Participated · Series A · Jan 2020

SkyWatch operates a platform that makes Earth observation data accessible and portable for private-industry customers without requiring customers to re-architect systems or handle unfamiliar formats. The company offers a commercial marketplace (EarthCache) and a new product, TerraStream, for full-service data management, ordering, processing and delivery. SkyWatch also helps satellite operators source customers and handle sales and delivery, addressing go-to-market challenges faced by technical satellite startups. The company has built a strong revenue pipeline and recently announced a partnership with SatRevolution to integrate additional satellite data. The fresh funding will be used to accelerate the rollout of TerraStream and expand SkyWatch’s ability to connect satellite companies with customers. CEO and co-founder James Slifierz frames TerraStream as “Shopify for space,” highlighting integration with third-party ecosystems and the AWS Marketplace. SkyWatch's core product, EarthCache, enables application developers to integrate satellite imagery into any software application with an industry-leading user experience. The company also launched TerraStream, a solution for satellite operators that integrates data storage, cataloging, ordering, processing, and delivery to reduce operational and financial risk. SkyWatch's client roster grew more than 10x over the past year and it will soon surpass 100 customers across more than a dozen industries. The Series A funding will enable the company to accelerate growth toward 1,000 customers over the next 12 months while continuing to develop partnerships with leading satellite operators. The round underscores strong private-sector appetite for Earth Observation data and supports SkyWatch's plans to commercialize and scale its technologies globally. Financially, SkyWatch raised $7.5 million (approximately CAD 10 million) in the Series A to fund these growth and product initiatives. SkyWatch is a Waterloo-based company that operates EarthCache, a platform for aggregating and distributing Earth observation satellite data to applications and marketplaces. EarthCache lets companies integrate satellite data into their software while enabling satellite operators to distribute data to new and underserved markets. The company is negotiating distribution rights with more than 30 satellite operators and targets customers across agriculture, energy, finance, infrastructure, market intelligence, and other industries. SkyWatch raised $4 million and plans to use the funding for strategic hiring, accelerating product development, and building partnerships. CEO and co‑founder James Slifierz said the platform lowers barriers to using Earth observation data by making integration as easy as payments via Stripe or communications via Twilio. Previously, SkyWatch raised $50,000 from Communitech Rev Demo Day in October 2017.

Participated · Series D · Mar 2014

Cool Planet develops and markets Engineered Biocarbon™ technology products aimed at improving soil health. Its first commercial product, Cool Terra®, is a carbon-negative soil amendment designed to improve soil performance for plant growth and quality. The company serves hundreds of customers across conventional and organic growers, city park departments, professional sports teams, universities, and golf courses, including several that have hosted PGA Tour Championships. Cool Planet closed an additional $20.3M of new investment and note conversion as an extension of its previously announced Series A. The financing is led by existing investors Agustín Coppel and North Bridge Venture Partners. The company plans to use the proceeds to increase Cool Terra production, construct a commercial production facility in Alexandria, LA as its manufacturing hub (with production expected in summer 2019), invest in R&D and commercialization of Engineered Biocarbon into animal nutrition, biologicals, and early-plant establishment, and bring additional products to market. Cool Planet develops engineered biocarbon products, including Cool Terra for improving crop yields and sequestering carbon and Cool Fauna for animal health and nutrition applications. The company’s biomass conversion technology can also be enhanced to produce hydrocarbon renewable transportation fuels chemically identical to those from crude oil. Cool Planet serves customers across agriculture, landscape, turf, nursery and ornamental markets. It is led by President and CEO Jim Loar and was founded in 2009. Financially, the company closed a $19.3M Series A and note conversion and has raised nearly $30M in the last 18 months. The new proceeds are intended to commercialize Cool Terra and Cool Fauna. Cool Planet was founded in 2009 and is focused on deploying its proprietary Cool Terra® engineered biocarbon platform to improve soil health while sequestering carbon. The Cool Terra product retains water and nutrients at the root zone, nurtures soil microbial life, and is targeted at agriculture, landscape, turf, nursery and ornamental markets. The company says Cool Terra is now in commercial deployment and has signed development and distribution partnerships with J.R. Simplot and Triangle Chemical Company. Cool Planet has invested in a large public and private commercial trial initiative to accelerate adoption of the biocarbon category. Management has emphasized converting 2016 momentum into greater commercial success in 2017 and beyond, and the agricultural subsidiary promoted Jim Loar to president & CEO. The company also historically produced engineered biocarbon and renewable, carbon-negative fuel from biomass but is currently focused on the Cool Terra agricultural business. Cool Planet develops technologies to create green fuels and biocarbon, including CoolTerra™, a soil amendment that retains water and nutrients, increases crop productivity, and sequesters carbon. The company says its green fuels are chemically identical to fossil fuels and that its process is capable of being carbon-negative. CoolTerra™ is being commercialized for agriculture and water conservation and is positioned to reduce fertilizer and water needs while maintaining or improving production. Cool Planet holds a broad portfolio of pending and granted patents and cites strategic investors such as BP, Google Ventures, the Constellation division of Exelon, and Energy Technology Ventures. The company closed an additional internal financing round with current investors to advance its biocarbon technology and provide growth capital to develop the market for CoolTerra™. It hired James Loar to lead the biocarbon business and further develop market and sales efforts. Cool Planet continues to pursue parallel plans to deploy its carbon-negative fuel technology. Cool Planet commercializes a process that produces green fuels chemically identical to fossil fuels and a biochar product, CoolTerra™, that can make the fuel carbon negative. The company sells CoolTerra™ for agricultural use and has begun commercial agreements, including one with Organic Waste Solutions for water treatment and remediation. Cool Planet broke ground on its first biofuel production facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, expected to produce 10 million gallons per year of renewable fuel and gasoline blendstocks plus CoolTerra™. The business model favors small-scale facilities located close to biomass sources to lower capital costs and compete with traditional oil. Cool Planet holds a portfolio of pending and granted patents and reports growing international interest in deploying its technology in China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The company has attracted strategic and venture investors including BP, Google Ventures, and Energy Technology Ventures as it moves to scale production and commercialization.

Participated · Series C · Oct 2013

1366 Technologies develops and sells its "Direct Wafer" furnace technology, which can produce multiple wafers at a time and reportedly drive wafer costs below $0.15 per piece. The company says the new funding will be used to further develop its Direct Wafer furnaces and to advance ongoing research and development initiatives. 1366 emphasizes wafer‑level innovation as a shift from prior industry focus on cell and module improvements. The company is headquartered in Bedford, MA and was founded in 2007. Since founding it has raised $107 million in venture capital and previously received a $150 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2016 it entered a long‑term strategic partnership with Wacker Chemie AG. 1366 Technologies develops the Direct Wafer process, a single-step method that pulls wafers directly from molten silicon rather than using multi-step ingot-based production. The company says this produces a new class of silicon wafers at substantially lower energy and capital cost, aiming to deliver solar at a cost less than coal. 1366 combines its technology with lean manufacturing and has begun preparing for large-scale commercial manufacturing with a planned plant. To support commercialization, it announced a 700 MW wafer supply commitment to Hanwha Q Cells and secured a strategic supply agreement and technical collaboration with Wacker Chemie. Wacker will provide the majority of the polysilicon for the plant at competitive terms and invest $15 million as an extension of 1366’s Series C to fund working capital and prepay initial silicon needs. The partnership with Wacker also includes transfer of silicon know‑how and facility design, engineering and construction expertise to support scale-up. 1366 is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts. 1366 Technologies develops Direct Wafer™ manufacturing technology to make silicon wafers in a single step by pulling them directly from molten silicon. The process is presented as a lower-energy, lower-capital alternative to traditional cast-and-saw wafer production, yielding significant wafer production cost savings. The company says the technology breaks historic efficiency and cost tradeoffs in photovoltaics and aims to deliver solar at a cost less than coal. 1366 combines its technology with lean manufacturing and a team of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to commercialize the approach. The company received a $10 million investment from Hanwha Investment Corporation to fund the construction of its first large-scale commercial factory, scheduled to be online in 2017. 1366 Technologies is a silicon wafer manufacturer that developed Direct Wafer®, a process that forms multi-crystalline wafers directly from molten silicon. Direct Wafer replaces multiple energy- and capital-intensive steps with a single process, uses 50% less silicon, eliminates slurry and halves silicon waste. The company positions the technology as delivering significant cost and sustainability benefits and aims to "deliver solar at the cost of coal." 1366 is preparing to build a 250 MW full-scale commercial manufacturing facility in the United States that will initially produce 60 million standard silicon wafers per year—enough to power more than 30,000 American homes. The company is headquartered in Bedford, MA. Financially, 1366 has raised $69.5M to date, including a recent Series C extension. 1366 Technologies develops and manufactures silicon wafers using its Direct Wafer™ technology aimed at reducing the cost to transform silicon into wafers. The company recently opened a demonstration factory in Bedford, Massachusetts and is led by CEO Frank van Mierlo. It will use the new funding to build a full-scale manufacturing facility that will initially produce 250 MW (about 60 million standard wafers) per year and later ramp to 1 GW annually. Building of the facility is scheduled to commence in 2014. Operational targets include accelerating production to reach more than 3,500 wafers per day (approximately 5 MW per year) for each furnace. After the Series C, the company has raised a total of $62M to date.

Participated · Series C · Jul 2013

Ioxus manufactures high-performance ultracapacitor technology across transportation, alternative energy, medical, industrial and consumer markets, offering cell styles from 100 Farads to 3,000 Farads in iCAP® cylindrical and THiNCAP® pouch form factors. Its products, including iMOD® modules and the iMOD X-Series™ family, are optimized for high power bursts, energy recapture, peak load shaving and other high-power applications due to higher power and energy density and low resistance. The company highlights applications in buses, passenger rail, automobiles and renewable wind power generation. Ioxus is headquartered in Oneonta, N.Y. and reports strong customer demand driving growth. Financially, the company completed a Series C financing receiving $21 million from investors. Ioxus plans to use the funds to expand customer service, sales and manufacturing in Asia, with a focus on China. Ioxus manufactures premium performance ultracapacitor technology used across transportation, alternative energy, medical, industrial and consumer markets. Its product family includes iCAP cylindrical and THiNCAP laminated pouch cells ranging from 100 Farads to 3,000 Farads and modular iMOD systems (for example 80V/12F, 16V/500F and 48V/165F), and it introduced a 1200F iCAP cell in 2013. The company says its ultracapacitors offer higher power and energy density with lower resistance, optimized for high-power bursts, energy recapture and peak load shaving. Ioxus reported 80% year-over-year growth in Japan (Jan–Jun 2013 vs Jan–Jun 2012) and plans to use new funding to further research and development, expand manufacturing capabilities, and increase sales and marketing operations. The company is headquartered in Oneonta, N.Y., and has recently launched modules targeting start/stop vehicle designs, renewable energy and heavy transport applications. Recent product introductions and reported regional growth position Ioxus for expanded global deployment of its ultracapacitor systems. Ioxus is a New York–based clean-tech company that designs and manufactures lithium-ion hybrid capacitors and ultracapacitors. Its devices are used alongside batteries to charge and power wind turbines, light rail and other public transportation, hybrid and electric vehicles, medical equipment, LED lighting, power tools and consumer electronics. The company has reported sales growth in Asia and has partnerships with wind-power distributors GTAE and Mouser Electronics; in the U.S. it is selling more ultracapacitors to consumer-electronics makers, especially LED lighting firms. Ioxus raised $21 million in a recent financing and says the proceeds will fund development and manufacture of next-generation ultracapacitor cells. CEO Mark McGough said the company is focused on higher power density, maintaining higher energy density, wider temperature range and higher device operating voltages, and expects a new generation of cells later this quarter. Observers cited in the article note potential applications including much faster charging for hybrid vehicles and improved life cycles for electric vehicles.

Participated · Series C · Jul 2013

On-Ramp Wireless develops wireless solutions for energy automation and M2M communications, with a network purpose-built to efficiently connect billions of hard-to-reach devices in metro-scale and other challenging environments. Its Total Reach technology scales from dense urban to vast rural settings, above or below ground, enabling low-power monitoring and control applications for Smart Grid, oil & gas, water efficiency, industrial sensing, and location tracking. The company is commercializing Smart Grid and Digital Oil Field solutions and plans to open new markets that need to connect distributed corporate assets regardless of location. Its solutions have delivered measurable results—San Diego Gas & Electric used On-Ramp to reduce outage downtimes and to more accurately predict future service disruptions via distribution monitoring and automation. Oil & Gas is its fastest-growing global sector, with business-critical wireless solutions for production and delivery applications; new investor Enbridge plans to use the platform for long-range monitoring of its distributed asset base. GE Ventures is both an investor and a strategic integration partner, having embedded On-Ramp’s Total Reach in GE’s Grid IQ AMI P2MP solution; water and natural gas offerings are slated for release next year.