Raquel Buscaino

This week in #AmTech: Grid Aero raised $20 million in Series A funding co-led by Bison Ventures and Geodesic Capital, with participation from Stony Lonesome Group LLC, Alumni Ventures, and returning investors Ubiquity Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, and Commonweal Ventures (that's us!). Grid builds low-cost, autonomous cargo aircraft capable of carrying thousands of pounds over thousands of miles, enabling resilient logistics for defense, commercial, and humanitarian operations in contested or remote environments. Founders: Arthur Dubois, Brandon F., Chinmay Patel, PhD.   Barnwell Bio raised $6 million in Seed funding led by Twelve Below, with participation from Max Ventures, Dorm Room Fund, Banter Capital, Planeteer Capital, AgVentures Alliance, Daybreak Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and AgLaunch Farmers. Barnwell Bio uses genetic sequencing to monitor poultry barns for early signs of disease, giving farmers advance warning of threats like avian flu before outbreaks spread and force mass culls that drive up egg and chicken prices for consumers. Founders: Michael Rhys, Casey McGinley, Jake Byrnes.   Standard Nuclear raised $140 million in Series A funding led by Decisive Point, with participation from Chevron Technology Ventures, StepStone Group, XTX Ventures, and existing investors WELARA, Fundomo, Andreessen Horowitz, Washington Harbour Partners LP, and Crucible Capital. Standard Nuclear manufactures advanced nuclear fuel for next-generation reactors, serving defense, space, and industrial customers as the nation's only independent supplier not tied to a specific reactor design. Founders: Kurt Terrani, Thomas Hendrix. #VC #VentureCapital #Investing #Startups #DeepTech #DefenseTech #Aerospace #Energy #AgTech #Agriculture #Technology

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Excited with this announcement of a coalition of committed climatech investors focused on driving companies through FOAK (first-of-a-kind) plants. From 2021–2024, climate tech saw a wave of early-stage, high-risk bets. The next phase—2025 and beyond—demands focus: narrowing those bets to solutions that are ready to FOAK & scale, to compete with fossil fuels in the near term. A coalition that pursues this rigorously, free of bias toward existing individual fund positions, is the right approach to collectively win. Thrilled to partner with investors who share this vision, and looking forward to engaging with the top 20 companies selected for our first event later this month. Great FOAK opportunities are emerging across a) geothermal & nuclear to enable 24x7 baseload power for data centers b) US mfg leadership across infra buildout (cement & steel) c) batteries to support high growth solar around the world d) AI for critical minerals & materials discovery .. and many more.

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🚀 Excited to share that the “U.S. Clean Energy & Industrial Innovation” Report from Net Zero Insights is now live! I’m thrilled to have contributed to the conversations that helped shape this report and reflect on the evolving U.S. clean energy ecosystem. The key takeaway? The U.S. clean energy landscape is rapidly adapting to a new reality where resilience, sovereignty, and security are becoming the primary drivers of growth. Some highlights from the report: 👉 Market demand remains robust: Even amid government pullbacks, innovation is being fueled by energy security, efficiency, and the growing frequency of climate-related disasters. 👉 U.S. innovation leadership: H1 funding remains steady at $10.5B, supported largely by late-stage investments in mature technologies such as data centers, energy storage, and grid modernization. 👉 Early-stage funding is tightening: Investors are focusing on fewer, more concentrated deals, which is driving up valuations for startups that successfully secure capital. The report underscores both the challenges and opportunities for investors, founders, and stakeholders navigating this dynamic ecosystem. 💬 Want the full report? Comment Report and we’ll send it straight to your inbox. #CleanEnergy #ClimateTech #Innovation #Investment #NetZero

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Some big news in the energy podcast world: Caroline Golin, PhD is joining Open Circuit as our new co-host! Each week, she’ll be alongside me and Jigar Shah to decode how clean energy actually gets built. Caroline spent the last seven years inside Google as the global head of energy market development and innovation — helping shape how the company procures clean electricity, works with utilities, and navigates capacity constraints across global markets. That experience puts her right at the center of many of the hardest questions in energy right now. And it’s a hell of a moment. Here in the U.S., power markets are bending under the stress of new demand, while suddenly becoming central to politics. Tech companies have become some of the most influential players in the electricity system. And entirely new development models are emerging to serve data centers and other large loads. Zoom out globally, and the picture gets even more complex: the rise of the electrostate, looming peak oil demand, a highly unstable trade environment, and an AI race increasingly framed as a geopolitical struggle. All of that is the backdrop for the next chapter of Open Circuit. In 2026, we’re sharpening our focus on the physical constraints shaping the energy transition. This is no longer a conversation about whether clean energy can scale. It’s about whether the systems around it — markets, utilities, capital, policy — can move fast enough to support the next wave of industrial demand. This week also marks our first full video episode of Open Circuit! We will now have an audio version on all podcast feeds, and a video version on YouTube. (You'll find a link in the comments.) We’re thrilled to have Caroline along for the ride. Welcome to the new Open Circuit.

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🌍 How we build climate tech portfolios for outsized returns At Pachamama Ventures, our portfolio construction isn't just about writing checks—it's about strategic allocation that drives both climate impact and financial returns. Our disciplined approach: 25-30 deals over 4-year investment period $100K-$500K investments Focus on $5M-$10M valuations (larger only at reasonable discounts) The secret sauce? Risk-adjusted diversification! 📊 Portfolio matrix breakdown: 16 companies at moderate risk/return (2x-5x potential) 8 companies positioned for breakout growth (5x+ potential) 3 companies with moonshot potential (50x+ returns) Early results speak volumes: Our current 3 portfolio companies achieved 9X revenue growth in 2024, with markups expected in the next few months. Companies like Gentian (biodiversity monitoring), Matereal (bio-based materials), and ElectricFish (EV charging infrastructure) are already securing Fortune 500 customers. Why this works: 16 years of Fortune 100 finance experience taught me that corporate capital flows drive climate tech innovation. We don't just invest—we connect our portfolio companies to enterprise customers and acquisition partners through our deep corporate networks. Climate tech is primed for scale in the next decade. The question isn't whether to invest, but how to construct portfolios that capture the massive opportunity ahead. What's your take on portfolio construction in climate tech? Drop your thoughts below. 👇 #ClimateTech #VentureCapital #PortfolioStrategy #ClimateInvesting #Sustainability

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Glad to finally announce that we're partnered with Amazon on it's Amazon Devices Climate Tech Accelerator. What makes this program unique is the the way it's designed. Participants receive dedicated support from Amazon technical experts to validate real deployment potential that can help reduce the carbon impact of millions of Amazon devices. 👉 If you're an interested startup, learn more and apply to the 2026 cohort here by February 24: https://lnkd.in/g6DZbtVh

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We’re entering an era where fiduciary duty is being redefined. For decades, stewardship meant preserving capital. Today, it must mean preserving the systems that allow capital to exist: energy, data, logistics, climate resilience. Allocating to infrastructure isn’t just smart portfolio management. It’s an ethical realignment, a recognition that long-term value depends on physical stability in an increasingly digital world.

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Working with NRF to pursue our patent strategy is an important step in recognizing that proprietary AI systems and workflows are becoming a new form of intellectual property for modern firms. Great to partner with George, John McBride, and the team at Norton Rose Fulbright as we work at the frontier of how AI can transform investment decision-making in venture capital. At Decasonic, we believe the next generation of companies will reinvent with AI workflows and systems how organizations operate, how leaders make decisions, and how teams collaborate with intelligent systems. In going through this streamlined process, it's clear to me that many more startups should clarify their IP strategy. Our internally developed AI platform, RLEN, reflects that philosophy. We are building AI not to automate tasks and flourish outcomes, in collaborative ways for human and AI teammates. This enables our investors to test ideas, explore alternative perspectives, and reach deeper insights faster when navigating uncertainty. More broadly, we are seeing trailblazing work across industries and cities as leaders experiment with how AI can reshape communities, companies, and countries. Leadership with AI forever transforms. We are still in the early innings. Appreciate the partnership and collaboration from the Norton Rose Fulbright team as we continue inventing and innovating. Special shoutout to my colleague Abdul Al Ali who's listed as a co-inventor.

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So much talk of building new power generation and transmission infra (which yes, we need) but too often the power is already right there, it's just being dumped off because nobody is sure if it's safe for the grid to handle this particular current at that particular node at this particular time. Another problem for AI! Splight is now deployed with a dozen power generators and infra operators to get more (sometimes 100% more) power safely out of the existing stuff we've already built. The Blue Bear Capital team is proud to lead Splight's latest investment round! Thanks to the Splight Team incl Fernando Llaver, Carlos Caldart, Thomas Vadora, our co-investors ZOMA Capital, and our Blue Bear deal team Carolin Funk, Ph.D., Hayley Nystrom (McCurdy), Thomas Ferguson, Georgia Carroll.

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