Participated · Seed · Aug 2025

PeelON develops plant-based biodegradable and compostable films that extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by up to 3x and sells on a B2B model to farmers, exporters, and retailers. It offers two flagship products: PeelON-Fresh, liners for bulk shipments, and PeelON-Retail+, retail-ready bags with natural antimicrobial agents and ethylene scavengers. The company reports commercial deployments across crops including cilantro, broccoli, leafy greens, rambutan, and banana, with clients in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in India and in Texas, Florida, and California in the US. Co-founded in 2020, PeelON has active collaborations with universities and compostable materials labs in the USA and India. The company plans to expand production capacity in India and the US, become the go-to packaging solution for sustainable exporters in India, Mexico, and Southeast Asia, and launch retail compostable packaging formats in the US and Canadian markets. It also aims to pilot a blockchain-enabled traceability platform for carbon and shelf-life validation.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2025

Queens Carbon develops an energy-efficient cement manufacturing platform that produces carbon-neutral supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and aims to enable low-energy, ASTM-compliant cement products. Its process uses novel hydrothermal chemistry—steam and pressure—to drive reactions at roughly half the temperature of conventional cement production. The company’s flagship Q-SCM can replace up to 50% of conventional cement in concrete and is designed for modular on-site production at existing cement plants. Queens Carbon plans to double its team, move into an expanded facility, and build a 2,000-ton-per-year demonstration pilot at Buzzi Unicem USA’s Stockertown, Pennsylvania plant. The company is also pursuing next-generation hydraulic cement to enable low-cost carbon capture and potential 100% replacement of traditional cement. Financially, the company has secured a $10M seed round and previously received a $14.5M ARPA-E grant, bringing total funding to $30M. Queens Carbon develops a low-energy patented hydrothermal process to produce carbon-neutral supplemental cementitious materials (Q-SCMs) from industry-standard raw materials. Its Q-SCMs can replace 20–50% of the high-CO2 binder in cement, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while remaining cost competitive. The company plans to deploy a pilot plant capable of producing 10 tonnes of SCMs daily at an existing cement production site in partnership with a commercial cement industry partner. Queens Carbon was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E to receive $14.5M in SCALEUP funding to scale and pilot its process, building on prior ARPA-E-funded work. Leadership says the pilot will accelerate commercialization and optimization toward gigaton-scale CO2 reductions via avoidance, capture, and production of carbon-neutral cementitious products. Headquartered in Pine Brook, N.J., Queens Carbon emphasizes creating a scalable supply of SCMs to meet increasing global cement demand.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2025

Advanced Ionics is a Milwaukee, WI-based developer of a new class of green hydrogen electrolyzers aimed at accelerating decarbonization. Its core product, the Symbion™ Electrolyzer Technology, works with process and waste heat and water-vapor electrolysis to produce lower-cost decarbonized hydrogen. The company says the platform enables industrial hydrogen producers and users to achieve greater sustainability. Advanced Ionics intends to use the $6.7M funding to accelerate development of its water-vapor electrolyzer technology and to build out manufacturing and research and development facilities. The funding round brought in new backers JERA, Lummus Venture Capital and the Argosy Foundation alongside existing investors Clean Energy Venture Group and bp Ventures. The board has appointed Ignacio Bincaz as chief executive officer to lead the next phase of development. Advanced Ionics develops electrolyzers that operate in the 200°C–600°C range to produce hydrogen for industrial feedstocks such as ammonia, petrochemicals, steel and glass. By targeting mid-range temperatures, the company avoids exotic materials and reduces both electricity and steam-generation energy compared with low- and very-high-temperature designs. Its electrolyzer can produce 1 kg of hydrogen with about 35 kWh of electricity, materially below today’s commercial electrolyzers that require just over 50 kWh per kg. The approach is intended to match heat profiles already present at many industrial sites, lowering integration costs. Advanced Ionics is running pilot projects that cover equipment and manufacturing, and plans to expand its team as it scales. The company is based in Milwaukee and was part of TechCrunch’s 2022 Startup Battlefield 200, where it became a finalist. Advanced Ionics develops SymbioticTM Electrolyzer Technology that integrates with industrial facilities and pre-existing processes to produce low-cost green hydrogen. Its electrolyzers leverage process and waste heat to reduce electricity usage by up to 40% versus power-intensive alkaline and membrane systems, enabling hydrogen production for less than $1/kg in many industrial locations. The company targets decarbonization of heavy industry—including ammonia and other energy‑intensive chemicals, steel and machinery, and oil refining—reducing reliance on natural gas. Advanced Ionics is headquartered in Milwaukee and is based in the U.S. Midwest, near manufacturing and industrial customers. With the new financing, the company plans to accelerate its product development roadmap, scale-up, and implement pilot and demonstration projects over the next year. Longer-term plans include deploying larger-scale projects and building a large-scale electrolyzer manufacturing facility to serve markets such as Europe and North America.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2024

Electrified Thermal Solutions develops the Joule Hive Thermal Battery (JHTB), an MIT-developed system that uses electrically and thermally conductive patented bricks to generate, store, and deliver near-flame temperatures up to 1,800°C. The JHTB is positioned to electrify industrial heat by leveraging renewable electricity to replace fossil-fuel combustion in boilers, dryers, and furnaces. The company emphasizes integration with existing infrastructure and targets sectors including cement, mining, metals, chemicals, power, and food processing. Electrified Thermal says industrial heat processes account for over 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making its zero‑carbon heat approach relevant to hard‑to‑abate industries. The company plans a commercial demonstration in 2025, aims to commercialize the JHTB by 2026, and targets deploying 2 GW of thermal power capacity by 2030. It raised $19 million in venture financing to accelerate its commercial demonstration, scale manufacturing, and expand its industrial customer base. Electrified Thermal Solutions builds the Joule Hive — a thermal battery made from electrically conductive 'e-bricks' doped with semiconductor materials. The bricks are heated by running electricity through them like a toaster, can store heat for hours or days, and ETS says over 95% of input electricity can be recovered as heat. A stack can reach temperatures nearing 2,000°C, enabling use in steel, glass, cement and chemical plants, as well as steam generation or power turbines. ETS says its heat is at least three times cheaper than hydrogen and can be competitive with natural gas in regions with low electricity prices or when a $50/metric-ton carbon price is applied. The company has worked with a brick maker to adapt recipes for industrial-scale equipment, is operating a pilot system about the size of an elevator, and is designing a shipping-container-scale commercial unit. ETS plans to sell either heat from the batteries or the complete system; the technology stems from about a decade of work beginning with CEO Dan Stack's graduate research at MIT. Financially, ETS has raised $4.75 million to date, including a $4.5 million seed round led by Clean Energy Ventures.

Led · Seed · Aug 2024

Cala Systems pairs an advanced heat pump with an AI-powered control system that forecasts household hot-water demand and optimizes heating. The device ingests weather forecasts, time-of-use energy pricing and household-specific signals — including water usage patterns, incoming cold water temperature and presence of solar panels — and analyzes that data on-device; the company says it will not sell household data. Features include a boost mode accessible via the tank or app, variable compressor speeds to increase efficiency, and the ability to overheat the tank to store excess solar production. Cala plans to buy parts from suppliers and assemble the final product in the U.S.; its first offering is a 65-gallon model priced at $2,850 available for preorder with delivery early next year. The company was founded in Boston in 2020. To support the rollout it has raised outside capital via a seed round.