Fall 2024: Oxylus Energy Announces $4.5MM Seed Round Closure & More
See the latest highlights from Prime's portfolio companies, color coded by portfolio across Trellis Climate, Azolla Ventures, Prime Impact Fund and our syndication phase. To find out more about our entire portfolio, visit investments page.
Aikido Technologies, which is developing a platform for floating offshore wind turbines that could transform the economics of the category, announced the close of its $4MM Series Seed investment round. The announcement was covered by Axios, ESG Today, Pulse 2.0, ReCharge, Renewables Now, Renews Offshore Engineering, and Wind Power.
C-Motive Technologies is developing electrostatic drive motors for electric vehicle applications, and was featured in IEEE Spectrum.
Calcarea is pioneering the decarbonization of maritime shipping by installing reactors onboard ocean vessels that capture and sequester emissions. CNN highlighted CEO Jess Adkins and the company with additional highlights in Interesting Engineering and Marine Insights.
Carbon Reform, which is developing modular carbon capture systems for commercial buildings to reduce CO2 and contaminant levels internally while saving energy costs, unveiled its pilot Carbon Capsule® unit at the Baltimore Gas and Electric Facility (BGE), as reported by the Carbon Herald. Co-founders Jo Norris and Nick Martin were included in the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 40 Under 40. The company was also featured in Architectural Digest, MSN, and The Philadelphia Citizen.
Clean Crop Technologies, which utilizes high-voltage plasma technology to increase yields and improve food safety while reducing food waste, received $1.2MM in grant funding from the Massachusetts Manufacturing Initiative (M2I2) to scale the deployment of its Clean Current Technology, as reported by WWLP News. New England Public Media also wrote about Clean Crop’s partnership with Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) to offer students work experience.
Funga’s work to grow trees faster by optimizing the forest microbiome – storing more carbon in wood and soil – was featured in New Scientist. The article highlights Funga's announcement to partner with PRT-IFCO, North American’s largest seedling company which produces more than 600 million seedlings annually in nurseries.
Lilac Solutions, which is scaling lithium supply for the electric era via direct lithium extravction, released its fourth-generation ion exchange technology and a technical white paper. The paper highlights significant findings, including over 90% long-term lithium recovery on solar brines and up to a 50% reduction in core extraction costs. WBUR and Mining Weekly also highlighted Lilac.
Oxylus Energy, the company developing lower-cost conversion of carbon dioxide into green methanol to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors, emerged from stealth mode with the announcement of its $4.5MM seed round closure. Led by Azolla Ventures and Toyota Ventures, the funding round was covered by TechCrunch, Carbon Herald, PR News,and Pulse 2.0.
Noon Energy, which is developing low-cost battery technology for long-duration energy storage to support intermittent renewables and meet continual demand, was awarded ~$9MM by the California Energy Commission. This grant is part of the Commission’s $26.7MM funding for long-duration energy storage projects, as reported by Utility Drive.
Quidnet was included in an Inside Climate News article on three Houston-based startups using technology similar to fracking for underground renewable energy storage. Quidnet pioneered a form of pumped hydroelectric – Geomechanical Pumped Storage - that is widely deployable at a very low cost.
SiTration’s pioneering work in the future of materials extraction was highlighted by the MIT School of Engineering.
Sublime Systems reached a new milestone when Vineyard Offshore agreed to purchase 2,000 tons of Sublime Cement™. This deal is part of Vineyard Offshore’s $3MM investment in supporting New England climate tech companies, as covered by 4 Offshore and MassLive. The low-carbon cement company was also featured in a CNBC video and article, and highlighted in MIT News and NBC Boston.
Vesta, the company exploring ocean-based carbon capture using the mineral olivine, provided an update on its blog about the deployment of its second Coastal Carbon Capture pilot project in Duck, North Carolina.
Wright Electric, an electric aircraft start-up aiming to eliminate carbon emissions from all regional flights, was awarded a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by The U.S. Air Force for battery research. The announcement was covered by 3D Print, Aviation International News, Avionics International, Clean Technica, Elective, and Renewable Energy Magazine. Wright was also selected for a $3.34MM grant from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Fueling Aviation’s Sustainable Transition (FAST), reported by Batteries News, Charged EVs, News10, and Times Union.
Zanskar, which uses AI to discover and de-risk new geothermal resources, announced its acquisition of the Lightening Dock Geothermal power plant in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Think GeoEnergy covered this acquisition, which emphasizes the company’s commitment to developing the untapped geothermal potential in the Western United States.
