Participated · Equity · Sep 2023

Ascend Elements commercializes an ultra‑efficient Hydro‑to‑Cathode process to produce sustainable pCAM and CAM from black mass recovered from recycled lithium‑ion batteries. The company is building Apex 1, a 1‑million‑square‑foot facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, slated to open in early 2025, which is expected to produce materials sufficient for up to 750,000 electric vehicles per year. Ascend’s process eliminates intermediary steps in traditional cathode manufacturing, yielding economic and carbon‑reduction benefits, and peer‑reviewed studies show recycled materials perform comparably to those from mined sources. The Apex 1 project is partly supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Financially, Ascend announced $162 million in new equity financing as part of a Series D, bringing its 12‑month funding total to $704 million following a $542 million round in September 2023. Goldman Sachs served as sole placement agent for the Series D round. Ascend Elements develops sustainable, closed-loop lithium-ion battery materials, including recycled battery feedstock, precursor cathode active material (pCAM) and cathode active materials (CAM). Its proprietary Hydro-to-Cathode® direct precursor synthesis technology produces new pCAM from spent lithium-ion cells, aiming to reduce cost, improve performance, and lower GHG emissions. The company has signed commercial-scale supply contracts (including a $1 billion pCAM contract starting Q4 2024 with options up to $5 billion) and is building its Apex 1 facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Apex 1 is planned as a 1-million-square-foot plant on a 140-acre site, targeting enough sustainable pCAM for 750,000 electric vehicles per year when complete. Ascend has also secured two U.S. Department of Energy grants totaling $480 million under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Led by CEO Mike O’Kronley, the company is scaling from EV battery recycling through commercial pCAM and CAM production. Ascend Elements develops engineered materials and lithium-ion battery recycling processes, including commercial-scale production of lithium-ion battery precursor (pCAM) and cathode active materials (CAM). Its proprietary Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis technology produces new CAM from spent lithium-ion cells, aiming to reduce cost, improve performance, and lower GHG emissions. The company intends to accelerate commercialization of that process and scale production to serve EV supply chains. Ascend has disclosed plans to invest up to $1 billion to build the Apex 1 facility in Hopkinsville, Ky., which is expected to produce enough pCAM and CAM to equip up to 250,000 electric vehicles per year. Financially, the company recently raised $300 million in equity and debt (including $200 million in Series C equity) and has two Department of Energy grants totaling $480 million. Led by CEO Mike O’Kronley, Ascend positions itself as a provider of sustainable, closed-loop battery materials solutions from EV battery recycling to commercial-scale cathode manufacturing. Ascend Elements develops Hydro-to-Cathode™ direct precursor synthesis technology to produce cathode active materials from spent lithium-ion cells. The process is presented as more efficient than traditional methods, offering reduced cost, improved performance, and lowered greenhouse gas emissions. The company is led by CEO Mike O’Kronley and is based in Westborough, MA. Ascend plans significant manufacturing and recycling capacity expansions, including a multi‑phase investment of up to $1 billion to build a facility called “Apex 1” in Hopkinsville, Ky. Apex 1 is expected to produce enough precursor and sustainable cathode active material to equip up to 250,000 electric vehicles per year. Ascend is also opening a battery recycling facility, “Base 1,” in Covington, Ga, which when fully operational in Q4 2022 will recycle more than 30,000 metric tons of used batteries and manufacturing scrap per year.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2022

Cleartrace is an Austin-based carbon and energy management software company that provides 100% traceable, actionable hourly energy and carbon records. Its platform surfaces previously unseen energy data for renewable energy buyers and suppliers and enables load-matched renewable energy purchases or sales. The product is targeted at real estate owners, investors, data centers, and renewable energy suppliers, and is used to provide auditable, assurance-ready proof of decarbonization. Cleartrace counts customers and partners including JPMorgan Chase, Iron Mountain, Brookfield Properties, NextEra, and Brookfield Renewable, and has been selected to support decarbonization at major sites such as Iron Mountain’s U.S. data centers and One Manhattan West. The company emphasizes standardized, validated hourly carbon-intensity data to help clients report, comply with local environmental policies, and demonstrate achievement of decarbonization goals. ClearTrace offers an automated energy and carbon accounting platform that provides auditable, around-the-clock monitoring of energy generation and consumption. Its platform creates verifiable digital records and can track third-party energy supply, power purchase agreements, demand response, and behind-the-meter assets. ClearTrace uses cloud technology to digitize the energy supply chain and deliver granular, high-fidelity, real-time carbon impact data. The company targets multinational corporations, financial services firms, real estate holding companies, and competitive energy suppliers, and cites customers including JPMorgan Chase and Brookfield Renewable. ClearTrace recently rebranded from swytchX and plans to accelerate market adoption and deploy additional market-driven solutions. It raised $4 million in Series A financing to support that growth.

Participated · Series B · Apr 2020

WindESCo provides software and services that optimize utility-scale wind plant performance using a combination of physics-based models, machine learning and advanced sensing. The company delivers validated revenue increases for customers, reporting plant revenue uplifts between 1% and 7% in actual dollars. WindESCo is developing cooperative "Social Wind Farms" that enable turbines to learn from one another and operate as a coordinated unit. It currently has deployed solutions on wind farms in eight countries across three continents. The company will use recent funding to enhance its technology offerings, expand its sales and customer success teams, and forge joint development and channel partnerships. WindESCo plans to take its solutions to the global marketplace and broaden commercial deployments.

Led · Series D · Sep 2018

AutoGrid Systems offers an AI-driven Virtual Power Plant software platform, AutoGrid Flex, that predicts, optimizes and provides real-time control of millions of distributed energy assets including EVs, batteries, rooftop solar and utility-scale wind. The Flex platform leverages spare capacity from batteries, electric vehicles and flexible loads to smooth short-term imbalances while providing economic incentives to asset owners. Led by founder and CEO Dr. Amit Narayan, the company combines software and services to enable optimization and monetization for independent power producers, energy-as-a-service firms, retailers and project developers. AutoGrid plans to expand Flex’s capabilities and accelerate global deployment, while building a services organization as a “one-stop-shop” for customers. The company has established a 24×7 Network Operations Center and intends to offer full market participation services across major U.S. ISOs in preparation for changes tied to FERC Order 2222. Financially, AutoGrid completed a new equity financing to support corporate growth and share repurchases. AutoGrid builds AI-powered software, primarily its AutoGrid Flex Virtual Power Plant (VPP) platform, to manage distributed energy resources (DERs) in real time at scale. The company is expanding Flex to scale real-time co-optimization up to 100,000 assets and to add enhanced electric vehicle (EV) fleet management capabilities. AutoGrid supports the buildout of what it says is the world’s largest VPP by asset volume in Japan with local partner ENERES. The company reports over 5,000 MW of assets under contract and experience managing DERs in 12 countries. AutoGrid was awarded a $2.25 million ARPA-E grant to fund these expansions and previously received $3.5 million from ARPA-E’s GENI program in 2012. AutoGrid Flex was ranked the #1 Virtual Power Plant Platform globally in the 2020 Guidehouse Insights ranking. AutoGrid provides a suite of flexibility management applications, including its Energy Internet Platform and AutoGrid Flex, that enable utilities, retailers, developers and service providers to manage distributed energy resources (DERs) in real time and at scale. Led by CEO Dr. Amit Narayan, the company employs AI-driven predictive controls to orchestrate connected, distributed and flexible energy assets. AutoGrid reports more than 5,000 megawatts of DERs under contract with customers such as Xcel Energy, National Grid, E.ON, CPS Energy, Total, NextEra Energy and over 35 other energy companies worldwide. The company intends to use the new funding to accelerate global deployment of its Energy Internet Platform and AutoGrid Flex. The recent investment was an equity extension to its Series D. AutoGrid is headquartered in Redwood City, California. Led by Dr. Amit Narayan, AutoGrid builds software applications that use artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and IoT to optimize and control energy systems. Its core product, the AutoGrid Flex™ platform, manages networked distributed energy resources (DERs) in real time and at scale. The company reports more than 3,500 megawatts of flexible capacity from DERs under contract and serves customers including National Grid, NextEra Energy, E.ON, Total, Xcel Energy, China Light and Power and over 30 other global energy companies. AutoGrid plans to use new capital to hire in energy, AI, big data and IoT to develop capacity for large-scale grid modernization and digital transformation projects worldwide. It also intends to accelerate commercial deployment of AutoGrid Flex across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Financially, the company has raised $75M to date, including the recent Series D. AutoGrid offers a suite of Energy Internet software applications built on the AutoGrid Energy Data Platform (EDP) with patented Predictive Controls technology. Its platform leverages petabytes of smart meter, sensor and third-party data plus data science and high-performance computing to monitor, predict, optimize and control millions of assets. AutoGrid’s applications enable utilities, retailers, renewable developers and energy service providers to manage DERs in real time, improve reliability, engage customers and reduce operating expenses. The company reported 100% year‑over‑year growth in annual recurring revenue and a 350% increase in distributed energy resources under contract in 2015. Customers include leading energy companies such as E.ON, Bonneville Power Administration, Florida Power & Light, Southern California Edison and NextEra Energy. AutoGrid has received industry recognition including Bloomberg New Energy Pioneer 2016 and World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2015.