Innovation uses technology to advance sustainability goals for businesses

News Summary:

• Cisco and Morgan Solar are piloting a project that powers collaboration and meeting spaces with solar energy.
• The design leverages Morgan Solar’s Energy Blinds – photovoltaic, algorithmically controlled window shades that capture clean, solar energy – and Cisco’s Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switch, which helps distribute energy within the room, along with integrations into Webex.
• This solution offers opportunities for businesses to think differently about their path to net zero, unlocking innovative approaches that can be used in commercial office spaces to help advance sustainability goals through technology.

TORONTO, April 22, 2024 — Today, Cisco and Morgan Solar, a Toronto-based company that specializes in solutions for integrating solar energy into urban environments, have announced a pilot project to power collaboration and meeting spaces with solar energy.

The first pilot project is currently deployed at Cisco’s Toronto Innovation Centre with plans to include two additional customer sites. The concept leverages Morgan Solar’s Energy Blinds, capturing clean, solar energy in a direct current (DC) microgrid, and Cisco’s Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switch, which helps to distribute energy within the room. Cisco’s Webex platform is also integrated and detects when the room is not in use to help maximize energy generation and minimize energy consumption.

“To take meaningful steps towards a sustainable future, businesses need to think creatively about how to get there,” said Wayne Cuervo, Director of Cisco Canada’s Digital Impact Office. “Collaborating with forward-thinking companies like Morgan Solar, we’re driving the development of smart solutions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from traditional energy generation technologies and giving businesses new pathways towards sustainability.”

The initial results show production of up to 50W of renewable energy per window, enough to effectively run the pilot room’s required equipment and devices. When the room is not occupied, the system stores excess solar energy to use later when needed or for use during peak times when energy from the grid may be more expensive. If expanded across office spaces, the solution could enable greater energy efficiency and on-site energy generation than rooftop solar alone.

Beyond sustainability considerations, the pilot project intends to support tangible business value, including cost savings and enhanced productivity. It may also help lower the cost path towards U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in older buildings.

Canada, like many nations, has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The Cisco-Morgan Solar concept represents new thinking on how innovative technology solutions can contribute to national sustainability goals. As stakeholders look for pragmatic solutions to address climate change, technology can unlock new opportunities for growth and environmental stewardship in Canada and around the world.

“We’re committed to creating solutions that make solar energy more accessible to organizations and are working with Cisco to make that happen,” said John Paul Morgan, President and Chief Technology Officer at Morgan Solar. “Energy flow through windows is the main driver of a building’s energy use. Actively managing and capturing sunlight at the window paves the way for offices to become more self-powered and sustainable, while also being more comfortable spaces for people to work in.”

This initiative was born from Morgan Solar’s winning submission in Cisco’s Fast Future Innovation Awards in 2022 and funded through Cisco Canada’s Country Digital Acceleration Program. Grounded in the understanding that innovation cannot thrive on its own, through this awards program, Cisco dedicates its resources, expertise and scale to help solve challenges faced by Canadian businesses.

Cisco’s Net Zero Goals

Cisco has been reporting on its environmental impact since 2005. In 2021, Cisco set a goal to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions across our value chain by 2040. Our goal includes all scopes of emissions and is approved by the Science Based Targets initiative under its Corporate Net-Zero Standard, the world’s only framework for corporate net zero target setting in line with climate science. In Cisco´s fiscal year 2023, Cisco consumed more than 1.3 million MWh of renewable electricity, making up approximately 91 per cent of its total global electricity demand, including sourcing 100 per cent of the electricity used at Cisco facilities in Canada from renewable sources.

Additional Resources:

Cisco’s environmental sustainability strategy: the Plan for Possible

Morgan Solar’s sustainability solutions

Morgan Solar’s Energy Blinds

About Cisco 

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that securely connects everything to make anything possible. Our purpose is to power an inclusive future for all by helping our customers reimagine their applications, power hybrid work, secure their enterprise, transform their infrastructure, and meet their sustainability goals. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on X at @Cisco. 
   
Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco’s trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. 

About Morgan Solar

Morgan Solar is a technology innovator and manufacturer with 15 years of experience developing products and services for the urban building and utility solar sectors. In the building sector, we develop photovoltaic products that offer superior energy and emissions performance, while complimenting the aesthetic vision of each client. In the solar sector, we have a platform of sensors and analytics tools to deliver data-driven insights into solar field performance and optimization. Based in Toronto, Canada, our scientists and engineers are experts in product design, light modeling, optics, distributed sensors & controls, and data analytics. For more information, visit us at morgansolar.com.

Nicolas Morgan

n@morgansolar.com

Source: Morgan Solar Inc.

A used electric vehicle (EV) will be sold every minute in the U.S. according to new data from Recurrent, the leader in used EV analytics. This milestone, expected by late 2024, marks an increase in sales volume of roughly 100 percent over 2022 and 40 percent over 2023. 

Recurrent’s newly released Q1 Used EV Market Report identifies two primary catalysts for the growth of the used market. 

1. Longer range models are entering the used market in larger numbers, including a substantial number of the roughly 300,000 Tesla Model 3 sold in the US between 2017 and 2019. 
2. The rebates that launched this week now offer up to $4,000 back at the time of sale, compared to year-end tax credits in 2023. 

“Our market indicators suggest that we are at the start of an inflection point for used electric cars in the U.S.,” said Scott Case, CEO of Recurrent. “Shoppers no longer need to choose between range and affordability. A used EV shopper can drive home in a Tesla for less than $25,000.”

Recurrent’s $16M Series A Round Funds Growth

Capitalizing on this market momentum, Recurrent announced today that it completed its $16 million oversubscribed Series A funding round, to scale out its industry-leading used EV battery reports. The funding round was led by ArcTern Ventures, with additional investment from Automotive Ventures, Goodyear Ventures, Wireframe Ventures, Pioneer Square Labs and others. 

“Used EV value is unequivocally driven by a vehicle’s range and battery,” said Ian Pinnington, partner at ArcTern Ventures. “ArcTern conducted extensive primary research to develop the high conviction that Recurent’s data-driven solution is not only the right approach, but is in a standalone market-leading position. As Recurrent continues to become a standard in the used EV ecosystem, we believe the company will inform all used EV transactions.”

Other Used EV Market Accelerants

The launch of federal point-of-sale used EV rebates is the other key market accelerator for 2024, but one that is expected to be variable at first.

Rebate eligibility is dependent on dealerships signing up with the government, and while over 7,000 dealerships had registered their company with the Department of Treasury, a much smaller number of dealerships are actively providing the point-of-sale used EV rebate, according to a Recurrent survey. Only 7% of the roughly 200 dealerships contacted in December 2023 confirmed that they had taken steps to participate. 

Used EV shoppers can find a list of registered dealerships and check rebate eligibility on the Recurrent website for free, in addition to checking the expected range on thousands of used cars. Range information, including links to full Recurrent Reports, can also be found EV listings on Edmunds.com and Cars.com. 

“As a used EV shopper, you definitely want to get this $4000 discount, but the rules aren’t straightforward – which dealers, which vehicles and which buyers qualify,” said Case.

For more information about point-of-sale EV rebates, visit Recurrent’s EV tax credit guide. General questions about Recurrent can be sent to contact@recurrentauto.com.

Source: Recurrent

• New & existing investors participated in the investment round 
• With the capital, Soly will expand into Italy, Spain, France & Scandinavia 
• Goal is to supply 500K+ households & businesses with renewable energy by 2030 

Groningen, Netherlands – January 15th, 2024 – Soly – one of the leading international solar energy companies – today announced that it successfully closed an investment totaling €30M. The capital from this round will enable the company to expand into a plethora of new countries – including Italy, Spain, France, and Scandinavia – and offer a wide-range of innovative energy services. The raise was led by the international climate venture capital firm, ArcTern Ventures in partnership with US-based Fifth Wall, the largest asset manager focused on improving, future-proofing, and decarbonizing today’s built world. Existing investors Shell Ventures & the pension fund ABP meaningfully completed the round.

“With Soly, our mission is to make solar energy available to everyone. This investment will propel our ability to help more people and businesses, in even more countries, to switch to sustainable and affordable energy,” said Patrick van der Meulen, CEO and co-founder, Soly. “I am immensely proud of our team’s accomplishments and the trust of our clients over the past decade. I am thrilled to have these impact-driven partners.”

“Soly’s comprehensive, multi-product approach and their great customer and installer platforms, in tandem with its well-proven ability to enter into new geographies with capital and time efficiency, uniquely positions the company to become a utility of the future in Europe,” shared Miguel Nigorra, a Partner and the Head of Europe for Fifth Wall. “In Europe alone, the solar market represents a more than €3.2 trillion opportunity. We are looking forward to partnering with Patrick, Milan, and their market leading team – as they enter into their next phase of transformational growth.”

Mira Inbar, ArcTern Ventures: “If we are going to make meaningful progress on climate change, the energy transition will require homes to electrify on a massive scale. Soly is the only truly digital solar sales platform in Europe with compelling unit economics and impressive growth across multiple countries. Soly is uniquely positioned to be a leader of home electrification in Europe and we are thrilled to accompany them on this journey of growth.”

Utility Of The Future 
Milan van der Meulen, co-founder, explains, “The energy transition has long ceased to revolve solely around generating energy. In the coming phase, forecasting as well as managing renewable energy will be crucial. In 2023, we launched our home energy management system: the Soly Brain®. Based on our dynamic energy contract – it intelligently controls solar panels, home batteries and charging stations, among other things to create an additional revenue model for the end-user. Eventually, we’ll bundle our users into a Virtual Power Plant to actively balance the energy grid and offer new services. In 2024, we’ll install the first energy networks in the Netherlands & Germany.”

Strong Growth Despite A Challenging Market 
The transition from fossil energy to decentralized & renewable energy is characterized by exponential growth but also by erratic market conditions. Driven by extremely high energy prices, the European solar market grew 40-percent in 2022, in the latter part of 2023 market demand fell sharply. Due in part to its rapid international expansion, new products, and proprietary software platform, Soly tripled its sales in 2023 compared to 2022. Soly operates in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, selling and leasing solar energy systems, batteries, and charging stations. 

Source: Soly

Winnow scales computer vision enabled technology to equip chefs to track and cut food waste in half. 

[London, June 13th ] — Winnow, the innovative technology company behind AI-driven food waste reduction solutions, announced today that it has secured $10 million in Series C funding. Investors in the round included ArcTern Ventures, Bridge Nine, Mustard Seed, Circularity Capital, Ingka Investments (investment arm of IKEA, the biggest IKEA retailer), and Novax. This latest investment will be used to expand product development, building on Winnow’s world-leading AI capabilities.

This announcement comes after the successful collaboration between Winnow and IKEA, which resulted in a 50% reduction in food waste across over 400 IKEA stores worldwide. By utilizing Winnow’s cutting-edge AI technology, the partnership delivered $37m worth of savings to the business whilst saving 20m meals from the trash. IKEA became the first major foodservice business to meet the Sustainable Development Goal to halve food waste.  

Winnow’s innovative AI solutions have been widely adopted by leading hospitality brands such as Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Accor, Compass Group, ISS, and Iberostar. The Series C funding will enable the company to continue building its technology making Winnow’s AI faster and smarter whilst expanding its global reach.

The technology harnesses the power of computer vision to identify wasted food items in real time. Winnow’s analytics tools then help teams pinpoint waste areas giving them insights to make operational improvements and cut waste in half. Typically a commercial kitchen wastes 5%-15% of the food it buys (source: Winnow analysis of over 1,000 kitchens worldwide). 

A kitchen using Winnow would therefore expect to cut food purchasing costs by 2%-8% which is material given recent hikes in food inflation placing margin pressures on operators. Winnow is viewed as the number one solution provider in this space with operations in 70+ countries and the only AI-based technology of its kind to scale globally. 

“We are thrilled to have the support of such prominent  investors who share our vision of a more sustainable food industry,” said Marc Zornes, CEO and co-founder of Winnow “This investment will enable us to further develop our world-leading AI capabilities, bringing even greater efficiency and impact to our clients and partners as we work together to reduce food waste on a global scale.”

“We’re delighted to announce ArcTern Ventures’ investment in Winnow. Their ground breaking technology and global reach perfectly chimes with our approach to backing breakthrough solutions that will accelerate our response to climate change,” ArcTern Ventures managing partner Marc Faucher said.  

Food waste is a major global issue with WWF estimating that up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to food loss and waste. Winnow estimates that in excess of $100bn worth of food is wasted each year in the hospitality sector alone. 

Winnow’s AI-driven food waste solutions have demonstrated significant success in reducing waste and costs for clients. To date the company has saved $174 million and cut 217,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions worldwide – the equivalent of taking almost 50,000 cars off the road for a year.

About Winnow 

Winnow is a registered B corporation and pioneering technology company committed to reducing food waste in the hospitality sector. Founded in 2013, Winnow’s mission is to help clients save money while improving their environmental footprint through the implementation of AI-driven solutions. Winnow’s cutting-edge technology has been adopted by leading hospitality brands worldwide, enabling them to reduce food waste and operate more efficiently. For more information, visit www.winnowsolutions.com.

Source: Winnow

ArcTern Ventures leads, joined by Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Northvolt, and existing investors

Liminal, a battery manufacturing intelligence company, today announced a $17.5 million Series A2 funding round, led by climate tech fund ArcTern Ventures, joined by new investors Northvolt and Ecosystem Integrity Fund, and with continued support from Chrysalix Venture Capital, Good Growth Capital, University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners, Volta Energy Technologies, Impact Science Ventures, and Helios Climate Ventures. Liminal will use this funding to scale its EchoStat® inspection systems into factory-integrated solutions for global battery manufacturers, tapping into the rapidly growing demand for safe, reliable, and more affordable EV batteries.

“Our mission is to catalyze a clean energy future in which EVs are the default option for everyone,” said Liminal CEO and Co-Founder, Andrew Hsieh. “Our products help battery manufacturers hit their aggressive production volume and cost targets, while ensuring their cells meet stringent EV safety and performance requirements. As we deploy our first factory-integrated solutions, we are excited to be joined by top tier climate investors and one of the most promising global battery manufacturers. This syndicate demonstrates significant and accelerating progress towards our goal of facilitating a clean energy future.”

ArcTern Partner and U.S. Department of Energy C3E award winner Mira Inbar will join Liminal’s Board of Directors. Inbar spent about two decades building clean energy businesses before joining ArcTern. She has direct experience scaling a battery manufacturing company while at Dow Kokam, Dow Chemical’s joint venture for battery cell manufacturing.

“Most battery innovation to date has focused on material science,” Inbar said. “However, the industry needs a larger focus on process and manufacturing innovations to ensure both affordability and safety. Liminal is the only company that we see effectively bridging that critical gap.”

In 2022, Liminal launched its automated EchoStat platform — the only in-line, high-speed ultrasound inspection solution engineered specifically for EV-grade batteries. The platform provides battery cell manufacturers and auto OEMs with previously unavailable insights allowing them to commercialize and reduce time to market.

“Northvolt’s intention is to accelerate the transition to a sustainable and electrified society. Ensuring high-quality cells through cost-competitive technology innovation is what this investment is about. Northvolt’s participation in this round will contribute to the scale-up and industrialization of Liminal’s solutions by combining the unique skill sets of the two companies,” said Paolo Cerruti, co-founder and chief operating officer at Northvolt, a leading European supplier of sustainable, high-quality battery cells and systems. “After successfully evaluating Liminal’s solutions at Northvolt Ett, our first high-volume manufacturing facility, we have expanded our relationship to become investors in order to accelerate the company’s future innovations.”

The funding will also support product industrialization and manufacturing, significant team growth, and international expansion. The company currently has open positions across its commercial, engineering, operations, and administrative teams. More information about careers with Liminal can be found at Liminal Careers.

About Liminal: Liminal is a battery manufacturing intelligence provider that combines ultrasound technology with machine learning to deliver advanced insights that empower manufacturers. By improving the performance and safety of batteries and decreasing their lifetime costs, Liminal’s solutions address the climate crisis and for increased scalability for battery manufacturers to create a world where EVs are accessible to all drivers. Liminal was founded in 2015 by top technologists from Princeton University, who were part of the Cyclotron Road entrepreneurial fellowship program (now part of Activate). Visit liminalinsights.com for more information.

About ArcTern Ventures: ArcTern Ventures is a venture capital firm obsessed with helping solve the climate crisis and rethinking sustainability. ArcTern, based in Toronto with offices in Oslo and San Francisco, invests globally in breakthrough technology companies solving climate change and sustainability – we call it #earthtech. The fund was founded on the premise that accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral economy will disrupt all industries and present an unprecedented opportunity for outsized financial returns. Solving our planet’s biggest problems will lead to big rewards—for companies, their investors, and of course, Mother Earth.

Source: BusinessWire

The lowly breaker panel has been around for a century without getting much love, and along comes Span. The company is making a compelling bid for better, smarter electrical panels, and just got a $90 million top-up to continue its evolution. The company is solving the challenges of electrification and micro-grid balancing, ensuring that the smart homes of the future have better visibility in the how, what and why of power consumption.

Span raised $10 million a couple of years ago, integrated with Alexa and launched a smarter EV charger earlier this year to go with the smart panels.

“I was very fortunate to join Tesla in the very early days of defining what Tesla Energy subsequently became. So I was one of the early leaders in the Energy Group. People are probably most familiar with the Powerwall battery, but I was the leader of the product team there that designed, developed and deployed residential products, commercial industry products, as well as utility-scale products both on the hardware and software side. During my time, they were also responsible for products like the solar roof and deployment of solar, the glass roof part, if you will,” Arch Rao, CEO and founder of SPAN told me in an interview earlier this year. “One of the things that I got to see firsthand while deploying home batteries and solar systems and electric vehicle charging systems around the world, is that there is a fundamental problem tied to infrastructure. It is going to be a deterrent to the adoption of distributed clean energy, especially if you believe that electrification is a meaningful part of the Fossil Free journey that we want to be on. If we want to supplant [fossil-fuel focused appliances] with superior electric appliances, it’s going to require a massive upgrade to the infrastructure starting with the home electrical panel.”

“We started with reinventing the electrical panel, as it is the core component to any scalable path to electrification of homes, but the consumer experience demands more,” says Rao. “We’re excited to deploy this new capital to expand our product offerings that simplify the decarbonization of homes, and to continue developing the unparalleled approach to home energy management that Span is uniquely positioned to deliver.”

Span’s Series B funding round was led by Fifth Wall Climate Tech and Wellington Management. Other investors include Angeleno Group, FootPrint Coalition, Obsidian Investment Partners and A/O PropTech. The company explains it will use the new funding to continue developing the Span Home suite of energy products and solutions to drive commercial growth and accelerate the electrification of homes.

Source: www.techcrunch.com

Carbon America, the first vertically integrated carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) super developer, announced today two agreements with Sterling Ethanol, LLC and Yuma Ethanol, LLC to develop CCS projects at two Colorado ethanol production facilities that will capture and store 95 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions per year from the fermentation process. Carbon America will finance, build, own and operate the CCS systems at the ethanol plants in Sterling and Yuma, Colorado, and ensure secure geologic sequestration nearly one mile underground in northeastern Colorado. The projects are the first two commercial CCS projects in the state of Colorado.

The emissions reduction from the CCS projects will help Colorado reach its climate goal, to reduce statewide emissions by 50 percent by 2030, and 90 percent by 2050 from 2005 levels. The projects will enable Sterling Ethanol, LLC and Yuma Ethanol, LLC to reduce the carbon intensity of ethanol production, and increase their competitiveness in the market.

“Carbon capture and storage is a critical tool to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and we are thrilled to work with Sterling Ethanol, LLC and Yuma Ethanol, LLC to permanently sequester carbon dioxide underground,” said Carbon America CEO Brent Lewis. “Projects like these will help the ethanol industry decarbonize and contribute to global emissions reductions needed to reach net-zero by 2050.”

Carbon America plans to install carbon capture equipment at both ethanol plants that will extract CO₂ from the ethanol production process and transfer the gas via new carbon dioxide pipelines to an underground geologic sequestration site, where the CO₂ will be permanently stored. The sequestration site is rigorously designed to comply with Federal Class VI and California Air Resource Board Low Carbon Fuel Standard permanency requirements, and Carbon America is working closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and multiple Colorado regulatory agencies to ensure the project meets all environmental regulations. Carbon America expects the projects to be fully operational in 2024.

“We look forward to working with Carbon America to reduce emissions at our Sterling and Yuma ethanol facilities and produce some of the lowest-carbon ethanol available on the market,” said Sterling Ethanol, LLC and Yuma Ethanol, LLC President & General Manager, Dave Kramer. “Carbon capture and storage will allow us to continue supporting our rural communities and their farming and cattle operations and their economic development, while significantly reducing our environmental impact.”

Please send comments and questions about the projects to Carbon America at https://www.carbonamerica.com/contact-us.

About Carbon America
Carbon America is a vertically integrated super developer of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects with a mission to accelerate deployment for wide-scale climate change mitigation. For more information, visit www.carbonamerica.com/.

About Sterling Ethanol, LLC and Yuma Ethanol, LLC
Sterling Ethanol, LLC and Yuma Ethanol, LLC are owned by local investors that include farmers, ranchers and business people that primarily reside in Northeast Colorado. We produce low carbon-intensity ethanol for mixing with gasoline from locally grown corn and supply nutritious distiller’s grains to local animal feed operations. For more information visit www.sterlingethanol.com.

Source: Business Wire

“When you improve fish welfare, you solve many bigger problems as well.”

Aquabyte, which uses computer vision and AI to give fish farms unprecedented insight into the health, growth, and sustainability of their fish, today announced the completion of its Series B financing of $25 million. The round was led by SoftBank Ventures Asia and will be used to continue Aquabyte’s mission of transforming aquaculture to meet the world’s demand for sustainable protein.

Why is farmed fish a solution to sustainable protein?

• Global overfishing has caused both freshwater and ocean fish populations to plummet to unsustainable levels.
• By 2050, it is estimated there will be a 50% protein gap worldwide. Farmed fish is the most sustainable and efficient protein source to fill that gap.
• Accordingly, fish farming is the fastest growing sector of food production in the world, accounting for over half of fish consumed today and over a quarter trillion dollars of annual production globally.

Aquabyte has built international, cross-disciplinary teams working at the intersection of fish welfare, AI, and groundbreaking engineering, using best practices drawn from world-renowned salmon farms in Norway.

“Before Aquabyte, it was virtually impossible for fish farms to monitor the health of their underwater fish. Our engineering team solved that problem with a smart underwater camera that can accurately detect lice, monitor other welfare indicators, and identify and weigh individual fish without removing them from the water,” said Bryton Shang, Aquabyte Founder and CEO.

“Our fish welfare biologists work with our AI teams to transform those images and underwater signals into real-time data. We also partner with farms to give them insights they’ve never had before, which helps them make better decisions. Farms can take immediate action to improve the health and growth of their fish with less waste and fewer treatments,” Shang added.

Sherman Li, Partner at SoftBank Ventures Asia, noted that Aquabyte’s approach, team, and results played a key role in its investment. “By combining machine learning and computer vision with fish welfare insights, Aquabyte is leading a transformation in the aquaculture and food industry. We are proud to support their journey as their achievements align with our mission of helping build a sustainable future, globally.”

The Nature Conservancy (through its Office of Investments) and Westerly Winds also joined the round as new investors, along with an international celebrity who prefers not to be named.

Karim Abdel-Ghaffar Plaza, Managing Partner at Westerly Winds, a venture capital group founded by former BlackRock execs, said, “We firmly believe embracing technology is the solution for a more sustainable future. Aquabyte in our opinion is a clear leader, enabling the path towards a healthier aquaculture industry needed to feed the growing world population. We’re tremendously excited to be backing the team and business in the years to come.”

Original investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Costanoa Ventures, ArcTern Ventures, Struck Capital, and Alliance Venture participated in the round, pointing to Aquabyte’s achievements since its Series A funding in 2019:

• Hundreds of systems worldwide monitoring salmon and trout
• Established offices in USA, Norway, and Chile
• Processed over 300 million unique fish images, delivering lice counts, growth, weight, and other welfare indicators, without handling or harming the fish
• First to receive approval by dispensation for automatic sea lice counting by the Norwegian Food Safety Authorities

“Since our first seed investment in Aquabyte, we’ve known they had the vision to transform an industry and do aquafarming more sustainably,” said Greg Sands, Founder and Managing Partner of Costanoa Ventures. “Their growth since then is proof their vision provides real value to an entire industry and is helping transform it.”

“Mass market appeal and the potential for positive global impact make for very exciting investment opportunities—Aquabyte has both,” said Greg Papadopoulos, Venture Partner at NEA. “Aquaculture is a $240B growing market and Aquabyte’s solution not only utilizes AI and ML technology to increase fish farming efficiency, the company is also playing a key role in increasing sustainability and minimizing waste for fish farms across the globe. We’re thrilled to continue partnering with the Aquabyte team to through this next phase of growth.”

With this Series B round of funding, Aquabyte has raised a total of $46 million since its founding in 2017. Aquabyte will use this financing to scale its business, monitoring more species in more countries, to help fish farms sustainably and efficiently feed the world.

Aquabyte is proud of its role in helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in aquaculture, reducing waste and improving efficiency and profitability.

“It turns out that when you improve fish welfare and sustainability, you solve problems in efficiency and production as well,” Shang said.

About Aquabyte

Aquabyte was built at the intersection of fish welfare, computer vision/AI, and engineering, to improve fish farming efficiency and sustainability. Its international team of machine learning experts, entrepreneurs, and aquaculture biologists are focused on delivering solutions with a real-world impact. With offices in San Francisco, New York, Chile, and Norway, Aquabyte partners with fish farms to transform aquaculture and meet the world’s growing demand for sustainable protein. Read more

Source: Aquabyte

Prague-based climate tech startup Woltair has raised €16.3m in a Series A led by ArcTern Ventures, a Canadian VC firm. It’s built a digital platform to connect consumers who want to install sustainable energy solutions, such as heat pumps and solar panels, with installation and maintenance technicians. 

This is yet another big financial boost for a startup betting on the ongoing shift on the European energy markets, as Europe frantically looks for new energy sources that could replace Russian gas and become a panacea for skyrocketing power prices. 

What does Woltair do? 

Woltair’s platform connects installation and maintenance businesses with consumers who want to install sustainable energy solutions, such as a heat pump or a solar panel. 

It usually isn’t an easy purchase: consumers rarely know what’s right for their house and where to find a team to install it. On the other side of the chain, engineers have problems sourcing parts and with the admin of dealing with customers. The whole process can take a huge amount of time and research; in Poland, consumers often have to wait for six months to get a heat pump installed. 

Woltair offers a tool that analyses the size and profile of a consumer’s home and recommends the best technological solution, together with details of achievable savings and available government subsidies. After determining the right product, the platform connects the buyer with a technician, handling the order process and tracking the installation online. 

The startup was launched in 2018 by three people who’ve been working in the sector for years — Daniel Helcl, Karel Náprstek and Jiří Švéda — and who all learnt the hard way how difficult and time consuming it is to make such installation projects possible. Since then Woltair has served over 3,000 customers.

What’s the market like? 

Europe is desperately looking for ways to get rid of fossil fuels, find alternatives to Russian gas and handle skyrocketing power prices — and solutions like solar panels and heat pumps are at the heart of dealing with these problems.

Policymakers have set targets to double down on new energy sources: the EU, for example, wants to make rooftop solar panels compulsory for all new public buildings by 2026 and all new residential houses by 2029, as well as double the rate of deployment of heat pumps. 

Investors are also excited by renewable energy projects — just this month solar-panel startup SunRoof and solar-powered car startup Lightyear have also raised sizeable funding rounds.

Who’s investing in Woltair?

New investors:

• ArcTern Ventures, Canadian sustainability fund 
• Westly Group, US VC firm
• Aternus, Czech investment group

Existing investors:

• Kaya, Czech VC
• Inven, Czech VC
• Movens Capital, Polish VC

What’s next?

Woltair wants to put in place an embedded finance offer so its customers can more easily afford a new installation. It will also create a tool to help customers better understand and track their energy use, and further develop an app for the installation service providers. 

It also wants to establish operations in Italy and Germany by the end of 2022, having begun operations in the Czech Republic and expanded into Poland earlier this year. 

Sifted take 

While there are lots of startups improving the tech behind new energy solutions and renewable power sources, there aren’t that many bringing those solutions closer to the consumer. Woltair seems to be operating in a much-needed niche — and the timing of its European expansion couldn’t be better. 

“Whilst we are currently in a boom period, we see this as the beginning of a permanent trend rather than a fad,” says Jan Hanuš, Woltair’s CEO. “Fossil fuels will become more expensive, scarce and heavily taxed; government subsidies for retrofitting will likely increase; and consumers will continue to want to retrofit their homes to protect against high energy bills.”

Zosia Wanat is Sifted’s central and eastern Europe reporter, based in Warsaw. She tweets from @zosiawanat

Source: www.sifted.eu