Climate Tech Founders | April 2025
At One Ventures
Investing toward a world where humanity is a net positive to nature by supporting early-stage deep tech ventures.
In this newsletter:
At One Team News
Two investment team members earned promotions in Q1
Danaé Robert (Principal) is our "green chemist" based in California with both an academic background and a fiery passion for creating sustainable materials. She has been critical in identifying scalable solutions for the construction and fashion supply chain, and under her leadership we have welcomed two new companies in these areas into our portfolio. Danae is "here, there, everywhere" in her support of both the At One team on heads-down diligence periods and our companies.
Brian Steinberg (Principal) is our New York based investor who can pull in promising impact seed-stage deals with one hand while helping a portfolio company raise tens of millions in capital with the other. Brian is our lean, mean, financial-modeling machine who has stepped in and up into multiple opportunities to grow and enhance our network. He has also put his own intellectual energy into understanding the energy transition and forged new pathways forward for our nuclear, energy storage and optimization companies. As Victor Hugo said, perseverance [is the] secret of all triumphs. Please join us in commending these two on their hard-earned, well-deserved promotions!
Parichit Kumar speaking at Super South in Atlanta, GA | April 15-17
At One Entrepreneur-in-Residence will be sharing which cleantech sectors and innovations are capturing our attention, how diligence processes are evolving, and whether “First of a Kind” (FOAK) solutions still stand a chance in early-stage funding at Super South climate event in Atlanta this month. Find out more about Super South.
Tom Chi works with climate tech entrepreneurs (Climate Wisdom Fellowship)
Spencer Honeyman works with dozens of climate entrepreneurs to help them develop leadership skills over four months of interpersonal dynamics training. Tom is one of his featured speakers and mentors and worked last month with his latest cohort. "Being connected to non-human rhythms is really important," he explained. "You can't yell at a tree and have it grow ten times faster, but a lot of time we think we can yell at a human and make them grow ten times faster." Listen to this short clip from his talk.
Events
San Francisco Climate Week
On the evening of Monday, April 21st we are co-hosting an event with Clean Energy Ventures , Third Derivative , Valo Ventures and Shell Energy Ventures. We have also invited other co-investors, growth capital providers and corporates. RSVP here to request your ticket.
Earlier that day, also in the Salesforce Tower, Tom Chi is speaking at the Pachama event AI for Nature. Request to attend here.
Other Industry Events
Founder Events
Last month our Circuit One seminar was led by Bill Dunbar, our Entrepreneur-in-Residence focused on IP and Patent Strategy. Founders joined to learn how best to "protect their tech" during a period of volatility. What would we do without William Dunbar ??!!!
In mid-May, we will be hosting our second annual founder/CEO event, Founder One. Over 35 entrepreneurs from our portfolio have RSVPd to attend our customized experience featuring tactical workshops to upskill in critical areas and unique social experiences.
If you will be in Boulder on May 13th, let us know, because we are having a closing dinner with founders, co-investors and ecoystem partners.
Portfolio Addition
Recommended by LinkedIn
“The hallmark of a lasting technoeconomic advantage is if a technology creates a win on physics fundamentals, which means they use less matter, energy, space or time to produce a product,” remarked Helen Lin, Partner at At One Ventures.
“Of all the numerous and various textile recycling companies trying to solve the textile waste problem that I’ve seen, Ravel is unique in the market in that it has the clear technoeconomic win on all fronts. Their process has the fastest throughput, lowest energy consumption, and is the most resource-efficient while being truly closed loop and producing high purity PET.”
We are looking forward to working with Ravel on bringing their product to market in the coming year! Read the full investment memo here.
Portfolio Companies in the News
Ravel fund announcement (pre-seed) in GeekWire, Recycling Today
We searched far and wide for a company that can do true, textile-to-textile recycling, and we finally found one in Ravel. They are targeting the textile fiber elastane, which is also called spandex or Lycra. It’s added to athletic wear, jackets, jeans, underwear, socks, t-shirts, gloves and every other category of apparel, and is notoriously difficult to recycle. See GeekWire article.
Colossal's woolly mouse makes international news
The company's breakthrough moment in de-extinction was profiled by global media, as its scientists implanted genetically modified embryos in female lab mice that gave birth to the first of the woolly pups in October. "This is really validation that what we have in mind for our longer-term de-extinction project is really going to work," the company's Chief Science Officer Beth Shapiro told NPR.
Avalo Series A raise warrants feature article in AgFunder
After closing its Series A, portfolio company Avalo led with the news of the work they are doing with Coca-Cola on lowering the footprint of sugarcane production. They are using advanced AI and ML tech to bring out traits like drought resilience and nitrogen efficiency in sugarcane... 2-3X faster than traditional breeding practices, reports AgFunder.
Adden Energy featured in Steve LeVine's The Electric Newsletter
Adden Energy was profiled in The Information by Steve LeVine, one of the most respected voices in the battery world. The piece highlights how they are part of a next generation of battery companies that refuse to be deterred by past setbacks. While others have faced hurdles in commercializing solid-state lithium-metal batteries, Adden Energy has developed new dynamically stable technology that makes fast-charging, long-range EVs not just possible, but manufacturable at scale, says CEO Will Fitzhugh.
Okra Solar case study profiled by Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
In Haiti, just 2 out of 100 people are on the grid, instead relying primarily on burning biomass and imported fossil fuels for daily energy use. With six million people essentially burning fuel to cook, you can imagine the impact it has on human health, livelihoods and overall security. That's why mesh grid technologies are so important – yes, electricity is important for powering refrigerators and charging phones, but electrified cooking will greatly reduce emissions AND allow citizens to feed their families even during fuel shortages and price hikes. Read more in the case study on Okra Solar's mesh grid project in Haiti. *Many thanks to our own Parichit Kumar who has worked closely with the Okra team on scaled manufacturing and deployment of their mesh grids.
MightyFly featured in CNN's documentary: Adaptation Nation
Last month on The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, CNN aired a documentary about climate solutions focused on resilience and adapation – and portfolio company MightyFly was one of the featured technologies (video clip). CNN subscribers can watch it here.
About At One Ventures: What We Look For
We back early-stage (Seed, Series A) companies that are using disruptive deep tech to upend the unit economics of established industries while dramatically reducing their planetary footprint. We also look for companies that are pioneering new industries that are actively regenerative to planetary health. Lastly, we look for companies that have significant potential to be healthy, scalable businesses, because the positive impacts we invest in only last as long as the businesses that carry them.