Cleantech funding shows signs of life with two new deals

Plus, Morgan Stanley carbon capture deal helps fund Climeworks' U.S. ambitions.

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Heliogen uses AI and mirror technology to create heat. Photo: Heliogen.

Clean tech venture funding, in a depression for two years as higher rates hurt entrepreneur’s efforts to borrow money, stirred to life last week when two renewable energy companies announced plans to raise cash, both connected to Bill Gates.

Pacific Fusion, a Fremont, Calif.-based nuclear energy company, said it has raised $900 million in a Series A round led by General Catalyst and including Gate’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Gates and other renewable energy enthusiasts have long supported the idea of nuclear fusion even though it is unproven, at least at scale.

At the same time Heliogen (HLGN), a Pasadena-Calif. company backed by Gates and started a decade ago by energy entrepreneur Bill Gross (not to be confused with the former PIMCO fund manager) announced plans to raise more money after saying it achieved a breakthrough in concentrated solar energy.