Prelude Ventures invests in and supports early-stage startups with the greatest potential to mitigate climate change. Our goal is to help build the next generation of category-defining businesses.

Prelude Ventures

Alumni Ventures Group provides high-quality, diversified venture portfolios to individual investors who previously haven't had access to VC. It helps accredited alums from top entrepreneurial schools invest together in the ventures of fellow alums. The firm backs companies with an alumni connection and an institutional lead investor with expertise in the space. AVG also offers focused funds that allow any accredited investor access to a venture portfolio, diversified by type, sector, stage, and geography. Beth Obermiller, Michael Madden, and Mike Collins co-founded the firm in Manchester, New Hampshire in 2013.

Alumni Ventures

Anglo American is one of the world’s largest mining companies, is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges.  Their portfolio of mining businesses meets our customers' changing needs and spans bulk commodities – iron ore and manganese, metallurgical coal and thermal coal; base metals and minerals – copper, nickel, niobium, and phosphates; and precious metals and minerals – in which they are a global leader in both platinum and diamonds. Anglo American plc operates in the mining industry. The company’s portfolio of mining assets includes precious, base, and bulk commodities. Business The company’s mining businesses are Platinum, Diamonds, Base Metals, Iron Ore (Ferrous Metals), and Coal. It has operations in approximately 45 countries. Platinum The company mines, processes and refines platinum group metals (platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium).  All of Anglo Platinum’s operations are located in South Africa. Anglo Platinum wholly owns five mining operations, a tailings re-treatment facility, three smelters, a base metals refinery, and a precious metals refinery, all in the Limpopo and North West provinces of South Africa. Each of its mines operates its own concentrator facilities, smelting and refining the output at Rustenburg Platinum Mines’ metallurgical facilities.  The company’s 100% owned mining operations comprise Rustenburg Platinum Mines’ Rustenburg, Amandelbult, Mogalakwena, and Twickenham sections as well as Lebowa Platinum Mines, 51% of which is held for sale. Rustenburg Platinum Mines’ Union Section is 85% held, with black economic empowerment (BEE) partner, the Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafela traditional community, holding the remainder.  Anglo Platinum also has a 50:50 joint venture with a BEE consortium, led by African Rainbow Minerals, over the Modikwa platinum mine, a joint venture with Royal Bafokeng Resources, a BEE partner, over the combined Bafokeng-Rasimone platinum mine and Styldrift properties and a joint venture with Xstrata over the Mototolo mine. In addition, Anglo Platinum has joint ventures with Aquarius Platinum covering the shallow reserves of the Kroondal and Marikana mines and portions of the reserves at Anglo Platinum’s Rustenburg Section.

Anglo American

In physics, 11.2 km/s is the escape velocity from Earth's gravity. They focus on emerging technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, robotics, quantum, new space, computational therapeutics, synthetic biology.  ​They believe great people are leading indicators of a company's success. 11.2 Capital’s technical background, operational experience, and a strong network of amazing advisors and international partners particularly in Asia deliver a unique set of resources to entrepreneurs. While they are happy to help companies across the full range of early-stage company questions, areas where they concentrate include technical recruiting, partnerships (OEM and distribution partnerships for smart hardware companies, data partnerships for data-driven healthcare companies), customer introductions (CISO introductions for security companies, provider introductions for healthcare companies), and follow-on financings.

11.2 Capital

Orion Resource Partners is an alternative investment manager with $2.6 billion under management.* Orion specializes in providing flexible capital investment solutions to mining companies – typically publicly traded – in the base and precious metals sector. Orion has a seasoned team of investment professionals with demonstrated capabilities in structuring debt, equity, convertibles, offtake, streaming, and royalty investments. Orion employs a disciplined, risk-adjusted investment process when evaluating portfolio companies.

Orion Resource Partners

Starlight is a venture capital firm for founders addressing the world’s most pressing challenges & opportunities. We partner early with unstoppable entrepreneurs leveraging breakthrough science and technology to pursue progress at scale in four main areas: the energy transition, industrializing synthetic biology, space technology, and novel computing & communications platforms. Starlight was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

Starlight Ventures

Green D Ventures is a community of accredited Dartmouth alums who pool money into a VC fund to invest in Dartmouth-connected companies. Simply put, they believe they can invest better together than they can alone. They create a diverse portfolio for their investors, co-investing with leading VC funds across industry, stage, and geography. Their goal is to raise a new fund each year that benefits entrepreneurs, the school's ecosystem, and their investors.

Green D Ventures

Lowercarbon Capital funds research and invests in technologies to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. The world has ignored the scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs who are pursuing solutions to lower emissions, remove carbon, actively cool the planet, and save human, animal, and plant life.

Lowercarbon Capital

Hitachi Ventures invests in innovative companies that address society’s key technological challenges in areas like IT, industrial automation (robotics, sensor technology and IoT), cloud services (data management, cybersecurity), mobility (autonomous driving, mobility services, smart infrastructure and security services), energy, smart medicine (AI for digital imaging, smart diagnostics, remote care), smart city, smart infrastructure and more.  With our first fund of USD 150M, we invest in Series A/B/C rounds in globally leading startups. From our offices in Munich, Germany, and Boston, USA, we work tirelessly to develop close ties and effective collaboration with leading innovative technology hubs and like-minded co-investors. Hitachi intends to leverage its strong position in multiple global technology markets, its expertise and network to support and promote Hitachi Ventures portfolio companies.

Hitachi Ventures

Mercator Partners provides an asset management platform to deal with disruption & cost for transport, energy and manufacturing industries.

Mercator Partners

Thea Energy

Thea Energy is taking a faster approach to commercialize fusion energy. The company’s fusion systems will create a limitless source of zero emission energy for a sustainable future. Thea Energy is leveraging recent breakthroughs in stellarator physics and engineering developed at Princeton University and elsewhere. The company was founded in 2022 with the objective of building modular, utility-scale fusion power.

Thea Energy is a spin-off of Princeton University’s plasma physics lab and develops stellarator technology-based fusion power plants.

Moving industry forward with next-gen advancements in energy storage and transmission

Alternative Energy

Scott W. on LinkedIn: Thea Energy - Machinist

Thea Energy is a spin-off of Princeton University’s plasma physics lab and develops stellarator technology-based fusion power plants.The company’s Eos system, a neutron source stellarator, is claimed to be the only first-generation fusion system power plant prototype. Eos uses an array of computer-controlled high-temperature superconductor (HTS) planar coils, allowing for dynamic field control and simplified maintenance and operations.Thea Energy aims to scale up Eos and launch the Helios Power Plant by 2030 to begin on-the-grid operations.Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2023/07/27/2712179/0/en/Thea-Energy-Selected-for-U-S-Department-of-Energy-Public-Private-Partnership-Award-Through-the-Innovation-Network-for-Fusion-Energy-Program.html">July 2023</a>, Thea Energy partnered with the University of California San Diego to develop a boron-based renewable first wall capable of sufficient heat removal and tritium recovery from stellarator fusion devices.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26493">February 2024</a>, Thea Energy raised USD 20 million in a Series A funding round led by Prelude Ventures. The company intended to use funds to construct and operate the company's superconducting planar coil magnet array systems. Prior to this, in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19658">May 2023</a>, Thea Energy was selected as an awardee of the USD 46 million milestone-based fusion development program. Split among seven companies, this funding covers the first 18 months of a project with future funding contingent on congressional approval and achievement of milestones.

Canada-based Carbon Engineering (CE) specializes in Direct Air Capture (DAC) and air-to-fuel (ATF) technologies. ATF technology turns atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) DAC facilities into low-carbon fuels. The company’s pilot DAC plant in British Columbia captures one ton of CO2 per day. As of March 2024, CE is working with 1PointFive to commercialize its air-to-fuel processes.Key customers and partnershipsCE has partnered with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (the venture capital arm of the oil and gas company Occidental Petroleum) to build its first commercial DAC facility in Texas Permian Basin. The proposed facility will capture one million tons of CO2 per year. The construction of the plant is to be completed by 2024. CE has also begun engineering at its <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14178">second DAC facility</a> in Kleberg County, Texas to capture 30 million tons of CO2 per year. The site is expected to begin operations by late 2024. CE also has a partnership with Storegga Geotechnologies to deploy its DAC technology in the UK. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10949">June 2022</a>, CE extended its collaboration with 1PointFive to deploy DAC projects globally.CE allows customers to pre-purchase carbon removal quantities from its future projects. In March 2021, Shopify became CE’s first customer, having reserved 10,000 tons of carbon removals. CE has also partnered with BeZero (a British climate asset and liability management company) for a joint retail offering that allows customers to purchase carbon removals through BeZero’s website. In November 2021, CE also signed up BMO Financial Group, a Canadian financial service provider, as a new customer and plans to deliver 1,000 tons of carbon removal units.CE estimates the net cost of its DAC technology to be around USD 94–232 per ton. The net cost of capture from its proposed one-megaton commercial plant is expected to be “little less than USD 200 per ton”. The company has also reported that its net cost of capture needs to fall below USD 150 per ton for the technology to make commercial sense.In October 2021, Carbon Engineering also partnered with Huron Clean Energy (Canada), The Upper Nicola Band (Canada), and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures to develop a large-scale commercial ATF facility in British Columbia. The facility is expected to begin operations in 2026. In November 2021, the company partnered with Air Canada to explore sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) opportunities.Funding and financialsCarbon Engineering's most recent funding event was in<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14763"> November 2022</a> when it raised an undisclosed amount from aviation leaders, Airbus and Air Canada, to support the development of its DAC technology. Prior to this in March 2019, Carbon Engineering raised USD 68 million from Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, and BHP. The company also received a USD 25 million grant from the Canadian government in June 2019. The cash helped speed up development and go-to-market activities for Carbon Engineering’s DAC technology.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21044">August 2023</a>, Occidental Petroleum announced a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Carbon Engineering for USD 1.1 billion in cash. The deal was closed in <a href="https://www.blg.com/en/about-us/deals-and-suits/2023/11/occidental-petroleum-completes-us1-1-billion-acquisition-of-carbon-engineering-ltd#:~:text=On%20November%203%2C%202023%2C%20Occidental,equity%20of%20Carbon%20Engineering%20Ltd.">November 2023</a>.

Carbon Engineering

TAE Technologies is a next-generation renewable energy company focusing on fusion technology. The company’s technology attempts to fuse hydrogen and boron to produce light to generate heat for power generation. TAE aims to connect the first hydrogen-boron fusion power plant to the grid in the 2030s and expects to demonstrate net energy on its next research reactor Copernicus around mid-decade.TAE Technologies has obtained more than 1,400 patents and launched several spin-off technologies in sectors such as electric mobility, power management, and life sciences. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15971">January 2023</a>, formed a new subsidiary known as TAE Power Solutions. This subsidiary is developing a unique technology platform derived from fusion research to improve the reliability, efficiency, longevity, and affordability of electric-powered products, including EVs and renewable energy storage.Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6255">October 2021</a>, TAE Technologies partnered with the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), a Japanese research institute, to test hydrogen-boron (p-B11) fusion reactions. Furthermore, in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16848">March 2023</a>, TAW and NIFS carried out the world’s first hydrogen-boron fusion experiments in a magnetically confined fusion plasma.Since 2014, TAE Technologies has worked with Google to apply machine learning, data science, and advanced computations to jointly develop the Optometrist Algorithm to speed up experiments involving plasma, the core ingredient in a fusion reaction.Funding and financialsThe company’s most recent funding event was a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11710">July 2022</a> USD 250 million round led by Google. The company planned to use the funds to construct its research reactor “Copernicus.” Prior to this, in April 2021 TAE Technologies raised USD 280 million led by Google and New Enterprise Associates. Funds were expected to be used to further the company’s fusion experiments and to build a new reactor-scale facility.

TAE Technologies

Canada-based Enerkem converts waste into transportation fuels and chemicals. The company produces renewable methanol and ethanol from non-recyclable and compostable solid waste. Ethanol produced by Enerkem is used as a high octane oxygenate in gasoline to reduce its toxicity.Enerkem operated a pilot biofuel facility in Edmonton, Canada, which was capable of recycling upto 40,000 metric tons of waste, annually. As of January 2024, the facility has produced ~5 million liters of ethanol and methanol. As part of this project, Enerkem had a 25-year agreement with the city of Edmonton to recycle 100,000 dry metric tons of waste per year. In February 2024, the company reported plans to retire the facility and focus on the deployment and commercialization of its technology.Key customers and partnershipsEnerkem is developing a biofuel facility at Varennes (Canada) in partnership with Hydro-Quebec. The facility, which is set to come online in 2025, will couple Enerkem’s technology with a 90 MW proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer system to produce 125 million liters of biofuels and circular chemicals from 200,000 metric tons of waste per year.Enerkem is also developing a facility in Tarragona, Spain in partnership with Repsol to manufacture 290 million liters of methanol from non-recyclable waste and residual biomass per year. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20773">July 2023</a>, Enerkem partnered with Dimeta to begin a feasibility study to examine the development of two large-scale projects to convert waste into renewable and recycled carbon dimethyl ether (DME). The projects are to be developed in Northwest Europe and in the Gulf Coast of the US, with each project expected to produce ~165,000 tons of DME annually from mixed residual waste.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20774">August 2023</a>, Enerkem partnered with Technip Energies where the latter agreed to contribute its expertise in engineering, technology integration, and project delivery to support projects developed by Enerkem.Funding and financialsEnerkem’s <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9646">most recent funding </a>event was an April 2022 CAD 255 million (USD 203 million) round led by Repsol. The funds were to be used to expand Enerkem’s geographical footprint in Europe and to scale up the deployments of its gasification technology.

Enerkem

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is an MIT spinoff that focuses on commercializing fusion energy using revolutionary high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets to build smaller and lower-cost tokamak fusion systems. The company aims to manufacture these magnets and is building ‘SPARC’, its net energy fusion machine with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Following this, CFS plans to build a fusion power plant named ARC.In February 2023, CFS opened its new 50-acre campus in Massachusetts, US. This will contain the company’s corporate headquarters, advanced manufacturing facility, and the SPARC facility.Key customers and partnershipsIn July 2022, CFS signed a five-year Collaboration Framework Agreement with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to carry out a series of work projects to support the development of fusion energy. In March 2023, CFS signed a framework agreement with Eni to carry out a series of work projects to advance fusion energy.Funding and financialsIn August 2023, CFS was awarded three undisclosed grants by the US Department of Energy’s Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program to fund research and development projects with the University of California at Berkeley, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, and University of California at Los Angeles. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19658">May 2023</a>, CFS was one of eight companies to receive a total of USD 46 million from the US Department of Energy’s Milestone-based Fusion Development Program to advance design, research and development for fusion power plants.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7124">November 2021</a>, CFS raised USD 1.8 billion in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global Management. The company planned to use the proceeds to build and operate SPARC and commence deployment of ARC.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems

General Fusion aims to develop utility-scale fusion power using Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology. In December 2022, the company demonstrated plasma energy confinement times, plasma temperatures, and compression system performance that support its goal of meeting 100 million degrees Celsius in its MTF demonstration.&nbsp;In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22691">August 2023</a>, General Fusion announced a new MTF machine known as “Lawson Machine 26” (LM26). The company intends to use the machine to achieve fusion conditions of over 100 million degrees Celcius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit) by 2025, and progress toward scientific breakeven by 2026. The LM26 is designed to validate the company’s ability to symmetrically compress magnetized plasmas in a repeatable manner and achieve fusion conditions at scale. It integrates the company's existing operational plasma injector with a new lithium liner compression system.Construction of General Fusion’s demonstration at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Culham Campus began in 2023 and is expected to be commissioned in 2026 and fully operational by early 2027.Key customers and partnershipsIn June 2021, General Fusion partnered with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to build and operate a fusion demonstration plant (FDP) at UKAEA’s Culham Campus in Oxfordshire, UK. In July 2021, General Fusion partnered with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, a nuclear technology laboratory managed by the Canadian National Energy Alliance, to develop tritium extraction technologies for fusion power.&nbsp;In February 2022, General Fusion, Bruce Power, and the Nuclear Innovation Institute partnered to accelerate the delivery of clean fusion power in Canada. In November 2022, the company partnered with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories again to carry out a series of joint projects to accelerate the deployment of commercial fusion power in Canada.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22653">October 2023,</a> General Fusion partnered with Kyoto Fusioneering to advance critical systems for MTF commercialization, including the tritium fuel cycle, the liquid metal balance of the plant, and the power conversion cycle. During the same <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23302">month</a>, General Fusion expanded its partnership with TRIUMF to design diagnostics that will advance the former’s technology and prove the performance of its MTF demonstration, LM26. In December 2023, the company partnered with the University of Lisbon to develop a key diagnostic for MTF technology.Funding and financials&nbsp;In March 2024, General Fusion and TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator centre, received a USD 800,000 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance grant. The companies intended to use the funds to advance technology to develop an ultra-fast neutron spectrometer system to measure plasma temperatures at fusion conditions of over 100 million degrees Celsius.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24966">December 2023</a>, General Fusion received CAD 5 million (~USD 3.7 million) from the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). The company planned to invest the funds in the research and development of the company’s MTF demonstration, LM26. The company’s latest funding round was in August 2023, when it raised USD 25 million in the first close of its Series F funding round. Participants of the round included existing investors, BDC Capital, and GIC, as well as new grant funding from the government of British Columbia.In November 2021, the company raised USD 130 million led by Temasek. Previously, in January 2021, General Fusion raised an undisclosed amount from Thistledown Capital, a venture capital firm established by Shopify founder Tobias Lütke.

General Fusion

Companies that facilitate renewable energy generation through next-gen advances in conventional renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, and hydro

Companies developing long-duration stationary energy storage technologies that are essential to match the intermittent supply of renewable sources with the inflexible demand for energy. Includes utility-scale, industrial, and residential stationary energy storage solutions

Companies that facilitate renewable energy generation through disruptive bioenergy technologies such as waste to energy (WTE) and advanced biofuels

Companies that facilitate renewable energy generation through disruptive technologies such as geothermal, fusion, wave, tidal, etc.

Provides next-gen renewable energy sources and energy storage for sustainable energy consumption

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 Fusion energy company, Thea Energy, has announced the successful closure of its Series A financing round, having secured a total of 20 million USD. Prelude Ventures took the lead in this round, with participation from 11.2 Capital, Anglo American, Hitachi Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Mercator Partners, Orion Industrial Ventures, and Starlight Ventures.
 The acquired funds will be channeled into construction and operation of superconducting planar coil magnet array systems belonging to the company. Additionally, these funds will aid in designing and simulating Eos, their large-scale integrated neutron source stellarator system, and will also contribute towards expanding the team.
 
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Thea Energy

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