LanzaTech Raises $50M, Launches New Sustainable Aviation Fuel Spinout

LanzaTech, a renewable energy startup out of Skokie, announced Tuesday it will be launching a new spinout company called LanzaJet to produce sustainable aviation fuel in an effort to decarbonize in the industry.

According to SKYNRG, planes currently account for about 2 or 3 percent of all man-made global emissions. That number is predicted to reach 22 percent by 2050 if we don’t intervene soon. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is meant to be a greener alternative to the fossil jet fuel currently being used. Instead of petroleum, it is made from sustainable materials like biological waste oils, agriculture residue or non-fossil carbon dioxide. The hope is that, by using a more sustainable fuel, the company can clean up this environmentally harmful industry.

The company also announced it has raised $50 million in investments from Canada-based Suncor Energy, Japanese investment firm Mitsui & Co. and Japanese airline All Nippon Airways, as well as a $14 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The money is being used in the construction of a biorefinery plant in Soperton, Georgia, which is projected to produce 10 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel for the commercial market annually. Production is expected to begin early 2022, according to LanzaTech.

“This partnership demonstrates our continuing commitment to improving the sustainability of the aviation industry and supports our ambition to be the first in Japan to produce SAF on a commercial scale,” Mitsui COO and Managing Officer Toru Matsui said in a statement. “The SAF produced by LanzaJet will support the development of a global SAF supply chain, which has the potential to significantly reduce emissions from aviation and help to create a low carbon society.”

LanzaTech was founded in 2005 by Richard Forster and Sean Simpson and is currently led by CEO Jennifer Holmgren. Over the years, the company has become a leader in using methods like gas fermentation, reactor design, machine learning and synthetic biology to develop commercially used carbon recycling processes and sustainable fuels. Last year, LanzaTech closed on a $72 million Series E round, bringing its total funding raised to $350 million. 

At the helm of the new LanzaJet will be Jimmy Samartzis, who has spent decades in the industry working for companies like United Airlines, Airlines for America and the International Air Transportation Association. He is also the former managing director at consulting firm Slalom and a current director on the board of Fermilab, a U.S. Department of Energy lab in Batavia. 

“The launch of LanzaJet marks a historic milestone in the clean energy transition that is underway globally. I’ve been a part of many renewable energy and sustainability firsts over the decade, and this one is the most exciting,” Samartzis said in a statement. “The commercialization of LanzaJet — built on the shoulders of LanzaTech, Suncor, Mitsui, ANA and with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy — gives our world, and aviation in particular, an important solution in shaping a cleaner future.”

Source. Chicago Startups, Ellen Glover, June 3, 2020

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mPower Technology Secures Additional $1.85M in Series A Funding

mPower Technology, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based solar technology company, closed an additional $1.85m in Series A funding.

The extension round – which brought total Series A round to $4.35m – included investments from Cottonwood Technology Fund, NMA Ventures, and various angel investors.

The company intends to use the funds for the development, testing and sales of its DragonSCALES™ (SemiConductor Active Layer Embedded Solar) solar cell technology.

Led by Kevin Hell, president and CEO, mPower Technology has developed DragonSCALES, an interconnected mesh of miniature solar cells which leverages materials, processes, and tools from the silicon photovoltaic (PV) and microelectronics industries to enable new design options for solar power.

Source, FinSMEs, March 24, 2020

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ZincFive Secures $13.1M In Series C Financing

ZincFive, a Tualatin, Oregon-based provider of nickel-zinc batteries and solutions, raised $13.1m in Series C funding.

The round, which brought total funding since inception to $40m, was led by 40 North Ventures with managing director Marc van den Berg joining ZincFive’s board of directors.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate penetration into existing markets including mission critical applications in data centers and intelligent transportation, enter new high-power energy segments and geographies, invest in channel and product development, and build-out annual production capacity.

Led by CEO and Co-founder Tim Hysell, ZincFive has developed patented nickel-zinc battery technology which enables performance and safety characteristics combined with green battery chemistry offering a low maintenance, long operating life and wide operating temperature range, to make nickel-zinc batteries ideal for high power density applications. More than 150 departments of transportation across North America have now deployed the company’s nickel-zinc uninterruptible power solutions in harsh outdoor environments.

Source. FinSMEs, March 18, 2020.

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Wheels raises $50 million for pedal-less e-bike share

Wheels, the startup founded by Wag founders Jonathan and Joshua Viner, just announced a $50 million round led by DBL Partners. This round brings Wheels’ total funding to $87 million.

Wheels currently operates in six markets, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Scottsdale, Ariz.The plan is to use the funding to deploy in additional markets throughout the U.S. and in international markets.

“We’re excited to open up to dozens of cities over the next few months including international expansion,” Wheels COO Marco McCottry told TechCrunch. “As we think about how we fit with the other companies in the space, we’re growing the pie and expanding the market.”

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Sponsor 

myCareBase™ is a platform for seniors and their families to find, evaluate, hire and manage home support services, to improve the seniors’ ability to remain living safely in their current home for as long as possible. The caregiver marketplace currently offers candidates in Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver.

To compliment this platform the company also offers an innovative care management app that centralizes communication and task management among family members and the caregiver, along with a Care Concierge service to help family members with administrative, navigational or organizational tasks.

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Right now, Wheels is focused on the shared model but does see an opportunity to sell directly to consumers, Josh Viner told TechCrunch. Wheels differentiates itself from other bike-share companies with its modular design, swappable parts and batteries. Though, JUMP recently unveiled its vision for swappable batteries on bikes.

Wheels has also developed a patent-pending smart, shareable helmet system that integrates seamlessly onto the bike. The helmet, which can be unlocked with a smartphone, comes with removable hygienic liner. The plan is to deploy the helmet-equipped vehicles by the end of this year.

“The micro mobility market has the ability to continue to revolutionize the future electrification of transport, but problems of safety and sustainability are keeping the industry from reaching its true potential,” DBL Partners Founder and Managing Partner Ira Ehrenpreis said in a statement. “Wheels is solving these issues with its safety-focused product design, including the upcoming release of its integrated helmet technology, a more sustainable business and maintenance model, and a mass-market design that appeals to a wider gender and age demographic.”

Source. TechCrunch, Megan Rose Dickey, October 15, 2019

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Self-driving vehicle startup Zoox has expanded to Las Vegas

Zoox, the autonomous vehicle startup, is expanding to Las Vegas, CTO Jesse Levinson said at TechCrunch Disrupt SF.

The startup, which has raised $800 million and has been testing on public roads in San Francisco, said Las Vegas is a target market for its autonomous driving fleet and service. Las Vegas will serve as an anchor market for Zoox. The company plans to test, validate and refine its technology with future plans to launch an autonomous ride-hailing service there, Levinson said.

Zoox received permission from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles in early 2019 to drive autonomously on state roads. The startup is currently mapping and test-driving new routes in the greater Las Vegas region. The permit also allows Zoox to transport passengers, although that is not happening at this time, the company said.

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Sponsor

myCareBase is a platform for seniors and their families to find, evaluate, hire and manage home support services, to improve the seniors’ ability to remain living safely in their current home for as long as possible. The caregiver marketplace currently offers candidates in Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver.

To compliment this platform the company also offers an innovative care management app that centralizes communication and task management among family members and the caregiver, along with a Care Concierge service to help family members with administrative, navigational or organizational tasks.

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For now, Zoox is doing strategic testing to keep costs in line, CEO Aicha Evans told TechCrunch during Disrupt. That means, Zoox is sending its retrofitted Toyota Highlander autonomous vehicles to Las Vegas for blocks of time, maybe six weeks or so. The company, which has a fleet of more than 30 of these modified vehicles, has now completed five of these deployments.

Over time, Zoox will expand its time and footprint in the city. Zoox plans to start demonstrating its ground-up vehicles on public roads in 2020, with commercial operations soon to follow, the company said,

Zoox says it selected Las Vegas because the region offers an opportunity to extend learning in a second dense urban environment and one that it says has diverse and unique use cases compared to driving in San Francisco. For instance, Las Vegas has reversible lanes, complex pick-up and drop-off zones, high temperatures and more night-time activity, the company said.

Source. TechCrunch, Kirsten Korosec, October 3, 2019

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Complete Solar Raises $9M in Funding

Complete Solar, a San Ramon, CA-based solar tech company, raised $9M in equity funding.

The round was led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund with participation from the Libra Foundation.

The company intends to use the funds to expand:

– its market reach, which includes enabling non-solar sales channels to grow their respective product offerings through its reseller program amd

– its product offerings to include electric car chargers, battery back-up systems, electric heat pumps, roofing, and other home energy upgrades by cross promoting its partners’ energy products.

Led by CEO Will Anderson, Complete Solar provides a platform offering sales tools and diverse financing options to companies looking to offer solar energy systems to homeowners. Since 2016, the company has partnered with over 100 companies across California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Utah and Arizona, which specialize in solar sales as well as established companies in adjacent fields, such as HVAC companies, roofing companies, and new home builders.

Source. FinSMEs, September, 23, 2019

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A Boston startup developing a nuclear fusion reactor just got a roughly $50 million boost

After twenty five years of research, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology think that they have finally cracked the code for the commercialization for nuclear fusion reactions.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems is the fruit of that research. It’s a startup building on decades of research and development that plans to harness the power of the sun to create a cleaner, stable source of energy for consumers. And the company just raised another $50 million in funding from some of the country’s deepest pocketed private investors to continue on its path to commercialization.

The company unveiled its technology and a first $64 million in financing from investors including the Italian energy company, Eni; Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the investment consortium established by the world’s richest men and women, and The Engine, MIT’s own investment vehicle for frontier technologies.

Now Future Ventures, the investment firm created by Steve Jurvetson, Khosla Ventures, Chris Sacca’s Lowercase Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Safar Partners, Schooner Capital and Starlight Ventures.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems began as a student project in 2014 whose goal was to reduce the cost of nuclear fusion. The class, which was taught by Dennis Whyte, who is the head of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, came up with a new reactor technology they called the ARC (standing for “affordable, robust, compact”). That technology still came in with a few billion dollar price tag — something that would make most investors balk.

So the class went back to the drawing board, trying to come up with a minimum viable product that could produce a net energy gain (with more energy coming out of the reaction than was put in).

Net energy gain is the real sticking point for most nuclear fusion technologies. A few research institutions and projects have been able to achieve a fusion reaction, but maintaining it and getting more power out than was put in has been elusive.

In Europe, the ITER reactor, a $20 billion, multi-national effort, is 60% of the way toward its 2045 target for generating energy. Closer to home, startups like TAE Technologies and General Fusion are two other North American entrants looking at lower-cost ways to generate fusion power. And in the UK, First Light Fusion and Tokamak Energy are trying to put their own spin on fusion power.

For Bob Mumgaard, the chief executive of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, everything appears to be proceeding according to plan. on track. “CFS is on track to commercialize fusion and deliver an inherently safe, globally scalable, carbon-free, and limitless energy source,” he said in a statement.

Commonwealth Fusion expects to have its smallest possible reactor built by 2025 thanks to the research that MIT has done on proprietary magnet technology that the company uses to confine its nuclear reaction. In fact, most of the financing will go toward construction of the full scale magnet technology Commonwealth Fusion uses to contain its reactions.

The ultimate goal is to build a fusion reactor that can generate 50 megawatts of energy either as heat or to create electricity using a steam turbine.

Unlike fission reactors, which have significant environmental risks, a fusion power plant would be regulated in much the same way as any industrial facility, says Mumgaard. “The hazard profile of fusion continues to put it in [the category of] an industrial facility. The laws exist, but we haven’t gone out and built the plant yet, so no one has the precedent.”

Mumgaard envisions a 200 megawatt scale reactor that could slot into the place of a wind farm or solar power plant.

“You have to keep track of moving towards vs. going to get to,” he says. “The consensus is we do not have a solution in hand for deep decarbonization of the electricity grid. if you look at where the biggest gains even in renewables.. the biggest gains are in the utility scale were you’re talking hundreds of megawatts of power per site.”

Renewable energy alone will not be enough to meet the demand that’s coming from modern metropolises, according to Mumgaard. “There is huge demand for concentrated energy to power the modern lifestyle.

Public opinion on the issue is increasingly divided — especially among nuclear opponents who count themselves as part of the Sunrise Movement behind the Green New Deal that’s been the talk of the town in energy policy circles. But most energy analysts  argue for a blended approach and say that to get to zero carbon emissions (the ultimate goal for the scientific community), nuclear power will need to be incorporated into the mix.

“We have been looking for the right clean energy investment opportunity in fusion for the past 20 years, said Steve Jurvetson, chief executive of Future Ventures, in a statement. “We wanted a company that was ready to make a business of fusion and we have finally found it with Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The hard science from which their approach is based has been proven by this team as well as leaders in the field around the world.  With some clever engineering, CFS is ready to harness the power of the solar cycle to change the world and usher in the era of clean baseload energy generation for the betterment of all.”

Source. TechCrunch, Johnathan Bieber, June 27, 2019

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LevelTen Energy raises $20.5 million for its renewable energy marketplace

By Jonathan Shieberpple

LevelTen a marketplace that consolidates renewable energy projects and potential buyers to lower prices for aggregated buyers and expand the market for sellers, has raised $20.5 million in a new round of funding.

Investors in the round included the venture arms of utility and energy companies like Constellation Technology Ventures (the investment arm of Exelon Corp.), Equinor Energy Ventures and Total Ventures. The financing was led by Prelude Ventures, with participation from other financial investment firms including Element 8 Fund, Founders’ Co-op, Techstars Ventures and Wireframe Ventures.

Founded in 2016 and accelerated by TechStars as a clearinghouse for clean energy projects for corporate and utility energy buyers, the company expanded its services in 2018 with the launch of the LevelTen marketplace — providing details on every clean energy, utility-scale project in North America.

That launch was followed by the release of a price-matching and request for proposal automation tool to give companies the ability to post their own projects and find available projects more efficiently.

Overall, companies have procured more than $1 billion of renewable energy through LevelTen. The company has also aggregated a procurement deal for Bloomberg, Cox Enterprises, Gap, Salesforce and Workday.

The company said it would use the money to expand its footprint internationally.

“Historically, excessive market opacity, cost and risk prevented all but a select group of Fortune 500 buyers from signing utility-scale power purchase agreements. This exclusionary problem is one we’re committed to addressing,” said Bryce Smith, CEO and founder of LevelTen Energy.

Source. TechCrunch, Jonathan Shieberpple, June 4, 2019

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India’s Ather Energy raises $51 million to grow its electric scooters business

By Manish Singh

There’s more money racing into India’s increasingly competitive two-wheeler market after electric scooter maker Ather Energy said today it has raised $51 million in new funding.

The round was led by early backer Sachin Bansal, the co-founder of Flipkart, who invested $32 million. The rest of the money was provided by Hero MotoCorp, which added $19 million in convertible debt, and venture debt VC firm InnoVen Capital, which put in $8 million. The deal means that the six-year-old startup has raised around $90 million to date. Ather Energy was valued at about $400 million in the new round, a person familiar with the matter said.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Tarun Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Ather Energy, said the startup will use the fresh capital to expand to new cities, and ramp up its manufacturing capacity and supply chain network. Ather’s scooters, currently available only in Bengaluru, will be launched in Chennai followed by other unspecified cities, he said.

Ather Energy will also attempt to produce 20,000 to 25,000 scooters a year through its own manufacturing plant in Bengaluru, Mehta revealed. The company is also keen to expand its product portfolio, which currently numbers just two scooter models — Ather 340 (priced at $1,600) and 450 ($1,770). By 2023, the startup is aiming to grow its presence to more than 30 cities, with over 6,500 charging stations — up from 38 currently — and production capacity of a million scooters in a year.

There’s some way to go before it can reach those lofty goals, but Ather has built a fan-following in the nation for its scooters in recent years. Its scooters sport high storage battery density (2.4 KWh Lithium-ion), a dashboard for navigation information, 75 km of mileage and take less than three hours to fully charge.

That’s led Mehta to call the Ather 450 “the most powerful smart scooter in the Indian market.”

Ather Energy offers its scooters to consumers in three ways: outright purchase, purchase with a subscription for value-added features and leasing, an option it only recently introduced.

The company’s competitors include Vogo, Bounce and Yulu, which earlier this month inked a deal with Uber to conduct a trial in the nation. Another big name is also involved: Uber rival Ola has invested about $100 million in startup Vogo, which operates in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Mehta said he thinks electric scooters are a good fit for ride-hailing giants, and that’s something he is open to exploring at a later stage. But for now, his startup will stick to its B2C (business to consumer) play.

In a prepared statement, Sachin Bansal, who has emerged as one of the most prolific VCs in India, said, “Their [Ather Energy’s] focus on end to end customer experience will open up new revenue opportunities and accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in India. The future is electric and I am excited to be a part of this journey in shaping the future.”

Source. Techcrunch, Manish Singh,  May 28, 2019

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ChargeWheel Raises $1M To Make Charging EVs With Solar Power Convenient

By Holden Page

With the advent of electric vehicles—from scooters to Teslas—there are a lot of batteries that need charging, and ChargeWheel wants to make doing so as convenient as possible.

The SF-based startup, which just announced that it raised $1 million in seed funding, claims in a press release that it can top off “four electric vehicles or up to 400 e-bikes and e-scooters” with fast charging. It does so by carting around what the company calls “energy trailers” by van. ChargeWheel’s energy trailers use solar power, ensuring clean energy is powering your scooter ride. According to Huzaifa Muhammed, the CEO of ChargeWheel, many mobility startups rely on diesel generators outside city centers to keep up with charging demands.

The mobility of the trailers is also a benefit. Charging infrastructure, while proliferating, is still somewhat hard to find given the capital expense and various permitting requirements. And once built, it is hard to adapt the units to changing commuter demands. However, ChargeWheel claims its trailers can be plopped down “wherever you can bring a van.” Still, the company doesn’t address in its press release how city officials may view large batteries that take up space in parking lots.

The company plans to use its $1 million in funding to bring 100 energy trailers to market. It will lease trailers to fleet operators by the end of the year. Individual drivers will be able to use ChargeWheel’s energy trailers for a Prime-like $99 per-year subscription fee.

Source. Crunchbase, Holden Page, March 26, 2019

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Linear Labs’ next-gen electric motor attracts $4.5 million in funding

By Kirsten Korosec

Linear Labs, a startup developing an electric motor for cars, scooters, robots, wind turbines and even HVAC systems, has raised $4.5 million in a seed round led by Science Inc. and Kindred Ventures.

Investors Chris and Crystal Sacca, Ryan Graves of Saltwater Ventures, Dynamic Signal CEO Russ Fradin, Masergy executive chairman and former-CEO Chris MacFarland, as well as Ustream co-founder Gyula Feher also participated in the round.

The four-year-old company was founded by Brad and Fred Hunstable, who say they have invented a lighter, more flexible electric motor. The pair came up with the motor they’ve dubbed the Hunstable Electric Turbine (HET) while working to design a device that could pump clean water and provide power for small communities in underdeveloped regions of the world.

Linear Labs currently has 50 filed patents, 21 of which are issued, with 29 patents pending.

The founders come with a background in entrepreneurship and electrical engineering. Brad Hunstable is former CEO and founder of Ustream, the live-video-streaming service that sold to IBM in 2016 for $150 million. Fred Hunstable, who comes with a background in electrical engineering and nuclear power, led Ebasco and Walker Engineering’s efforts in designing, upgrading and completing electrical infrastructure, environmental and enterprise projects as well as safety and commercial-grade evaluation programs.

The HET uses multiple rotors that can adapt to varying conditions, according to the company. It also produces twice as much torque density and three times the power density than permanent magnet motors. Linear Labs says its motor produces two times the output per given motor size, and minimum 10 percent more range.

The HET design makes it ideally suited for mobility applications such as electric vehicles because it produces high levels of torque without the need for a gearbox. This helps cut production cuts, the company contends.

“The holy grail in electric motors has always been high torque and no gearbox, and the HET achieves both in a smaller, lighter and more efficient package that is more powerful than traditional motors,” Linear Labs CTO Fred Hunstable said in a statement.

The upshot could be electric vehicles with better range and more powerful electric scooters.

The commercialization of the electric motor will result in substantial leaps in terms of energy savings, reliability enhancement, and low-cost manufacturing, according to Babak Fahimi, founding director of the Renewable Energy and Vehicular Technology (REVT) Laboratory at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The company plans to use the seed funding to market its invention to customers. It’s also hiring talent and recently added new people to its leadership team, including John Curry as their president and Jon Hurry as vice president. Curry comes from KLA-Tencor and NanoPhotonics. Hurry has held positions at Tesla and Faraday Future.

Source. Techcrunch, Kirsten Korosec, March 26, 2019

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