Methane reducing livestock feed; energy management and storage solutions; recycling for advanced materials – Recent deals worth looking at:

Agriculture & Food

CH4 Global (2019) produces a seaweed-derived livestock feed supplement that reduces enteric methane emissions.

CH4 Global recently pulled $26M in Series B funding, in a round led by DCVC, DCVC Bio, and Cleveland Avenue, with participation from other undisclosed investors.

The capital will be directed towards building and validating its aquaculture and production facility, CH4 Global EcoPark™. This facility will set the company up to expand into key markets with partners on all six continents. Further, the facility will be making CH4 Global’s signature product, Methane Tamer™. Methane Tamer, using red seaweed (Asparagopsis), reduces animal’s methane emissions by up to 90% when added to cattle feed, while further reducing the lost feed energy to methane emissions.

Energy & Power

FranklinWH (2020) offers residential energy management and storage solutions using cobalt-free LFP batteries for grid and micro-grids. The company’s ‘Franklin Home Power System’ is a whole-home energy management system leveraging AC-coupled storage technology. This pre-assembled system uses aPower Battery and the aGate power control system for easy installation and quality home energy management control. Within its first year in the American market, FranklinWH onboarded roughly 1,000 installation companies through its Certified Installer program.

The company has secured $25M Series B round from Particle Future, with the fresh capital going towards scaling its research and development capabilities, optimising its supply chain, and growing both its sales network and operations reach.

Materials & Chemicals

beeOLED (2020) is a deep tech start-up which is developing deep-blue emitters to improve displays in phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, and other electronic appliances. The efficient and stable emitters are based on beeOLED’s technology which makes elementary emission from atoms, fit for use in vacuum processed OLED displays.

The company has landed a $14M Series A round, co-led by eCAPITAL and Innovation Industries with participation from KBC Focus Fund, M Ventures, HTGF, TGFS, and JBN-Invest.

The funding will be poured into development and getting its deep-blue emitter technology towards go-to-market readiness.

Resources & Environment

Redwood Materials (2017) has developed technologies for materials recycling, remanufacturing, and reuse; its focus is on recycling Li-ion batteries, with claimed recovery rates of over 80% for lithium and 95-98% for nickel (nickel sulfate), cobalt, graphite and aluminium. Redwood Materials operates in three main areas of the value chain: collecting and receiving, refining, and upgrading.

The company has announced the completion of its Series D round co-led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, and T. Rowe Price Associates.

The Series D funding will go towards further building out capacity, growing its domestic battery supply chain and supporting customers with battery materials purchases made in the U.S. for the first time. 

Transportation & Logistics

ALVA (2021) sits in the 2-Wheeler Electric Vehicle (2W EV) industry as a manufacturer aiming to promote EV mobility as a lifestyle solution. The bikes are designed with maximum torque and top speed through a single charge, with full connectivity and zero-emissions technology, which improves the speed, precision, and overall performance of rides to encourage customers to switch to electric mobility.

The company has secured $50M in Series B funding from Brama One Ventures (BOV), Foxconn Co-GP Fund, and Horizon Ventures, among other undisclosed investors.

The funding will go towards scaling its product development plans and network growth in Indonesia.

Enabling Technologies

Botanical Solution (2019) has designed a production technology that allows scalable and sustainable supply of botanical products. The company leverages a proprietary platform to improve the consistent production of advanced botanical materials (ABM), beginning with ABM-01, which is based on a plant called Quillaja saponaria. This AMB is the active ingredient for two key products, BSI’s biopesticide Quillibrium® and the vaccine adjuvant QS-21.  These botanical products are used across various industries including agriculture and healthcare.

The company has raised an additional $7M in Series A funding to complement the previous $6.1M Series A funding secured in January 2022 – the total Series A round now is at $13M.

The funding will go towards scaling production of QS-21, as well as fulfilling supply agreements with Big Pharma companies.