Participated · Series A · Jun 2024

Swift Solar develops perovskite photovoltaic solar cells as a next-generation solar technology. The company says its advanced perovskite cells can outperform current market options. It is a spinout of MIT, Stanford University, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and is led by CEO Joel Jean. Swift plans to use new capital to accelerate scaling of its technology and to prepare to break ground on its first factory. The company raised $27M in a Series A to support those plans, partnering with strategic and deeptech investors. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article. Swift Solar develops solar PV products based on metal halide perovskites intended to outperform silicon and thin‑film technologies. The company says its technology could enable months‑long drone flight, EV recharging, home power, and off‑grid or disaster relief applications. Founded in 2017 and led by CEO Joel Jean, Swift Solar has focused on R&D and prototype development. The recent financing will be used to expand R&D capabilities, develop prototypes, and grow the team. Swift Solar has raised over $16M in equity financing to date and also receives non‑dilutive support from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Office of Naval Research. The company emphasizes performance and versatility as core product attributes.

Participated · Series B · May 2024

Hysata develops a new type of electrolyser featuring an electrolysis cell coupled with a simplified balance of plant to produce green hydrogen. The company intends to scale manufacturing capacity at its Wollongong, New South Wales facility and pursue gigawatt-scale production. Hysata plans to use the recent funding to expand production and further develop its technology. Led by CEO Paul Barrett, the company emphasizes high efficiency, intrinsically low capex, and a mass-manufacturable design to lower the levelised cost of hydrogen. Hysata currently employs roughly 75 staff and aims to grow to more than 200 employees over the next couple of years while expanding its footprint across multiple continents. Hysata has developed a redesigned hydrogen electrolyser that eliminates gas-bubble formation and cuts electrical resistance, claiming around 95% efficiency versus ~75% for current technologies. The company says the design greatly reduces cooling needs and can produce green hydrogen at well below the competitive target of $2 per kilogram. Hysata spun out of research at the University of Wollongong and is commercialising the laboratory concept. As part of commercialization, Hysata will build and test a 5 MW system at its Port Kembla manufacturing facility. The full system is planned to be moved to Rockhampton for installation and trials adjacent to Stanwell Power Station, with the field pilot due to commence in 2025. The project is framed as a key step to unlocking commercial demand if the prototype proves effective at scale. Hysata is an Australian company that develops hydrogen electrolyser technology to produce green hydrogen. Its core product is an electrolyser system that operates at 95% system efficiency. Led by CEO Paul Barrett, the company positions the technology for scalability with potential availability in Europe from 2030. Hysata raised USD23M in a Series A to support growth. The company intends to use the funds to grow the team and develop a pilot manufacturing facility. Participating investors include Virescent Ventures (on behalf of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation), Kiko Ventures, IP Group Australia, Vestas Ventures, Hostplus and BlueScope via BlueScopeX.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2024

XGS Energy builds a proprietary solid-state, water-independent geothermal system that uses thermally conductive materials to produce round-the-clock baseload power anywhere there is hot rock. Its Thermal Reach Enhancement (TRE) technology completed a shallow field test in 2024, and the company is operating its first commercial-scale well in California, validating predictive performance models and accumulating operating history. XGS positions its modular approach to decouple geothermal from traditional water- and geology-dependent constraints, aiming to unlock geographic flexibility, easier permitting, and faster deployment. The firm says it has a multi-gigawatt commercial project pipeline across the Western United States and is ramping commercial operations ahead of a planned growth equity round later this year. XGS is headquartered in Houston, Texas, and plans to aggressively expand its team through year-end to support deployment and project development. The company’s approach targets improved financeability to attract venture and infrastructure capital for large-scale geothermal projects. XGS Energy has developed a proprietary slurry — a mix of water, surfactants and conductive minerals (patent filings mention graphite‑like materials and silica) — that is injected between a metal casing and surrounding rock to fill cracks and improve heat conduction. The slurry’s surfactant breaks at higher temperatures, releasing minerals that settle into fractures a few feet from the borehole, permitting the company to use a single cased borehole rather than multiple wells. By keeping working fluid isolated inside the metal casing, XGS can avoid contaminated surface water and use lower‑cost, higher‑efficiency heat exchangers, reducing operating costs. CEO Josh Prueher says the technique makes wells more productive and predictable — “we know within 30 days where we’re going to be in 30 years” in terms of power production. XGS’s technology can be applied to both new and existing geothermal wells, and the company plans to develop a version for suitably hot legacy oil and gas wells to avoid plugging and abandonment costs. To help commercialize the technology, XGS recently raised funding to build a commercial‑scale prototype at an existing geothermal field in California. XGS Energy is a geothermal company headquartered in Palo Alto, California that develops a proprietary Thermal Reach Enhancement™ (TRE) system and closed-loop well architecture. Its TRE system uses materials the company says are 50 times more conductive than native rock to deliver high-efficiency thermal energy without dependence on water or specific geology. XGS positions the technology for global deployment and says it enables terawatt-scale geothermal heat and power. The company completed more than 24 months of lab testing and is building a North American prototype to demonstrate TRE at full commercial scale. That prototype is intended to validate predictive performance models and support first commercial projects in the Western United States, Japan, and the Philippines. XGS emphasizes that its closed-loop, water-independent approach allows deployment anywhere in the world, unlike traditional geothermal solutions that require hot water reservoirs and specific geological formations. XGS Energy develops proprietary geothermal heat-harvesting technology and a closed-loop well architecture intended to unlock scalable, affordable, carbon-free baseload power. The technology is designed to eliminate reliance on rare geological formations and water availability, allowing broader deployment of geothermal energy. XGS says its approach enables global deployment and terawatt-scale geothermal heat and power. The company plans to use recent financing to accelerate technology development and commercial progress. XGS announced a $19M financing package, including a $14M Series A led by Anzu Partners, to support development efforts. Headquartered in Palo Alto, the company changed its name from Geothermic Solution LLC to XGS Energy, Inc.

Led · Seed · Nov 2023

SPEC Toolbox is a Melbourne-based construction engineering platform founded in 2023 by structural engineers Adam Jones and Ringo Thomas. Originally launched as CLT Toolbox to serve the cross-laminated timber niche, the company rebranded after discovering similar design bottlenecks across a wider range of modern manufactured materials. Its cloud software automates complex engineering calculations, helping designers more easily specify affordable and sustainable materials in building projects. The product has attracted more than 6,000 user sign-ups and 35 product suppliers and has already expanded its footprint into Europe, the UK, and North America. CEO Adam Jones says the new capital will accelerate the product roadmap, onboard additional suppliers, and deepen technical infrastructure. To date, SPEC has raised multiple rounds, including a $1.5 million Seed round in October 2023 and a $1 million bridge round in 2024, prior to the current pre-Series A fundraise.