Q3 pulse check for climate tech funding

CAPITAL

Q3 pulse check for climate tech funding

What happened: Funding for climate tech is continuing to taper from the highs of 2021, as we tracked just over $181 million* raised by Canadian climate tech startups in Q3.

That’s down 48% year over year, as investors adjust to the ripple effects from shifting U.S. climate and trade policy and global competition for clean energy supply chains.

Despite the drop, deal activity is holding fairly steady as investors continued to place early stage bets and back winners (albeit with a higher bar).

The details:

• Capital continues to focus on Seed and Growth stages, while we tracked just one Series A and B deal respectively

• Beyond venture, we’re seeing some signs that the capital stack is maturing as more companies are tapping debt, credit, and asset financing to fund growth

• Energy and Industrials were the most active verticals, with deals across industrial heat, grid tech, and chemicals.

Notable rounds in Q3 include GeologicAI’s $60.5M Series B, General Fusion’s $30M funding lifeline, and GHGSat’s $47M growth round. dcbel and Corinex also secured undisclosed amounts for global expansion.

What we’re watching: As we close in on the end of the year, we’re watching a few key areas.

• Opportunities across the grid as Canada’s more centralized utilities prep for electricity demand, renewable growth, and more provinces getting in on the data centre boom

• Emerging investor interest in overlooked areas of climate like forever chemicals, super-pollutants, adaptation, and resilience

• Whether Canada can connect the dots in its critical minerals value chain while U.S. car makers are under pressure

• The hangover from high-profile failures like Northvolt, Li-Cycle and Lion Electric, particularly from larger, risk-averse investors who got burned (or saw their peers take a hit)

The bottom line: Funding for climate tech is far more selective, as investors wait out macro shifts and raise their bar for commercial traction. As capital gets smarter and tourists leave, Canada’s stability and industrial depth could be the proving ground for climate tech.

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📝 * A quick note: Data tracked by Climate Tech Canada and based on public announcements. Some raises are not reported or amounts are not disclosed, and numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.

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CLIMATE CAPITAL

🚢 GIT Coatings (Dartmouth, NS) secured $5 million in additional funding from Export Development Canada for its biocide-free, graphene-based marine coatings. GIT plans to use the capital to expand in global markets.

💰Spring Impact Capital closed a $14 million fund for early-stage climate and health tech startups in Canada, aiming to invest between $250K - $400K in up to 25 companies.

🤝 StormFisher Hydrogen acquired Recyclage Carbone Varennes, which ran into financial trouble, and will develop North America's first large-scale low-carbon methanol plant by 2028.

IN THE FIELD

🏘️ Promise Robotics launched full-scale production at its new AI-powered homebuilding facility in Calgary.

🍄 Mycelium-based protein startup Maia Farms partnered with the Greater Vancouver Food Bank to provide mushroom-based protein products to vulnerable communities.

🚗 GM paused expansion of its $600M Ultium cathode materials plant in Bécancour, QC. Vale subsequently cancelled plans for a nickel sulfate plant that would supply the GM plant.

💡 High-rise buildings could be used for gravity-based energy storage according to researchers from University of Waterloo, and incorporate other tech like solar facades to drive costs down further.

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NEWS

📡 Signals & Currents

🗳️ Power politics: Newfoundland and Labrador’s Liberal government was defeated last week, in part because of the contentious deal it struck with Quebec on the Churchill Falls hydro project.

The deal would have delivered ~$1B to NFLD, but was criticized for a lack of transparency and oversight.

• 40 EV industry executives are calling on PM Carney to keep Canada’s EV Availability Standard, while U.S. automakers are pushing to have it scrapped entirely [Support EVs]

• Toronto cut single-use waste by a third and plans to expand bylaws promoting re-use at large venues and dine-in restaurants [National Observer]

• Alberta will update its electricity forecast and fast track data centre projects that have their own generating capacity to attract more projects [BetaKit]

• A majority of Canadians support carbon removal, and more than 80% see removals as essential for the country’s future [Carbon Herald]

• Ontario launched a one project, one process framework to speed up mine approvals while B.C. plans to fast-track a transmission line to connect critical mineral mines and LNG plants in the north [CTV & The Logic]

• An international deal to cut shipping emissions failed under pressure from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia [CBC]

• Australia’s tropical rainforests have switched from carbon sinks to carbon sources for the first time due to extreme temperatures [Guardian]

• The EU promised new measures to lower the cost of its new carbon market for consumers, targeting upstream emitters and suppliers [Bloomberg]

COMMUNITY

🚀 2025 Call for Industrial Decarbonization Innovation: NorthX will award up to $3 million in non-dilutive investments to Canadian-based innovators developing commercial pathways to scale hard-tech industrial decarbonization solutions. Apply by Nov 27th.

➡️ Discover more funding opportunities.

🚀 Ontario Critical Minerals Forum: Bringing together mining CEOs, government ministers, investors and Indigenous leaders to explore strategies for advancing Ontario’s position in the global critical minerals market. Nov 18-19th, Toronto.

➡️ Discover more climate events.

🧑🏻‍💻 Carbon Upcycling is hiring a Director, Strategy & Corporate Development to position Carbon Upcycling as a global leader in advanced building materials.

➡️ Find more open roles.