CTC #48 - Funding for mobility as a service and a strong Q2 for climate

Hey there,

Welcome to another issue of Climate Tech Canada, and a special welcome to the 20 readers who have joined us this month!

This week in Canadian climate tech:

• Kite Mobility bags a $3.5M seed round

• Canada hits an EV tipping point

• Climate tech drives a strong Q2 for funding

Let’s get into it!

📬 Have a deal, upcoming raise, or announcement for the newsletter? Hit reply to let us know.

📌 Post or find a role on our job board.

💰 Kite Mobility raises $3.5M for mobility-as-an-amenity

Kite Mobility closed a $3.5M seed round for its electric mobility-sharing solution for multi-family buildings. Investors include Enlightened Building Technologies, Good & Well, and a group of community climate funds.

Based in Toronto, Kite Mobility provides electricity mobility solutions like electric cars, bikes, and scooters as an amenity in multi-unit buildings. Kite claims their offering can displace up to 10 parking spots per shared vehicle as residents opt out of car ownership. This drives down costs and embodied emissions for buildings while also reducing emissions from personal transport.

The funding will be used to accelerate project development with real estate developers. 

🔑 Climate tech key to strong Q2

Canadian tech posted its second-largest quarter for VC funding in Q2, due in part to deal heat from AI and climate tech. Notable raises in climate include ChargeLab’s $20M Series A, Miovsion’s whopping $260M raise, and Eavor’s $80M Series B. Early stage rounds included:

• Friendlier ($2.3M, reusable packaging)

• Vivid Machines ($5.8M, precision agtech)

• Dispersa ($3M, biochemicals)

• Aalo Atomics ($8.5M, nuclear fission)

• Sepura Home ($3.7M, foodwaste)

VC funds themselves raised a combined $1.6B in new capital.

☀️ Renewable damage control

Renewable projects have been paused in Alberta for close to a month now. To mitigate the impact on the industry, the Alberta Utilities Commission decided to continue accepting and processing applications for projects, although no approvals will be issued.

To date, the moratorium has affected 118 projects worth $33 billion according to the Pembina Institute. This amounts to almost 20 GW of energy capacity in generation and storage. Some renewables firms are reevaluating their Alberta projects and prioritizing investments in other jurisdictions.

📈 Milestones & news

🚛 Vicinity Motors will provide electric trucks to Lafarge Canada as the cement-maker aims to convert its light duty trucks to EVs or hybrids by 2025.

☁️ Carbon capture startup Deep Sky has a new CEO, snagging Global Head of Ventures Damien Steel from OMERS Ventures.

📈 Langley, B.C.’s ecoToken launched its new carbon offsetting platform that simplifies access and retirement of credits across blockchains.

🌲 Karbon-X will partner US-based Laconic Infrastructure to develop a new biochar verification methodology for reforestation projects.

💨 Kontrol Technologies will provide emissions and air quality monitoring for rail infrastructure expansion in Ontario.

📝 The government of PEI took over permitting for solar and wind generation, limiting opposition from municipalities that have slowed projects in the past.

⚡️Canada’s push for a zero-emission grid reignited talks to link Yukon’s grid to British Columbia in a potentially “nation-building moment”.

📅 Join the Foresight 50 Virtual Pitch event to hear pitches from some of Canada’s “most investable” climate startups. Sept 6th, online.

🚗 Zero-emission vehicles sales hit a new record, making up 10.5% of all sales in Q2. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 7.8% of all sales, up a whopping 46% vs Q1.

☕️ Here & There

• Can Ontario decarbonize its grid by 2050 while meeting growing demand? It’ll take some hail marys

• How new limits on natural gas are driving investments in carbon capture

• Behind the scenes with the man putting Volkswagen’s $13B subsidy to work 

• This year’s wildfires in Eastern Canada were twice as likely thanks to climate change

• An expert’s take on what sustainable packaging actually means

📌 Jobs

Visit our job board to see open roles at some of Canada’s most innovative companies, with postings across sales, product management, HR, and software engineering:

➡️ Hiring? List your posting here.

Thanks for reading and have a great end to your August! If you’re enjoying the newsletter, share it with a friend or coworker to help support my work.

Justin