Commonwealth Fusion Systems will build its first commercial-scale power plant just outside of Richmond, Virginia, the company announced today, with a goal of hooking it up to the grid in the early 2030s. Fusion power has long been derided as being decades away, but the new milestone assumes the possibility of commercial operations within the […]
Fusion power startup Focused Energy has signed a deal to buy two of the world’s most powerful lasers, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The massive lasers will be installed in the startup’s future facility, which it is building in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next two years. “These are some of the highest-average-power
Focused Energy buys two of the world’s most powerful lasers for its fusion quest Read More »
G2 Venture Partners, the high-profile firm that spun out of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is raising a third fund with a target of $750 million, TechCrunch has learned. The raise, which was disclosed in a regulatory filing, is a bullish vote of confidence in climate and sustainability startups, while other investors have voiced cautious
G2 Ventures Partners is raising $750 million for a third fund Read More »
AI continues to reshuffle power and energy markets with even oil giants like Exxon Mobil getting into the mix. Exxon announced this week that it’s planning to build a power plant for data centers, reflecting just how much electricity tech companies expect they’ll need in the coming decade. According to one estimate, nearly half of
Exxon can’t resist the AI power gold rush Read More »
Electric vehicle charging startup EVgo is the latest company to secure funds from the U.S. Department of Energy as the Biden administration races to approve clean energy loans before Donald Trump takes over. Trump has promised to cancel any unspent funds from Biden’s bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act, including the $7,500 tax credit for new EV
EVgo secures $1.25 billion loan amid Biden’s rush to approve clean energy loans Read More »
The road from scientist to founder is well trodden, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Those pitfalls are why, over the last decade, several programs have sprung up to help smooth the path for technical founders. Now, two prominent programs, Activate and The Engine Accelerator, have decided they can give founders an even bigger advantage
Activate and The Engine Accelerator team up to train scientists to become founders Read More »
SolarSquare has raised $40 million in what is the largest venture round in India’s solar sector. The Mumbai-based startup bootstrapped and was profitable selling to corporate customers for five years before switching to residential solar in 2021. Now it has scaled to powering over 20,000 homes and 200 housing societies across India, and is India’s
SolarSquare raises $40 million in India’s largest solar venture round Read More »
It’s a cruel reality that only about 3% of the world’s water is fresh, and of that, only a fraction is readily available. Yet as the world’s arid regions encounter intensifying droughts, more people are eyeing the other 97% that’s sloshing around in the oceans. Islands, cities, and water districts have been using desalination to
A new wave of desalination startups argues that deeper is better Read More »
Turning sunflower seeds into sustainable, cocoa-free chocolate has netted Munich-based B2B foodtech startup Planet A Foods (formerly QOA) a $30 million Series B funding round. Now, the Y Combinator alum is gearing up for industrialization, with the funds set to be deployed to scale its production capacity by around 7.5x. The round fast follows a
Planet A Foods nabs $30M to make tons more cocoa-free chocolate Read More »
Earlier this year, Meta tried to get its own nuclear powered data center the easy way, by building one next to an existing reactor. But after regulators threw cold water on the plan — the site was reportedly home to a rare bee species — the company is back with a new idea: find a
Meta jumps aboard the nuclear-powered data center bandwagon Read More »
