Yard Stick/Soil Health Institute's In Situ Spectroscopy to Soil Organic Carbon Measurement
On August 17, 2023, Yard Stick PBC announced $10.6 million raised in Series A funding for their low-cost, in situ soil carbon measurement technology in a round led by Toyota Ventures Climate Fund with participation from the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Lowercarbon Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Pillar VC, and others. Their Series A round brings Yard Stick’s total venture capital funding to over $16 million.
Capturing CO2 at Scale with Captura's Hollow-Fiber Membranes
ARPA-E awardee Captura raised $12 million in Series A funding for their direct ocean capture (DOC) technology in a round led by Equinor Ventures, along with Aramco Ventures, the Caltech Seed Fund, Hitachi Ventures, Future Planet Capital, and mTerra Ventures in January 2023. Captura is using this funding to scale up their business and DOC technology that captures carbon dioxide (CO2) directly out of the ocean. Captura will use this funding to accelerate its piloting program and improve the DOC technology itself, including optimizing the CO2 permeable membranes and reducing CO2 removal costs.
Emrgy’s Radically Reimagined Hydropower Technology
On April 11, 2023, ARPA-E awardee Emrgy raised $18.4M for their proprietary hydrokinetic turbine (HKT) in a Series A funding round led by Oval Park Capital, including key investors Fifth Wall, Blitzscaling Ventures, Overlay Capital, and Veriten. Emrgy will use this funding to open their turbine assembly facility in Aurora, Colorado with an estimated production capacity of 5 megawatts per month, deploy their distributed hydropower plants, and hire staff for their development, operations, and engineering teams.
Enzinc’s Rechargeable, Long-Life, Zinc-Based Battery is Diversifying the Electric Vehicle (EV) Battery Market
ARPA-E awardee Enzinc raised $4.5 million in seed funding for their zinc microsponge EV battery anode in a round led by Portland-based 3x5 Partners in July of 2022. This seed funding, along with a $1.8 million Bringing Rapid Innovation Development to Green Energy (BRIDGE) grant from the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program through the California Energy Commission (CEC), has allowed them to finalize testing of their prototype and design an automated production line for their anode. Alongside the $1.8 million BRIDGE grant, Enzinc has won four out of the five CEC grants within the EPIC Program, totaling $2.69 million.
Syzygy Plasmonics Secures Funding for Photoreactor Technology Enabling Production of Green Hydrogen
ARPA-E awardee Syzygy Plasmonics recently raised $76 million in Series C funding from Carbon Direct Capital along with Aramco Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Lotte Chemical, and Toyota Ventures. Early investors in Syzygy also joined the round, including EVOK Innovations, The Engine, Equinor Ventures, Goose Capital, Horizons Ventures, Pan American Energy, and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas. Syzygy previously raised over $35 million in public and private funding for their novel technology.
Brimstone Energy’s Revolutionary Cement is a Climate Solution
ARPA-E awardee Brimstone Energy raised $55 million in Series A funding in a round co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and DCVC in April of 2022. This is one of the largest ever Series A rounds for a materials-science startup and follows Brimstone’s $5.1 million seed round raised in November of 2021.
Bridger Photonics’ Novel Methane Detection Technology
ARPA-E awardee Bridger Photonics, a Montana-based company developing methane detection technology, raised $55 million in funding from Beaverhead Partners, a syndicate composed of Madison Valley Partners, Carica Sustainable Investments, and Next Frontier Capital. The investment – one of the largest investments from venture capital seen in the state of Montana – will allow Bridger Photonics to continue its rapid growth and bring in new employees for their recent office expansion.
A Solid Future for Batteries: Ion Storage System’s Novel Structure for Lithium-ion Batteries
Ion Storage Systems (ION) recently raised more than $30 million in its Series A funding round for their novel approach to solid-state batteries. The funding round included several investors, including Toyota Ventures. Their recently announced investment will enable ION to establish a battery cell manufacturing line for their next-generation solid-state batteries. Funds raised in the Series A round will also drive the company’s current development projects forward in the consumer electronics, automotive, and stationary storage markets.
Heirloom’s Low-Cost, Scalable Carbon Removal Technology
Heirloom Carbon Technologies recently announced $53 million in follow-on funding for their direct air capture (DAC) technology raised from investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Heirloom’s technology leverages carbon mineralization, taking naturally available rocks and minerals with a propensity to absorb CO2 and increasing their speed and ability to do so.
A Solid Energy Storage Solution: Antora's Solid-State Thermal Battery
ARPA-E awardee Antora Energy recently raised $50 million in a financing round for their solid-state thermal battery. Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital led this financing round, offering further support for Antora’s mission store thermal energy in inexpensive carbon blocks and offer an efficient, cost-effective grid storage solution.
Verdox's Electro-Swing Technology Offers Scalable Carbon Capture Solution
ARPA-E awardee Verdox announced $80M in follow-on funding on February 2nd, 2022. The funding from a group of investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, and Lowercarbon Capital will help develop and deploy the company’s novel electrochemical carbon capture technology.
Sila Nanotechnologies’ Si Anode Enabling Longer Battery Life in Wearable Electronics
On September 7, 2021, WHOOP launched its latest wearable fitness device, WHOOP 4.0, which will feature Sila Nanotechnologies’ new battery technology. Their technology replaces graphite anodes with silicon (Si) to increase the energy density of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, which can reduce battery size without sacrificing safety or performance. Sila Nanotechnologies’ anode technology helps enable the WHOOP 4.0’s slim design.
Long Duration Storage and Electric Vehicle Batteries with ESS Inc. and Solid Power
ESS began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange on October 11, 2021. ESS’ (NYSE: GWH) batteries provide a new tool for decarbonizing the grid and further ARPA-E's mission of changing what's possible in how we generate, use, and store energy. For a look back at ESS’ time as an ARPA-E project, check out the original blog below and watch the video we recorded with them in 2017.
Ampaire Inc. and the Future of Electric Aviation
On February 18, regional air travel company Surf Air Mobility announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire hybrid-electric aviation startup Ampaire Inc., incorporating Ampaire’s unique electric powertrain technology into their plans to make electric air travel more widely available, sustainable, and affordable. The deal, reportedly worth roughly $100 million, would see Surf Air take on complete ownership of Ampaire, including hiring their existing employees, and operating it under a new division of the company called AMP.
Zap Energy and the Pursuit of Lower-Cost Fusion Energy
After raising $27.5 million in their Series B fundraising round in May 2021, Zap Energy recently announced they raised an additional $160 million in follow-on funding. Lowercarbon Capital led their Series C funding round, with additional investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Shell Ventures, DCVC, and Valor Equity Partners. The Zap Energy team also announced a major technical milestone last month. Zap Energy created the first plasma in their FuZE-Q prototype. With the roughly $200 million in additional funding Zap has secured since 2017 and the first plasma created in their FuZE-Q, the team is making progress toward the conditions needed for scientific energy breakeven and beyond.
Stanford University/QuantumScape and the BEEST Program
On September 3, 2020, battery producer QuantumScape announced its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange through a reverse-merger with the special public acquisition company Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. at an implied value of $3.3 billion. QuantumScape spun out of a project at Stanford University that was awarded $1.5 million to develop transportation battery technology under the Batteries for Electrical Storage in Transportation (BEEST) program.
