Prelude Ventures

Canvas Category Consultancy : Company : Venture Capital

Website

Primary Location San Francisco, California, United States

Prelude Ventures is a venture capital firm partnering with entrepreneurs to address climate change. Since 2013, we have invested in over 60 companies across advanced energy, food and agriculture, transportation and logistics, advanced materials and manufacturing, and advanced computing.  We have a long-term commitment to the sector, accept informed risks, and couple a fundamental emphasis on venture-level returns with an understanding of deep-tech and hardware development timelines. Prelude manages capital exclusively for Simons family philanthropic entities and is a founding member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.

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Quaise Energy Raises $21 Million to Accelerate Terawatt-Scale Deep Geothermal Energy

📅 Date:

🔖 Topics: Funding Event

🏢 Organizations: Quaise Energy, Prelude Ventures, Safar Partners, Mitsubishi, MIT


Quaise Energy, the company unlocking terawatt-scale geothermal, announced the closing of a $21 Million Series A1 financing round led by Prelude Ventures and Safar Partners. Mitsubishi Corporation and Standard Investments are among several new investors participating in the round. This latest funding will enhance Quaise field operations and strengthen the company’s supply chain position, while ongoing product development will continue with pre-existing capital.

Quaise is uniquely positioned to harness deep geothermal energy worldwide at 3-20 km below the Earth’s surface. To achieve such a feat, the company has advanced a novel technique to vaporize rock using high-power microwaves in the millimeter range, based on more than a decade of research at MIT and recent testing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The original MIT experiments have now been scaled up 100x, with field demonstrations commencing this year.

Read more at Business Wire

Thea Energy Announces $20 Million Series A Financing

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🔖 Topics: Funding Event

🏢 Organizations: Thea Energy, Prelude Ventures


Thea Energy Inc., a fusion energy company advancing stellarator technology for commercialization, today announced the closing of a $20 million Series A financing. Prelude Ventures led the round with participation from other investors including 11.2 Capital, Anglo American, Hitachi Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Mercator Partners, Orion Industrial Ventures, and Starlight Ventures.

Proceeds from the financing will support the construction and operation of the Company’s proprietary superconducting planar coil magnet array systems, the design and simulation of Eos, Thea Energy’s large-scale integrated neutron source stellarator system, and continued team growth.

Read more at Globe Newswire

LightShip Series B

📅 Date:

🔖 Topics: Funding Event

🏢 Organizations: Lightship, Obvious Ventures, Prelude Ventures


We are excited to share that we have closed a $34 million Series B financing to accelerate production and bring the L1 to your driveways. This round was co-led by Obvious Ventures and Prelude Ventures and joined by Allegis Capital and global RV manufacturer THOR Industries and its investment partner TechNexus Venture Collaborative. Returning investors Congruent Ventures, HyperGuap, and Alumni Ventures also joined the round.

Closing this fundraise ushers in a new chapter as we build the manufacturing system and supply chain to bring the L1 to production later this year. As great things often come in twos, we are also moving into our new pilot production facility in Broomfield, Colorado later this week.

Read more at Lightship Journal

Boston Metal Closes $262M Series C Funding Round to Decarbonize Steelmaking and Disrupt the Metals Industry

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🔖 Topics: Funding Event

🏢 Organizations: Boston Metal, Aramco, Microsoft, BHP, Prelude Ventures


Boston Metal, a global metals technology solutions company, today announced the close of its Series C fundraising, bringing the series total to $262 million. New investors include Aramco Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Aramco; global investment manager M&G Investments; natural resource investment firm Goehring & Rozencwajg; and investment management firm Baillie Gifford. Existing investor Breakthrough Energy Ventures also joined the round, and several others made additional investments in the Series C, including Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, BHP Ventures and Prelude Ventures.

The metals and mining sectors are under significant pressure to shift to more sustainable production methods while enhancing efficiency and profitability. Boston Metal is developing a scalable technology platform that uses electricity to produce a variety of metals and alloys from a wide range of feedstocks. The company’s Molten Oxide Electrolysis process is simpler, more energy efficient and has a lower environmental impact than traditional methods. With its high-value metals business, Boston Metal is empowering mining companies to create new revenue streams by deploying MOE to extract high-value metals from complex, low-concentration materials that are currently considered waste.

Read more at Business Wire

☀️ Terabase Energy Raises $44 Million Series B to Digitalize and Automate the Deployment of Utility-Scale Solar Power Plants

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🏢 Organizations: Terabase, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, SJF Ventures


Terabase Energy today announced a $44 million Series B financing co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Prelude Ventures with additional participation by SJF Ventures and other existing investors. The round brings Terabase’s total funding to $52 million and will be used to support the company’s mission to reduce the cost and increase the scalability of solar by building a digital and robotic automation platform for the development, construction, and operation of utility-scale PV power plants.

Read more at PR Newswire

Citrine Informatics Raises $16M in Series C Financing

📅 Date:

🔖 Topics: Funding Event

🏢 Organizations: Citrine Informatics, Prelude Ventures, Innovation Endeavors


Citrine Informatics, the leading provider of artificial intelligence software for materials, chemicals, and manufactured product development, announced the successful close of a $16 million Series C funding round. The round was led by Prelude Ventures and Innovation Endeavors, with participation from Drive Catalyst (Far Eastern Group), Alumni Ventures, ISAI Cap Venture, Presidio Ventures, and others.

This latest round of funding will be used to further accelerate the growth and development of Citrine’s AI-driven materials and chemical design platform, which is already in use by leading companies across materials, chemicals, formulated products, and manufacturing industries to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their product development processes.

Read more at Businesswire

LuxWall Receives Funding Led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Prelude Ventures

📅 Date:

🔖 Topics: Funding Event

🏢 Organizations: LuxWall, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures


LuxWall, Inc., a provider of vacuum insulated glass (VIG) solutions designed to significantly reduce carbon emissions in the built environment, today announced completion of a company financing. Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) and Prelude Ventures led the round with participation from Baruch Future Ventures.

Read more at Business Wire