👋 Hey, Tom here, the author and creator of Venturestack. Before we dive into Funding in Focus for week 38, here's a little bit about Venturestack and what the Funding in Focus content vertical is all about.

My goal with Venturestack is to "Offer a glimpse into the future by researching early- and late-stage tech ventures and briefing people on the findings." Through Funding in Focus, I'll be highlighting (or bringing into focus 😉) some of the notable deals that happened in the startup realm over the past week.

This is my first post and the start of the first content vertical. I'm aiming for progress over perfection—focusing on consistency rather than spending too much time making everything perfect. For now, I'll be covering just one megadeal that happened this week.

The megadeal of the week

Twelve, Funding $645M, Late Stage, Greentech:

Twelve's mission is: "To eliminate global emissions and build a fossil-free future by transforming CO2 into essential products through the power of electrochemistry." Twelve is a company that converts captured carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals, fuels, and other essential products typically made from fossil fuels.

Twelve's solutions:

• E-Jet SAF: SAF stands for Sustainable Aviation Fuel, which is made from CO2, water, and renewable energy, and has up to 90% lower emissions than conventional jet fuel.
• CO2Made® Materials: They claim, "If it's made from oil, we can make it from air instead. CO2Made products have zero fossil fuels, zero net new emissions, and zero trade-offs in quality and performance."
• The Opus™ System: This is their technology that mimics photosynthesis to transform CO2 into useful hydrocarbons. The system works by converting CO2 and water into synthetic fuels and other compounds without relying on fossil fuels. It powers their E-Jet and CO2Made solutions.

Funding structure:
According to Crunchbase, Twelve has raised $889.4 million in total funding, with the latest round being a Series C of $200 million. However, Crunchbase has excluded the project equity and credit facilities associated with this Series C funding round, as detailed in Twelve's funding announcement.

The full funding round that happened this week totaled $645 million, broken down as follows:

• $200 million in Series C financing.
• $400 million in project equity led by TPG Rise Climate.
• $45 million in credit facilities from leading funders.

My personal take

When I looked into Twelve, I must admit it was initially difficult to fully grasp their solutions and then explain them in simple terms. However, their mission is truly inspiring. If they can scale their E-Jet fuel to supply a significant percentage of the aviation fossil fuel market, it will have a major impact on all of our lives.

P.S. After writing this post I’m not completely satisfied with the structure and content, but I don’t have the time to dive deeper into Twelve and other megadeals right now. As mentioned though, progress over perfection!