ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week:
Agrifood investing. Chennai-based Fragaria Fruits raised $2 million in seed equity to expand its vertical berry farming operations to a new facility in Bangalore. It was backed by WEH Ventures, Rainmatter, Spiral Ventures, Perpetual Capital and an angel investor… Tokyo-based Secai Marche secured $6 million in Series A equity for its planning and logistics service for fresh food supply chains in Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
Climate resilience. San Francisco-based Stand secured $35 million in Series B equity to insure homes in natural disaster-prone areas in the US, including California and Florida, by offering coverage linked to climate mitigation upgrades… Sonic Fire Tech in Cleveland, Ohio, raised $3.5 million from Khosla Ventures, Third Sphere, AirAngels and a group of angel investors to experiment with using sound in wildfire prevention.
Clean tech. California-based Bloom Energy, which produces oxide fuel cells to provide onsite power for utilities and data centers, signed on to a $5 billion partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to deploy its cells across Brookfield’s AI data centers… Chara Technologies raised $6 million for ‘rare-earth free’ EV motors… Dutch pension backed Return to lease battery storage to European utilities.
Edtech. Bangalore-based Pidilite Ventures raised $4 million for its line of math and science-based children’s toys.
Employee ownership. Apis & Heritage Capital Partners secured $181 million for its second Legacy Fund (see, “Apis & Heritage aims to help business owners ‘exit responsibly’ – to their employees”). The firm seeks to raise $250 million to create 3,000 worker-owners through its investments… Ownership Works heads to Japan to share (some) wealth with workers.
Financial inclusion. Blue Earth bought BII’s – and employees’ – stake in Nigerian fintech startup Moniepoint.
Fund news. Ardian snagged $20 billion for its latest infrastructure fund. The Europe-focused fund manager attracted investments from 229 limited partners from around the globe… Burnt Island Ventures raised $50 million fund for water tech and infrastructure… Fidelity International raised €710 million ($823 million) for its Fidelity Real Estate Logistics Impact Climate Solutions Fund. The fund acquires, refurbishes and operates logistics assets with net-zero emissions… First-time manager SevenGen raised $50 million for European climate tech fund… Enko Credit secured $100 million for Africa-focused private credit fund.
Housing. Silicon Valley investors backed $200 million fund for affordable housing in the Bay Area…Toronto-based PaceZero Capital Partners provided a $5 million line of credit to Assembly Corp. for its sustainable, prefabricated residential buildings that are being built in the Toronto area.
Investing in health. Airbound, based in Bangalore, raised $8.7 million for its unmanned delivery drones. The company is testing its drones with healthcare provider Narayana Health to deliver medical tests, diagnostics and supplies to places lacking adequate logistics infrastructure… Dallas-based Triplemoon raised $3.5 million to work with pediatric care providers, including those that accept Medicaid, to embed children’s mental health services into their practices.
Responsible tech. Omidyar Network and the MacArthur Foundation launched Humanity AI, a five-year, $500 million initiative to support inclusive design and access to artificial intelligence. Other supporters include the Siegel Family Endowment and the Ford, Kapor, Lumina, Packard, Doris Duke and Mozilla foundations… University of Oxford spinout Wild Bioscience closed a €51 million ($59.5 million) Series A round to use AI to guide climate-resilient crop breeding. It was backed by the Ellison Institute of Technology, Oxford Science Enterprises, Braavos Capital and the University of Oxford.
Waste to value. Singapore-based Verta Bioenergy raised S$1.1 million ($854,000) in seed funding from ENGIE Factory, Wright Partners, AlphaGen VC and Auravia Capital to convert agricultural waste into biomass pellets that can be used as an industrial fuel replacement to coal.
