Cleantech Group

In recent years, Cleantech Group has tracked the rapid rise of the APAC region in the global cleantech innovation landscape. The #APACCleantech25 list highlights a new generation of innovators worth watching, but what are the emerging trends across APAC in 2025? 🌞⚡ China has reached industrial maturity in #solar and energy storage, setting the pace for APAC’s clean energy economy. 🚚 EV innovation is expanding beyond China into heavy-duty and off-road vehicles, supported by scalable battery swapping and charging networks. (Battery Smart, Kwetta)
 💥 Energy
#fusion had a breakout year, with multiple reactor types gaining traction and attracting increased investment across the region.
(Startorus Fusion, OpenStar Technologies, Kyoto Fusioneering)
 🤖 An emerging ecosystem of AI-driven cleantech companies is solving highly localized challenges while expanding beyond traditional sector boundaries.
(Cosmos Innovation, Ecolibrium) 🧊 As AI infrastructure scales, APAC innovators are developing solutions from energy-efficient chips to liquid cooling and modular power systems.
(Firmus Technologies, Amperesand)
 🪨 Amid rising trade tensions and supply risks, the region is advancing innovations in mineral detection, refining, recycling, and materials recovery.
(Fleet Space Technologies, Element Zero, 3DC, POEN. Co., Ltd. LOHUM ) See Anthony DeOrsey Jr.'s perspective for the highlights on APAC’s #cleantech rise within the global energy shift: https://hubs.li/Q03gySWV0 Want to meet the innovators featured on the list? Catch the opportunity at Cleantech Forum Asia coming up next month: https://hubs.li/Q03gz05Y0

🚀 Just Released: the 2025 #APACCleantech25! Meet the 25 most promising private companies transforming the Asia-Pacific #cleantech landscape. Now in its 6th year, the highly anticipated list introduces you to standout innovators developing breakthrough technologies and bold business models to tackle the ever-increasing climate and environmental crisis. 📥 Download the complimentary report to discover who is transforming the future of the region: https://hubs.li/Q03gwrJp0

Last week's top fundraising deals in sustainability innovation as reported by Cleantech Group (To find out more about our research & consulting services, visit i3connect.com) 🌾 Agriculture & Food Grassa | Unlocking the full potential of Grass | Biomass 🇳🇱, developer of a biorefinery process to produce animal feed and other products, raised $3.89M in Seed funding from Oost NL's Perspectieffonds Gelderland, Fransen Gerrits BV, and Brightlands Venture Partners. Funding will be used for scaling up, demonstrations to dairy farmers, and development of products for human consumption. 💡 Energy & Power: Caldera 🇬🇧, developer of an energy storage solution that enables zero-emissions heat generation, raised $12.9M from GEA Group. The funding will support the company's aims of targeting key industries that source equipment from GEA. 🧪 Materials & Chemicals: ARK Capture Solutions 🇧🇪, developer of modular equipment for point source carbon capture from flue gas streams, raised over $2.4M from Aperam, Seeder Fund, climate club, BeAngels , Lune Ventures, invest.bw, Noshaq, and Wallonie Entreprendre. Funding will be used to scale up operations and marketing. 🌲 Resources & Environmental Management: Maverick Metals 🇺🇸, developer of in-situ biological processes to extract metals from hard rock deposits at near-ambient conditions, raised $19M in Seed funding from Olive Tree Capital, Y Combinator, Hanwha Group, Liquid 2 Ventures, Nomadic Venture Partners, Soma Capital, and TechNexus Venture Collaborative. Funding will go towards technology commercialization. 🚚 Transport & Logistics: EVident Battery, Inc. 🇺🇸, developer of EV battery inspection and analytics software, raised $3.2 in Seed funding from Ibex Investors, @Nationwide Ventures, Automotive Ventures, Avesta Fund, and several angel investors. Funding will support R&D, team expansion, enhancement of manufacturing capabilities, and development of strategic partnerships. ♻️ Waste & Recycling Cyclic Materials 🇨🇦, provider of a service platform facilitating the recycling of critical metals, raised an undisclosed amount in extended Series B funding from Climate Pledge Fund. The investment will support the company's expansion into US markets. #cleantech #climatetech #startups Image: Caldera's storage boiler. Credit: Caldera

The popular trope about #fusion is that it's always 30 years away - is the needle moving? Next Tuesday, I'm excited to join my colleague Zainab G. and Andrew Holland of the Fusion Industry Association in a discussion around the most recent developments in fusion and expectations for what comes next. Register here (https://lnkd.in/eZYuHEaF). Some things we'll cover in the discussion: - There is much better clarity today on the milestones associated with fusion development, baselines are forming that allow stakeholders from various corners of the ecosystem to speak a common language. See Commonwealth Fusion Systems's "Building Trust in Fusion Energy" open letter as a great example: https://lnkd.in/egdpiS8f - An observable result of this common language is that investors are putting large enough rounds into companies to fund to the next major milestone. This is helping innovators stay on-task, avoid raising multiple smaller rounds for one milestone, and stay more capital efficient. - The financing toward fusion in '24 gets more interesting as you pick apart the numbers: half a dozen different types of fusion reactors saw investment, and across multiple continents. - This all culminates in multiple shots on goal. Novel methods aiming at faster speed-to-scale through smaller system sizes, quicker testing processes, easier maintenance, enhanced plasma stability, and the possibility of using safer fuels, all work toward an enhanced likelihood of commercialization. Looking forward to the discussion, and as always, please reach out to us with what you're seeing out there.

👉 Recap of top activity in Materials & Chemicals cleantech this week (April 4, 2025): 👉 ARK Capture Solutions raised over $2.3M Seed for its modular electric equipment for point source carbon capture from 5-10% carbon emissions streams from Aperam Ventures, Seeder Fund, Climate Club, BeAngels , Lune Ventures, invest.bw, Noshaq, and Wallonie Entreprendre. Funding will be used to scale up from 2 tons scale to a 40 tons per year pilot. 👉 Maverick Metals raised $19M Seed funding to scale its copper recovery solution, LithX. Funding from Olive Tree Capital, Y Combinator, Hanwha Group, Liquid 2 Ventures, Nomadic Venture Partners, Soma Capital, and TechNexus Venture Collaborative. 👉 Fairmat's recycled carbon fiber composites raised over $27.7M Series B from Slate Venture Capital, Bpifrance Large Venture, Cape Capital, Singular, Temasek, CNP, and Pictet Group. It's also secured a $27.1M debt facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB). 👉 Cyclic Materials' rare earth metal and critical metals recovery solutions raised an Undisclosed Amount from Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund in an extended Series B contribution. 👉 Intel Corporation and TSMC announced a joint venture to pursue chipmaking in the US on the heels of US tariffs imposed on Taiwan. Following tariffs, both Intel and TSMC's stocks have fallen. #cleantech #semiconductors #carboncapture #copper #mining #carbonfiber #recycling Cleantech Group Image credit: ARK Capture Solutions

#CleantechForum Asia is the only event to bring together key stakeholders and decision makers from leading corporates, investors and cleantech start-ups to propel climate solution forward. These unique Forums deliver results, increase deal flow and connect the community in a deep and actionable way. In addition to your networking, we offer a full agenda of forward-looking topics, as well as a dedicated track on #AI and #cleantech. Get up to speed on the trends and topics you need to know and connect with the industry to help drive us toward a cleaner and cooler world. Register today: https://hubs.li/Q03fKJgg0 Grab your spot to join leaders from CM Venture Capital, SCG, Artesian (Alternative Investments), Teneo, Emerald, Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), Haliburton Labs, Helical Fusion, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Mushroom Material,BANIQL, Breakthrough Energy and more. Cleantech Forum Asia is a partner event of Ecosperity Week 2025 by Temasek - a great week to visit Singapore to do business.

April's Cleantech Perspectives is live! Explore Food Tech innovations from China to the EU, discover how AI is accelerating fusion energy, and catch the latest breakthroughs in PFAS destruction. Don’t miss our upcoming webinar — Commercializing Fusion — featuring Zainab G., Anthony DeOrsey Jr., and Andrew Holland happening April 8, 2025 at 11:00 AM EDT. 🔗https://lnkd.in/gk_8fWth #Cleantech #FoodTech #FusionEnergy #AI #PFAS #Sustainability #Innovation #CleantechPerspectives #ClimateTech

🌎 Earth Observation, a vital tool for industries tackling climate risks, has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two gigatons annually. Nearly 80% of EO’s impact will come from climate and nature-related use cases, driving cost avoidance, mitigation, and adaptation. Tech innovation is accelerating EO’s impact: improved sensors improve coverage and resolution, Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) enable flood and deforestation monitoring, and AI-powered data analysis accelerates disaster assessment and climate forecasting. Early adopters in tech-ready industries such as insurance, carbon markets, oil & gas, and mining are leveraging EO for strategic decision-making. Find out how #EO technology is transforming how we monitor and respond to environmental challenges in Sunena Gupta's latest perspective: https://hubs.li/Q03fwS2p0 Neo Space Group, UP42, EarthDaily, Descartes Labs, Fugro, EOMAP , NUVIEW, Astraea

Last week's top fundraising deals in sustainable innovation via Cleantech Group (To find out more about our research & consulting services, visit i3connect.com) 🌾 Agriculture & Food Aleph Farms 🇮🇱, producer of cultivated meat, raised $29M from undisclosed investors. The capital injection will be used to expand production at the company's pilot facility in Israel and set up intermediate-scale facilities in Europe and Asia. 💡 Energy & Power: XGS Energy 🇺🇸, provider of geothermal closed-loop well services to generate terawatt-scale heat and power, raised $13M in Series A funding from Aligned Climate Capital , ClearSky, Climate Innovation Capital, and WovenEarth Ventures. Funding will be used to accelerate deployment. 🧪 Materials & Chemicals: Terra CO2 Technology 🇺🇸, developer of carbon utilization tech for scenarios like mine tailings and cement production, raised an undisclosed amount in equity funding from Cemex Ventures. The funding will integrate Terra CO2's technology across Cemex operations. 🌲 Resources & Environmental Management: ClimateCamp 🇧🇪, developer of software for calculating carbon footprint and Scope 3 emissions, raised $3.7M in Seed and grant funding from Expon Capital, VLAIO - Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Ministère de l'Économie - Luxembourg, KBC Private Equity, PMV, and Birdhouse Ventures. Funding will be used to scale operations. 🚚 Transport & Logistics: DeCharge Network 🇮🇳, provider of a decetralized AI-powered EV charging network, raised $2.5M in Seed funding from Colosseum Group, Daedalus Angels, Escape Velocity (EV3), Levitate Labs, and others. Funding will help launch its Energy Marketplace, and expand the company 's network to over 3,000 locations across the USA, Europe, and the Middle East. ♻️ Waste & Recycling OMV 🇦🇹, developer of oil, gas, and chemical solutions, received $88M in grant funding from the CINEA - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency via the European Innovation Fund to design and stand-up an industrial facility capable of processing up to 200,000 metric tons of used plastics into oils and base chemicals. #cleantech #climatetech #startups

The maritime sector is quietly emerging as one of the most progressive industries in #decarbonization. A major challenge is the development, deployment, and uptake of more sustainable fuels - long-term emissions reduction will require the widespread adoption of #eFuels. While EU fleet are on track to meet 90% of required emissions reduction through 2029 with biodiesel and LNG, as emissions reduction targets become stricter, these fuels are projected to meet only 30% of requirements for 2030-2034. Low-emission vessel innovation solutions - such as route optimization software, wind-powered propulsion, and bio-based fuels - offer some emissions reductions, but face scalability challenges and cannot achieve near 100% emissions reduction, limiting their long-term viability. Get the full outlook on maritime e-fuels space in Nicole Cerulli's perspective featuring a discussion with Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA): https://hubs.ly/Q03f48tZ0