Climate Investment adds Turntide Technologies, to its Catalyst Fund I Investment portfolio
21 June 2022
- OGCI Climate Investment participates in $80 million round of equity funding for developer of breakthrough electrification and sustainable operations technologies, Turntide
- Turntide’s technology both enables electrification and reduces the CO₂ associated with electrification
- Latest funding values Turntide over $1 billion, giving the company unicorn status
OGCI Climate Investment (OGCI CI), a specialist decarbonization investor, has invested in Turntide Technologies (Turntide), a developer of breakthrough electrification and sustainable operations technologies.
The investment formed part of a $80 million round of equity funding, valuing the company over $1 billion, which makes it one of a handful of climate tech firms to achieve unicorn status in the first half of 2022.
Headquartered in California, Turntide produces an integrated hardware and software electric motor product that enables electrification and improves energy efficiency in commercial, industrial and mobility applications. Improving the efficiency of electric motors, currently the single biggest consumer of electricity globally, is a critical route to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
“Turntide’s mission to optimize energy use in the world’s most carbon-intensive sectors aligns with OGCI Climate Investment’s mission,” Marc Van Den Berg, Managing Director, Ventures at OGCI CI said. “We invest in technologies in carbon-intensive sectors to deliver near-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Turntide’s solutions are driving down energy consumption and costs for hundreds of businesses around the world, and we’re excited to partner with them to accelerate their expansion into new solutions and applications.”
Turntide’s patented switched reluctance motors (SRMs) are manufactured entirely with common materials, avoiding the rare earth metals that power permanent magnet motors and are environmentally destructive to mine. This shrinks the environmental footprints of the motors and reduces supply chain disruptions to their production.
The SRMs combined with sophisticated electronic controls software enable an increase in energy efficiency of between 15%-85% depending on the use case, and are currently being used across HVAC, agriculture, commercial, industrial, oil and gas, and mobility applications.
Ryan Morris, Chairman and CEO of Turntide said: “Addressing climate change is more urgent than ever, and we are grateful to work with an investor base that is committed to achieving meaningful, near-term emissions impact. Even in the face of global economic uncertainty and supply chain upheaval, the market demand for Turntide’s sustainability solutions has enabled us to secure new investments. This capital will accelerate and further scale our efforts to decarbonize the world’s most energy-intensive industries.”
Turntide’s latest funding round brings the total amount of capital raised by the company to $485 million from a collective of climate-focused investors, including Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, JLL, BMW i Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition, and Keyframe Capital.
About OGCI Climate Investment
OGCI Climate Investment was formed by the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative, established by 12 oil & gas majors that account for around 30% of global operated production. OGCI aims to lead the industry’s response to climate change through action and independently managed investments.
Climate Investment is a $1bn+ decarbonization investor. We seek to accelerate GHG reduction at scale by working closely with OGCI members, governments, customers and co-investors to maximize the global implementation of low-carbon solutions and impact. We provide capital across the lifecycle from the catalytic phase of technology and commercial validation through to scaling our investments’ sector and geographic coverage. We have invested in 28 technologies and projects since 2017.
Among our investment activities, we manage our Catalyst Fund I, and we are an investor in China Climate Investment. Both funds invest in solutions to decarbonize under-served GHG-intensive sectors within energy, industry, built environments/buildings and transportation. Climate Investment targets solutions that deliver near-term GHG impact in three areas: reducing methane, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and recycling or storing carbon dioxide.
About Turntide Technologies
Turntide Technologies (Turntide) invents and scales breakthrough technologies to accelerate electrification and sustainable operations for energy-intensive industries. Turntide’s full-stack, integrated, open systems support commercial and industrial electric vehicles, building operations, and agriculture to optimize how the world uses energy. Turntide enables companies to lead their industries by attacking energy waste at every level and operating smarter for accelerated growth.
