8 climate companies reshaping baseload power and critical minerals
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2025 will likely be a pivotal year for baseload power and critical minerals. We've already witnessed a surge in investment across both sectors in our portfolio last year and for good reason.
The race for energy independence is on. Annual load growth (or the increase in power capacity the grid needs to supply at any moment) is projected to grow 5x faster this decade than the last, and critical mineral supply chains are increasingly becoming a hot geopolitical issue. Making these two sectors key bottlenecks set to shape the clean energy transition in the coming years.
The 24/7 power challenge
For the past 20 years, load growth has been quite constant in the U.S. at just 0.6% annually. But the expectations are that in the coming decade, it will be surging to 3% annually. Why? First, because the nature of the energy transition means we need to electrify everything, from buildings to transportation. Add reshoring of manufacturing and the demand climbs even higher.
And that is even without mentioning data centers. The gen AI boom has supercharged what was already expected to be significant growth in this sector because of general digitalization.
Big tech companies need enormous amounts of energy (and they need it now). This could open up opportunities for some companies to supply that with green energy.
š„ Fervo Energy is adapting next-gen fracking technologies to geothermal, extracting earth's heat in locations previously inaccessible. They're building nothing less than the world's largest enhanced geothermal system, secured a power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison, and achieved record-breaking commercial flow rates that surpassed industry expectations by a decade.
š XGS Energy takes a different approach with its closed-loop well architecture that recirculates water, making geothermal possible even in water-scarce regions. They've successfully completed tests and prototypes, moving toward commercialization, and received "Awardable" status for the Air Force geothermal energy program.
ā¢ļø Radiant is developing portable nuclear microreactors, the size of a truck, that can replace diesel generators in remote locationsāproviding clean, reliable power for military bases, hospitals, and disaster relief. The company is on track for a full-scale demonstration next year.
ā³ Blue Energy has slashed nuclear construction time from 10+ years to under 2 years by strategically building modular plants in former shipyards. They're positioned to make nuclear the cheapest baseload power source, even below fossil fuels. Last year, they completed a $45m Series A fundraising round to advance its core engineering work, site development and secure additional partnerships.
The critical minerals supply chain challenge
Minerals are essential for electrification, renewable energy, and expanding power grids, as well as for AI, semiconductors and the defense industry. As technology advances, our need for these minerals will only grow, making their supply a key global challenge. Lithium demand alone is projected to increase 42x by 2024, for example.
The catch is that today, nearly 90% of the world's batteries are made in China, which also dominates key steps in the supply chain.
To reduce dependence on China and make battery production more sustainable, governments and companies the EU and U.S are racing to secure alternative supply chainsāby investing in domestic production, developing new alternatives, and improving metal recycling.
š§ Magrathea extracts high-purity magnesium from seawater (or other sources like brines left over in table salt production) using renewable electricity, avoiding carbon-intensive mining processes that currently dominate production in China. Recently, they've partnered with a major car manufacturer and secured $20M from the US Department of Defense.
ā”ļø Lithios has developed an electrochemical "sponge" that selectively captures lithium from brines, unlocking previously untapped resources worldwide without the environmental impacts of evaporation ponds or hard rock mining. So far, they've successfully tested their extraction technology on 16 different brines across North America, Europe, and South America, proving the process works worldwide.
ā»ļø SiTration, an MIT spinout, uses silicon-based filtration to recover valuable minerals from toxic mining waste ponds, turning environmental liabilities into assets. Their technology demonstrates the ability to recover up to 95% of valuable metals from waste streams with 10x less energy than traditional chemical and thermal methods. And last year they raised over $10M in funding.
š Redwood Materials collects end-of-life batteries from EVs, electronics, and industrial applications, then uses advanced hydrometallurgical methods to extract and purify the metals to battery-grade quality. Their process is creating a closed-loop battery recycling ecosystem that's already processing 20 GWh of batteries annually and generating $200M in revenue. They've also secured $2B in government loans to expand US EV battery supply chains.
Why this matters now
The markets for baseload power and critical minerals are still young, with opportunities for growth. These eight companies are pioneering solutions to two crucial bottlenecks in our energy transition.
With load growth expected to surge, data centers demanding more power than ever, and critical mineral supply chains facing increasing pressure from geopolitical tensionsāthese innovations aren't just nice-to-have, they're essential.
Enter you. You can still invest in some of these companies and position yourself in some of the critical markets of today. The Climate Tech Portfolio Fund III is closing soon on March 31, get in touch with the team to join 1200+ climate investors before the final close!
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TL;DR?
You can also rewatch our latest webinar on this topic. Dive deeper into each sector and company and hear first hand from our experts.
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ā° Final call! Climate Tech Portfolio Fund III will definitely close on March 31
Weāve been building a new portfolio of breakthrough climate solutions for our third flagship fund since March 2024. Ā As a result, to date, weāve approved 6 leading climate funds to be part of this portfolio, which have already invested in 16 fast-growing companies, and made 3 direct co-investments.
This provides a strong indication of what you will be investing in, a truly unique opportunity, as there isnāt usually as much visibility into a fund pre-close.
Here are three great examples: Luxwall is a game-changer set to disrupt the $100B global glass industry, Twelve signed the biggest e-SAF contract in the EU, and Fervo is building nothing less than the largest enhanced geothermal plant in the world.
Similar to our previous funds, Climate Tech Portfolio Fund III will allow you to invest in 7-10 highly curated VC and PE funds and give you exposure to 150+ climate tech companies diversified across sectors, investment stages, and geographies.
Explore the portfolio fund details
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š” News from within our funds
š Phlair locks in $30M in offtake agreements with Frontier buyers to scale direct air capture.
š ļø Oxford Flow secures a $1M order from bp for its gas pressure control valves, improving safety and efficiency in U.S. industrial operations.
ā” Sunfire powers up Finlandās first industrial-scale green hydrogen plant with its electrolyzers.
š„ LAVA (formerly Luminescent) raises ā¬12.5M from the European Innovation Council to scale its solid-state thermal batteries, enabling ultra-efficient heat storage for industrial decarbonization.
š§ Nodes & Links closes a $12M Series B to bring AI-driven efficiency to construction projects.
āļø Twelve lands $83M in Series C & project funding to scale its COā-to-chemical transformation technology, producing sustainable jet fuel, plastics, and industrial chemicals from captured carbon.
š Magrathea teams up with a global automaker to deliver lightweight, U.S.-made metals for the next-gen of vehicles.
š AtmosZero fires up a new factory in Colorado to bring decarbonized steam to industries worldwide.
š Redwood Materials proves that recycled battery materials outperform mined metals in DOE-backed testingāgame-changer for circular economy battery tech!
You can now follow the latest news on your investments directly on our platform, here.
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