Avenue Capital Group was founded in 1995 by Marc Lasry and Sonia E. Gardner.  Pioneers in the distressed debt market, Mr. Lasry and Ms. Gardner have successfully invested in the public and private debt and equity securities of distressed companies across a variety of industries for over two decades.  Headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Luxembourg, Munich, and nine offices throughout Asia, the firm manages assets valued at approximately $15.8 billion as of March 31, 2009. Avenue draws on the skills and experience of approximately 300 employees and its Senior Principals, Marc Lasry and Sonia E. Gardner, who have spent virtually their entire careers in the field of distressed investments.

Avenue Capital Group

Monarch's investment objective is to seek superior risk-adjusted rates of return through investment in a diversified portfolio comprised primarily of bank loans, public and private corporate bonds, trade claims, equity securities received in connection with debt restructurings and certain types of special situation investments, while maintaining a bias to opportunities in the upper part of the capital structure. The core strategy of the firm is to invest in what it believes are ''good'' companies with ''bad'' capital structures. Additionally, Monarch employs an ''event-driven'' strategy focusing on situations where there is a discount to fundamental value that the team believes can be realized through the completion of a debt restructuring process or other realization event.

Monarch Alternative Capital

Repsol is an integrated global energy company with vast sector experience. At Repsol, they believe that through innovation they can create a new energy model. That is why they are present in areas of high energy potential such as Brazil, Russia, and the U.S. Thanks to a steady, consolidated growth strategy, they have developed new and attractive areas of business within the company.

Repsol

Waste Management is a provider of comprehensive environmental solutions services in North America, serving more than 21 million customers in the U.S. and Canada. As part of their strategy, they are committed to developing new waste solutions that can help communities and organizations achieve their green goals, including zero waste. With the largest network of recycling facilities, transfer stations, and landfills in the industry, their entire business can adapt to meet the needs of every distinct customer segment, including municipalities, construction sites, healthcare facilities, commercial buildings, and many others. As North America’s largest residential recycler, its goal is to manage more than 20 million tons of recyclable material each year by 2020. Last year, they managed more than 15 million tons.  Waste Management is also a renewable energy provider.  One of the ways they do this is by recovering the naturally occurring gas inside landfills to generate electricity, called landfill-gas-to-energy. By the end of 2014, they operated over 134 beneficial-use landfill-gas projects, producing enough energy to power nearly 500,000 homes.

Waste Management

Rho Capital Partners is the parent company to Rho's four operating divisions, [Rho Ventures](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rho-ventures#/entity), [Rho Canada Ventures](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rho-canada), [Rho Fund Investors](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rho-fund-investors) and [Rho Acceleration](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rho-acceleration).

Rho Capital Partners

While energy has been a key to global development since the dawn of the electronic age, the beginning of the new century has seen a tremendous surge in the technology advancements, market activity and the strategic importance of energy around the world. While many companies and investors have sought to take advantage of the tremendous opportunity today's energy industry presents, the unique market issues, scientific contributions and complex web of interrelationships require a specialized expertise.  Braemar Energy Ventures was formed in 2002 to create a venture capital firm with that expertise. Focused exclusively on technology and communications opportunities in the energy sector, Braemar Energy Ventures has both the industry and operating knowledge to select promising young companies, bring them into the larger energy world and guide them to reach their full potential.  The firm's four principals have a long history of successful investments, as well as experience financing and operating companies in the energy sector. Together, they have been responsible for investing in almost 40 energy technology companies, including early stage companies which have grown to become some of the most successful in the sector.  Braemar Energy Ventures works with management teams who are skilled in their industry but who can benefit from Braemar's assistance with strategic direction and financing issues. Having worked with many early stage companies, the Braemar Energy Ventures principals understand the challenges that many young companies face and provide invaluable counsel to their portfolio companies on longer-term issues, allowing management to focus on daily operations.

Braemar Energy Ventures

BDR Capital is an innovative venture capital firm, highly focused and committed to providing excellent returns to its investors. BDR’s approach leverages operational expertise to help accelerate value creation within their portfolio companies. BDR identifies critical success factors for their companies, and then leverage their network and partners’ networks to find the best skill sets to nurture their companies.

BDR Capital

Cycle Capital is a pioneer in Canadian Cleantech venture capital fund management investing in companies at the development and commercialization stages in North America. Founded in 2009 by Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder and Managing Partner, Cycle Capital’s Platform has become an important venture capital investor of the Cleantech industry with its 3 funds totaling $230M Assets Under Management (AUM). Cycle Capital is looking to invests in promising ventures that are not capital intensive and/or that can benefit from the leverage brought by Cycle Capital extensive network of investors, strategic partners and advisors.  In addition to its core investments, Cycle Capital targets companies with high growth potential – especially those with strong intellectual property, leading edge technologies and with exceptional management talent that would benefit from the firm’s network of strategic industrial partners and expert advisors. With its core investment and business expertise, Cycle Capital plays an active role adding meaningful and tangible value to its portfolio companies at all stages of their life.

Cycle Capital

The Westly Group focuses on the digitization and sustainability of energy, mobility, buildings, industrial tech, and cybersecurity.

The Westly Group

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is a Fortune 500 oil and gas refining and retail company based in San Antonio, Texas. The company owns and operates 18 refineries throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.3 million barrels per day, making it the largest refiner in North America. Valero is also one of the nation's largest retail operators with more than 5,000 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean under various brand names, including Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Ultramar, Shamrock, and Beacon.  Valero Energy Corporation, through its subsidiaries, is an international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels, other petrochemical products and power. Valero subsidiaries employ approximately 10,500 people, and assets include 16 petroleum refineries with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3 million barrels per day, 10 ethanol plants with a combined production capacity of 1.2 billion gallons per year, and a 50-megawatt wind farm. More than 7,300 outlets carry the Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock and Beacon brands in the United States and the Caribbean; Ultramar in Canada; and Texaco in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Valero is a Fortune 500 company based in San Antonio.

Valero Energy

Since its creation in 1996, Fondaction has been based on the belief that it is not only possible to do things differently in the financial and business world, it is a necessity.  Fondaction helps Québecers prepare for retirement by offering affordable retirement savings to everyone. The savings collected are invested in companies across Québec. This way, Fondaction helps create and maintain quality jobs, contributing to a stronger, more equitable and greener economy.  Created in 1996, Fondaction is a labour-sponsored fund with assets in excess of one billion dollars collected as retirement savings from more than 131,000 shareholders. Fondaction's direct investments and those made through investment funds support the development of more than 1 050 SMEs in different lines of business, in large part involved in various components of the social economy.   Fondaction has always been resolutely committed to socially responsible finance, from the moment it was created. The principles of sustainable development are integrated in everything it does. Whether investing in businesses directly or in capital markets, Fondaction always applies the principles of responsible investment to the money entrusted by its savers.    Fondaction was one of the first institutions in Québec to make accountability reports an obligation in an effort to improve its practices and contribute to moving sustainable development forward in Québec. It produced its first report on sustainable development in 2006 in accordance with the international standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the highest standards of precision and transparency in economic, social and environmental accountability.  In 2010 and 2012, Fondaction remained at the forefront with its 3rd and 4th sustainable development reports, having them reviewed by an independent firm and achieving an application level of A+ from the GRI. Fondaction is the only financial institution in Québec to achieve this level.  In 2014, Fondaction tabled its 5th sustainable development report, produced in accordance with the latest GRI guidelines, the G4. Fondaction also opted for Comprehensive compliance, becoming the 1st financial institution in North America and the 9th in the world to voluntarily adhere to these requirements.

Fondaction

Quince Associates was founded in 1975 and specializes in Real Estate, Structured Finance & Private Equity.

Quince Associates

We invest across most high growth sectors of today’s economy and have developed deep expertise and relationships in Information Technology, Communications, New Media, Healthcare and New Energy.  Since 1981, Rho Ventures has been investing in innovators that redefine the status quo. Rho’s investment philosophy does not fit a conventional model, much like the visionary innovators we back. We believe that formulaic approaches to investing lead to risk averse strategies that stifle innovation and differentiation. We actively avoid restrictive boundaries around ideas, growth opportunities and entrepreneur profiles. To find extraordinary opportunities, we are not bound by a particular stage of investment and do not shy away from contrarian ideas.  We believe that great companies take root in unconventional places and that successful entrepreneurs frequently break the mold. The ideas we back come from a variety of sources: an MBA student who is trying to change new media advertising practices; an experienced entrepreneur seeking to commercialize a disruptive biofuels technology; or an executive looking to spin out and develop an abandoned asset developed by a pharmaceutical company.   We are seasoned investors who have backed more than 200 companies through multiple cycles. Identifying interesting opportunities and providing capital is just the beginning. We offer deep-sector expertise in today’s high-growth markets, but we do not let any one area of knowledge guide our overall investment strategy.  Ultimately, we look for entrepreneurs who we can help make very big waves, not just stir the waters and move on to the next venture.

Rho Ventures

Enerkem

Enerkem is a cleantech company transforming waste into transportation biofuels, renewable chemicals, and everyday products. Through the combination of a proprietary thermochemical technology platform and community-based advanced facilities, Enerkem addresses the challenges of oil dependence and waste disposal.   Enerkem has validated its proprietary technology over a period of 10 years using the solid waste from numerous municipalities and other types of feedstock.  The company’s process and business model are designed to profitably produce cellulosic ethanol from a large municipal solid waste supply.  Enerkem is a private company founded in 2000 by its current senior management. It is majority-owned by institutional, clean-technology and industrial investors, including Rho Ventures, Waste Management, Braemar Energy Ventures, Investissement Québec, Valero, Cycle Capital, The Westly Group, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, and Fondaction CSN.   Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Enerkem has 170 employees in Canada and the United States.

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.

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

Alternative Energy

Technip Energies and Enerkem formalize collaboration to advance waste-to-sustainable fuels and circular chemicals technology

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.

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.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>.&nbsp;

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

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

Enerkem

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