From: Mercom Capital Group

Arcadia, a climate software and data startup focused on decarbonizing the electric grid, raised $200 million in a new funding round. J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Sustainable Growth Equity Team led the funding round with Keyframe Capital, Broadscale Group, Triangle Peak Partners, Camber Creek, Tiger Global Management, Wellington Management, Salesforce Ventures, Drawdown Fund, and MCJ Collective. The latest financing comes just eight months after the company closed a $100 million Series D round and brings total funding to over $370 million.

Axium Infrastructure, an infrastructure investment management firm, announced that an Axium managed fund (Axium) acquired BlueWave, a Boston-based solar and energy storage developer. BlueWave will keep its name and the entire team in place as it focuses on the growth of its solar energy and storage development portfolio. Axium Infrastructure intends to support BlueWave’s community solar development and the practice of agrivoltaics and floatovoltaics. While Axium has other asset-based investments in the renewable energy sector, this marks Axium’s first renewable development company acquisition.

Li-Cycle, a lithium-ion battery recycling company, completed a $50 million aggregate investment in common shares from LG Energy Solutions (LGES) and LG Chem (LGC). Following the investment, LGES and LGC collectively hold 5,300,352 Common Shares, representing approximately 3% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares in the company’s capital. Both LGES and LGC have each subscribed for an equal number of Common Shares at an average subscription price of $9.43 per Common Share.

Princeton NuEnergy, a clean-tech startup company spun out from Princeton University and focused on directly recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles and consumer electronics, raised $7 million in a seed funding round. Wistron Corporation, an electronics manufacturer based in Taiwan, led the funding round with Shell Ventures, Greenland Technologies, CleanTech Open, AIBasis Fund, WorldQuant Ventures, and the angel investors.

Ambient Photonics, a low-light solar photovoltaic cells company, raised $31 million in Series A funding. Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF) led the funding, with Tony Fadell’s Future Shape and I Squared Capital participating. The company plans to use the new funds to build the largest low-light solar cell production facility in the US. The facility’s fully automated production line and capacity for tens of millions of units per year will enable Ambient to scale its low-cost, high-power-density solar cells to mass market adoption.

InfraCo Africa, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), has signed an agreement committing to provide $15 million by way of convertible loan notes to Bboxx, an off-grid solar solutions provider. This investment will enable Bboxx’s acceleration in existing and new markets across sub-Saharan Africa to provide clean energy solutions to millions of people.

Schneider Electric, a French multinational company providing energy and digital automation solutions for efficiency and sustainability, agreed to acquire AutoGrid, a provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered optimization solutions for distributed energy resources (DERs). The acquisition is expected to help AutoGrid accelerate its growth and pace of product innovation. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q3 2022.

Caterpillar, a construction-equipment manufacturer, has acquired Tangent Energy Solutions, a distributed energy resources company that provides C&I customers with the technology, assets, and managed services needed to identify and capitalize on economic opportunities on the energy grid without disrupting normal operations. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Common Energy, a community solar provider, raised $16.5 million in funding from S2G Ventures, the direct investment team of Builders Vision. The company plans to use the fresh funds to expand consumer access to local, community solar projects across the country, scale its energy management platform, and grow the management and operating teams.

Aker Horizons announced the completion of the sale of its remaining shares in Norway-based polysilicon and silicon gas producer REC Silicon to South Korea’s Hanwha Group. In a bourse filing, Aker Horizons said it has sold all its 70.1 million shares in REC Silicon at a price of NOK 20 (~$2.03) per share. This corresponds to a total payment of about NOK 1.4 billion (~$145.4 million). The buyers are Hanwha Solutions and Hanwha Corp. Following the transaction, Kristian Rokke has stepped down as the chairman of the board of REC Silicon.

Ecofin U.S. Renewables Infrastructure Trust announced its intention to raise new capital by way of placing new ordinary shares of $0.01 each in the capital of the company at a price of $1.015 per new ordinary share. The company has fully deployed its IPO proceeds and has drawn down $9.1 million under its revolving credit facility.

For reports and trackers on funding and M&A transactions in solar, energy storage, smart grid, and efficiency sectors, click here.

Read last week’s funding roundup.