CTC #23 - Circular climate solutions, funding for smart buildings, and more

October 1st-13th

Oct 13, 2022

Hi there,

Welcome to another issue! This week, we’ve got funding for smart HVAC systems, the first climate tech pharmaceutical company, Canada’s Clean50 winners, and a whole lot more. October is also Circular Economy month in Canada, so expect to see lots going on in this space!

If you aren’t familiar with the circular economy, it’s probably because the economy that we’re most familiar with is linear: resources are extracted, consumed as inputs for products, and then discarded as waste materials. In contrast, a circular economy is one that operates as a closed loop system. The waste from one system is used as inputs for another, and value is recovered many times over.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation identifies three main principles of a circular economy:

Eliminating waste & pollution
Circulating materials and products at their highest value
Regenerating nature

It also incorporates ideas like bio-mimicry, using smart sensors and data, and extended responsibility for producers. If you want to dive in more, I recommend The Circular Economy: A Wealth of Flows for a solid primer.

In Canada, there are a ton of climate tech companies that are embedding circular principles into their business model:

We covered Friendlier’s circular packaging platform for restaurants and food services earlier this year
Aduro Technologies is turning plastic waste into new materials
Enerkem produces sustainable aviation fuel from waste
Unwasted converts waste plastics into furniture
Trendi helps farmers and the food industry upcycle food waste into valuable products

One organization that is doing incredible work in this space is the Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL) based in Guelph, ON. They operate a number of accelerator-style programs, and just launched two new initiatives:

The Circular Leadership Program is offered through Ivey Business School, and focuses on helping businesses embed circularity into their operations, logistics and strategy. Applications are open until November 30, 2022.

COIL also launched the Climate and Circularity Solutions Hub which aims to bring together the circular ecosystem and further the adoption of circular practices.

Know of other Canadian climate tech companies that are incorporating circular principles? Let me know in the comments!

Funding

Parity (Toronto, ON) secured $8M in funding to expand their SaaS HVAC tech. Parity’s platform enables multi-unit properties to optimize their HVAC systems, reducing energy costs and emissions.

Northstar Clean Technologies (Delta, BC) secured $43.5M in funding in a strategic partnership with Renewable U Energy. Northstar recycles single use asphalt shingles and turns them into valuable materials.

e-Zinc (Toronto, ON) closed $9.67M in venture debt to build out pilot plants and fuel commercialization of its zinc-air long-duration energy storage solutions.

Blue-Zone Technologies (Concord, ON) secured $8M in institutional financing to scale up and accelerate commercialization. Blue-Zone recovers waste anesthetic gasses and upcycles them into branded generic anesthetics, avoiding the waste gasses from entering the atmosphere.

Three climate tech companies were selected for funding from Innovate BC’s Ignite Program, taking home $300K each:

Flash Forest (Toronto, ON) will use the funding to optimize its drone-based reforestation solution
Terramera (Vancouver, BC) will develop new methods of measuring soil carbon
HTEC (Vancouver, BC) to improve storage of hydrogen fuel

Check out this op-ed from Terramera’s CEO, Karn Manhas, on how soil contributes to climate resilience

Milestones & Growth

SWTCH Energy partners with Kite Mobility to validate the business case for their vehicle-to-grid charging solution
Quebec-based EV charging company FLO opened their first U.S. assembly plant
OriginAir’s plant-based air purification system is up for Interior Design's “Best of Year” award
Shift Clean Energy’s energy subscription service PwrSwäp technology will power the first all-electric vessel in the Port of Singapore

What’s going on

🏆 Canada’s Clean50 winners are here, ft. EnPowered, Carbon Neutral Club, and others.

🚀 Check out MaRS’ latest cohort for the RBC Women in Cleantech Accelerator.

🚢 The Ocean Startup Project shared their 2022 shortlist, featuring 60 idea- and early-stage startups working on renewable energy, eliminating microplastics, seaweed-based bioplastics and more.

🔊 CEO Maartje van der Sande pitches Circular Rubber Technologies on the Cleantech Forward podcast..

📅 Bioeconomy conference Scaling Up 2022 is happening from November 7-9th in Ottawa. Presenters include Chrysalix Venture Capital, Natural Products Canada, OMNI Conversion Technologies and more.

📅 The Pembina Institute hosts “Women In Energy Transformation - Towards an Equitable Net-Zero Future” on October 14th at 11:30am EST.

📅 Dive into the complex interaction between tech and society at “Don’t Look Up! Understanding Difficult Technological Truths” on October 20th at 1pm EST. The session is hosted by University of Waterloo’s Centre for Society, Technology and Values.

In the news

Canada’s Minister of Innovation is encouraging “patient capital” from Canadian pension plans to finance EV battery plants and accelerate capacity.

The federal government partners with Rio Tinto to fund the decarbonization of Rio Tinto’s Quebec metal processing facilities and expand its critical minerals business.

BC will focus its new $500M InBC investment fund on driving climate action.

BC also signed a new climate pact with Washington, Oregon and California. The agreement will invest in cross-border climate infrastructure and protecting communities from climate disasters.

Ontario announced a slew of changes to its energy portfolio in the face of an emerging energy crunch. The province plans to delay shutting down Pickering nuclear plant, made new investments in energy efficiency programs (after cutting them a few years back), and is pursuing more energy storage and new hydro power options (but won’t renew energy purchase agreement with Quebec).

Microsoft is under fire for buying non-additional carbon offsets generated by the Ontario Power Generation’s existing renewable energy portfolio.

Suncor exits wind and solar business, going all in on carbon capture and hydrogen.

Toronto’s Brookfield Asset Management drops $1.54M to buy two US renewable energy companies.

Toronto Pearson Airport is moving forward with efforts to decarbonize their operations across lighting, heating, EV charging and solar generation.