microsatellite launch industry. The idea is to bring a new model for space access by making sure that every link in this enormous value chain isn’t limited by those around it.

To pursue its technology development, Ursa Major has closed its $100M Series D round from investors including BlackRock and Space Capital. These funds come a year following its $85M Series C round, with a cumulative total of $234M raised and a $400M pre-money valuation.

Ursa Major is working to continue building ‘Hadley’, its 5,000-pound liquid oxygen and kerosene engine, and ‘Ripley’ a much larger engine which is 10x more powerful with its 50,000-pound thrust. This round of funding will go towards continuing to develop its technologies which are focused directly on the advancement of rocket engines.