CTC #81 - Biointelligence lands $5M to accelerate the bioeconomy

Hey there,

Welcome to this week’s issue of Climate Tech Canada, where we break down the latest in Canadian climate solutions each week.

I’m stoked to share our next podcast episode with you all later this week. It’s a deep dive into the world of hardtech and biomanufacturing with some real pros. Make sure you subscribe here to get it when it’s out!

This week in climate tech:

• Biointelligence closes $5M to accelerate biomanufacturing

• Eavor builds Canada’s first geothermal test site

• A $2.4B carbon capture project runs into trouble

Let’s go!

🧪 Biointelligence lands $5M for biomanufacturing analytics

Biointelligence raised $5M in seed funding for its biomanufacturing intelligence platform. The round was led by Amplify Capital and included Investissement Québec, Real Ventures, Innospark Ventures, and others.

Based in Sherbrooke, QC, Biointelligence is developing a monitoring and analytics platform to help reduce waste and improve yields for industrial fermentation and biomanufacturing.

The company enables producers to measure key variables in the fermentation process in real time. The data analysis tool which offers real-time monitoring and analysis of the bioprocesses. 

Why it matters: While biomanufacturing tends to have a much lighter environmental footprint, it still requires lots of water and energy. Biointelligence can help producers optimize the process by catching contamination quickly, speeding up the production cycle, and improving yields.

Biomanufacturing is growing rapidly in medical applications, but also to produce bio-based materials like alternative proteins, textiles, chemicals and more. As the industry takes off, improving the efficiency of production can help make these sustainable alternative more cost competitive.

What’s next: Biointelligence already has industrial customers in the US and Europe and will use the investment to support its growth strategy in those markets.

💰 More climate capital

🧱 AlterBiota closed a $4M seed round for its low-carbon concrete solution. AlertBiota uses bio-based graphene to replace carbon-intensive cement in concrete while also permanently storing carbon in infrastructure.

♻️ Galatea Technologies secured a $2.7M seed extension for its waste management platform for the resource sector.

🥢 ChopValue raised $15M in growth funding to build out its circular microfactory platform under a new parent brand.

🍄 Maia Farms closed $2.3M in an oversubscribed pre-seed round to develop its production platform for mushroom-based proteins. 

🐟 Save Da Sea secured $650K in seed financing for its plant-based seafood. Their products are stocked in Whole Foods, Sobeys and recently launched in the US.

🔋 Moment Energy received a $6M tax credit via the US Department of Energy to build the first large-scale manufacturing facility in North America to repurpose used EV batteries for grid storage.

⚡️ EnPowered acquired LED.Finance, a US-based energy financing company, adding to EnPowered’s financing offers for commercial clean energy hardware projects.

🌋 Drill baby, drill

But, you know, for clean energy. Alberta is building the country’s first open-access test site for geothermal energy, the Alberta Drilling Accelerator. The test site is led by Calgary geothermal startup Eavor Technologies, who are pioneering a closed-loop geothermal energy system. 

Why it matters: An open-access test site gives companies much-needed access to test and develop new geothermal drilling techniques and technologies. Rather than companies securing their own sites and supporting infrastructure, companies can focus R&D efforts on developing the technology. 

Drilling is the most challenging and costly part of geothermal projects, making up as much as half of a project’s total cost. Tapping into the drilling expertise from Alberta’s oil and gas sector can help advance these technologies and improve the viability of geothermal projects.

In context: Geothermal systems tap into the heat generated in the Earth’s crust and can be used to generate electricity or provide heating for buildings. Interest in geothermal is surging as new startups bring new, more efficient methods of tapping into geothermal energy to market, including innovations in drilling from the fracking boom.

Startups like Fervo Energy, Dandelion Energy and Eavor Technologies have raised hundreds of millions to leverage these new advancements and tap into wildly under-used geothermal potential.

What’s next: The site is still early, but Eavor hopes to start drilling as soon as early next year.

🏭 Carbon capture shutdown

Capital Power cancelled a $2.4B carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its Genesee natural gas power plant in Alberta. The company said the project is technically viable but no longer economically feasible.

Why it matters: Oil & gas are betting big on CCS as a way to reduce their emissions from producing fossil fuels. But some argue the technical hurdles and cost mean they’re unlikely to succeed and a distraction from more proven ways of cutting emissions. There are just two carbon capture projects in the province right now.

In context: Companies like Capital Power look at decarbonization projects from several angles: the cost to build and run the CCS system; the price they can get for credits generated by capturing the carbon; and the cost of carbon pricing they would pay on those emissions otherwise. 

High technical costs and uncertainty in the province’s carbon market both played a role in the decision. Alberta is seeing an increase in decarbonization projects that could lead to oversupply and lower prices for the carbon credits generated by Capital Power’s project.

What’s next: It’s not the end of CCS - Capital Power said they “feel strongly” that it can work - but it speaks to the need for governments to continue shaping carbon markets and ensuring a competitive price for projects to go ahead.

Enjoying this week’s issue? Share it with a friend

🗞️ In the news

💸 Not so fast: The Net Zero Accelerator isn’t getting traction with Canada’s top emitters according to Canada’s environment commissioner. Designed to help heavy emitters cut their emissions with $8B at its disposal, the program has attracted 15 applications and signed just two agreements.

♻️ Lobbyists dominate treaty talks: UN negotiations on plastics pollution ended last week. Some progress was made and a draft text is now being debated. However, talks focused on handling waste and improving recycling rather than curbing plastic production. Notably, almost 200 lobbyists from oil and chemical companies attended - more than the EU delegation.  

💹 Uncertain markets: Alberta’s carbon market could be headed for a boom as heavy emitters, faced with pressure to hit net-zero and more government subsidies, ramp up decarbonization projects. It’s good for emissions reductions, but could lead to an oversupply of credits and lower prices.

🌎 Big picture

Tesla laid off it’s entire charging team - right as car makers started adopting Tesla’s NACS standard.

Climate tech is backed in business, raising a total of $8.1B in Q1 with deal value up 400%.

Microsoft signed the world’s largest carbon removal deal.

Meet the XPRIZE Top 100 most promising carbon removal innovators.

Track global progress on climate with Speed & Scale’s new dashboard.

📣 What’s going on

🗓️ Toronto Happy Hour with Clean Creatives: Join Clean Creatives for their first Toronto meetup in 2024 to meet other people from creative agencies working on climate solutions. May 15th, Toronto.

🗓️ What could an Ottawa Climate Week look like?: Join the Climate Leap crew as we debrief on SF Climate Week and explore what we’d want to see from an Ottawa Climate Week. May 30th, Ottawa.

📌 Jobs

Check out the job board for newly posted roles from Canadian climate tech companies working on low-carbon housing, climate risk, carbon removal and more!

➡️ Hiring? List your posting here.

Thanks for reading! Enjoyed this issue? Help us reach more people by sharing it with someone in your network. And if you’re that someone, subscribe here.

Justin

What did you think of this week’s issue?

❤️ Great // 😐 Okay // 👎 Meh