🌎 [Link correction] What's it like to be a climate founder right now? #297

Happy Tuesday!

It’s a short week, and we’ve got a short newsletter for you. [We're resending this newsletter with the corrected links below.]

But first: We're surveying climate founders on how they're operating in 2026, and we need your data points. Looking at you, founders and operators! The survey takes <10 minutes and is fully anonymous. We'll publish results in an upcoming CTVC newsletter and in a report, in partnership with Elemental Impact, this summer. The survey closes June 1, so take it now!

Speaking of reports, have you read Sightline’s new one on how data centers can get clean power, ASAP? Get our latest analysis, The Fastest MW, here. You can also register for our webinar on May 29 here.

In deals, $64m for AI-powered grid capacity acceleration in California; $35m for weather and climate resilience software in Massachusetts; and $25m for wastewater carbon removal and treatment optimization in Connecticut.

In other news, the giant US utility merger monster, the worst-case climate scenario has been averted, and inside SBTi’s pivot.

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Deals of the Week (5/18 - 5/22)

VC / Growth

⚡ Gridcare, a Redwood City, CA-based AI-powered grid capacity acceleration platform, raised $64m in Series A funding from Sutter Hill Ventures, Acclimate Ventures, Aina Climate AI Ventures, Clearvision Ventures, and other investors.

🌡 Tomorrow.io, a Boston, MA-based weather and climate resilience platform, raised $35m in Growth funding from HarbourVest Partners, Harel Insurance and Finance, Pitango VC, and Stonecourt Capital.

💧 CREW Carbon, a New Haven, CT-based platform for wastewater carbon removal and treatment optimization, raised $25m in Series A funding from Burnt Island Ventures, ANIMO Ventures, AP Ventures, Builders Vision, Connecticut Innovations, and other investors.

⚡ REPS, a Mils bei Solbad Hall, Austria-based road traffic-to-electricity developer, raised $24m in Seed funding from undisclosed investors.

🏠 Stride, a Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based rooftop solar and battery financing platform, raised $15m in Series B funding from Lightrock, TRIREC, Clime Capital, and UOB Venture Management.

🥩 StrainX, a Bhopal, India-based developer of alternative protein via fermentation, raised $13m in Seed funding from Leo Capital, Prime Venture Partners, Dholakia Ventures, Good Startup, and other investors.

⚡ Texture, a New York City, NY-based software platform for distributed energy resources and energy infrastructure optimization, raised $13m in Series A funding from Equal Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, Abstract Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau.

🧪 Imperagen, a Manchester, England-based AI and quantum physics-driven enzyme engineering platform, raised $7m in Seed funding from PXN Ventures, IQ Capital, and Northern Gritstone.

🌱 Greenpixie, a London, England-based cloud emissions data provider, raised $6m in Seed funding from Verbund X Ventures, Armajaro Holdings, Green Angel Ventures, and Octopus Ventures.

👕 QuberTech, a Norwich, England-based bioengineered rubber developer, raised $5m in Seed funding from Future Planet Capital, Innovate UK, and Sustainable Ventures.

Project Finance / Debt

⚡ IPX Power, a Mill Valley, CA-based clean energy asset developer, owner, and operator, raised $1.6bn in PF Debt funding from BNP Paribas, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), CoBank, ACB, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB), and other investors.

⚡ ICEYE, an Espoo, Finland-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite operator, raised $349m in Debt funding from undisclosed investors.

🔋 Spearmint Energy, a Miami, FL-based battery energy storage developer and operator, raised $225m in PF Debt funding from First Citizens Bank, Investec, East West Bank, and Nord/LB.

⚡ NGEN Energetske Resitve, a Žirovnica, Slovenia-based energy storage and grid services provider, raised $81m in PF Debt funding from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Exits

🚗 UISEE Technologies, a Beijing, China-based autonomous driving technology developer, completed a $111m IPO at an implied valuation of $1.3bn.

⚡ APF Energy, an Uden, Netherlands-based biomethane production plant developer, was acquired by Schroders Greencoat for an undisclosed amount.

🚗 Dust Moto, a Bend, OR-based electric dirt bike manufacturer, was acquired by LiveWire for an undisclosed amount.

🛵 DANCE, a Berlin, Germany-based electric micromobility subscription service, was acquired by Swapfiets for an undisclosed amount.

⚡ COMMS365, a Milton Keynes, England-based resilient IoT and network solutions provider, was acquired by Wireless Logic for an undisclosed amount.

This is a sample of deals available for Sightline clients. Can’t get enough deals?

Reading List

⚡ NextEra's proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy puts data center load growth and rising US electricity prices at the center of a major utility consolidation play. [Link]

Dominion's Virginia footprint is the most valuable utility territory in the country right now, Northern Virginia is the largest data center market in the world. This acquisition would make NextEra not only the largest US renewable developer but it would also give them control of the grid feeding the densest AI buildout in the country. Read more in CTVC’s sister newsletter on the power system, Powerstack. 

🎯 The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) announced a strategic shift away from one-size-fits-all target-setting toward tailored frameworks. [Link] 

SBTi, which has validated climate reduction targets for more than 10,000 companies globally, is pivoting to what it calls a "transformation partner." With companies struggling to meet targets they set during the ESG boom, SBTi is adjusting the goalposts and calling it "better translating climate science into commercial realities." The new five-year strategy also prioritizes high-emitting sectors and regions that have been underrepresented. Whether flexibility strengthens corporate buy-in or softens credibility is the question.

🌡 A committee of international climate experts has revised down its worst-case global warming projection, largely on the back of renewable energy growth. [Link]

The most extreme RCP8.5 scenarios, with warming hitting 5°C by the end of the century, have been revised down to 3.5° by 2100 as solar, wind, and EV deployment have outpaced projections (!). 

💨 Electrolyzer maker Topsoe said it would hibernate its 7-month-old, EU-subsidized SOEC factory and cancel its US expansion plans. It also landed a $1bn+ order to supply 850MW of solid oxide electrolyzers to a green ammonia project in South Africa. [Link, link]

With the slowdown in hydrogen market and slow buildout of infrastructure, Topsoe is looking at a future customer for a factory that's hard to justify running today. 850MW is a large SOEC system, but the project has an FID target of late 2027 and commercial operations by 2030, while delivery is uncertain.

💳 Microsoft purchased 650,000 metric tons of carbon removal credits over seven years from Danish biogas producer BioCirc, its first major CDR deal since reports last month that it had paused carbon removal purchasing. [Link]

🔋 Antora Energy and POET commissioned a 5GWh multi-day thermal battery system at POET's Big Stone City, South Dakota bioethanol plant. It stores off-peak electricity as heat for industrial process use. It was built in under 12 months and is supposed to be fully operational later this year. [Link]

🌿 Namibia secured $63m in conservation financing through the launch of Namibia for Life, Africa's first Project Finance for Permanence initiative, covering more than 20% of the country's land. [Link]

Opportunities & Events

📅 The Fastest MW: Join Sightline Climate’s webinar on the Fastest MW report on May 29 at 11 AM ET to hear how data centers can find speed to power.

📅 Scale For ClimateTech: Join on June 16 in New York City or online for 2026 Demo Day, showcasing the 18 climate tech innovators of Cohort 7 who are developing breakthrough hardware solutions across advanced energy storage, circular resource recovery, grid and transportation infrastructure, next-generation materials, and more.

📅 Trellis Impact 26: From Jun 23-25 in San Francisco, Trellis Impact brings together 3,500+ leaders powering the future of sustainable business, from AI-enabled solutions to emerging technologies reshaping decarbonization, energy, circularity, and beyond. Get practical insights and hard-won examples of the technologies and strategies that are influencing sustainable business transformation. Register and you can get 20% off with our partner code: TI26SCP

📅 Cox Cleantech Accelerator: The Cox Cleantech Residency is a new six-week, equity-free program that provides funding, mentorship and hands-on support to help early-stage cleantech founders across the Southeast move promising ideas toward commercialization; applications are open through June 28.

📅 Decarbon8-US 2026 Fund: Apply for Decarbon8-US’s philanthropic impact fund that uses donations to invest in early-stage cleantech startups. This year's theme is Climate Resilience (Grid, Water & Food).

Jobs

Head of Finance, Investor @Gigascale 

Analyst Trainee, Program Specialist Trainee, Bureau Chief of Budget & Procurement, Deputy Director of Grid Scale Resources, Deputy Director of Virtual Power Plants, Director of Clean Energy Planning & Analytics, Bureau Chief of Grid Scale Resources - Division of Clean Energy, @New Jersey Board of Public Utilities 

Marketing Lead, @Glimpse 

Senior Associate – Infrastructure, Capital Projects & Climate Advisory @KPMG

Risk Management – Climate, Nature & Social @JPMorgan Chase 

📩 Feel free to send us deals, announcements, or anything else at [email protected]. Have a great week ahead!