DCVC 2023 Q4 update: COP28; robots working in warehouses; geothermal energy on the grid; more

Greetings, friends of DCVC, and Happy New Year!

We’re hitting the ground running after another busy quarter and an impactful 2023.

As we enter the new year, we’re seeing continued progress across the portfolio, as well as high interest from investors and strategic partners in deep tech across industries and priorities. At COP28, where Zack partic­i­pated in a number of discussions about how break­throughs from entre­pre­neurs can make a major difference against climate change, the takeaway was clear: a civi­liza­tional commitment to solving this problem will require the most powerful ideas, and the most effective execution, that the deep tech community can bring forward.

Toward that end, we are continuing to fundraise for DCVC Climate, our first fund dedicated solely to addressing climate change. See Axios’s quick take on that here. One of that fund’s first investments, Fervo, hit a major milestone in Q4 in its work with Google, success­fully delivering carbon-free energy to the electrical grid in Nevada. Read more about Fervo’s impressive progress in a great Associated Press story. Another Climate company, Twelve, is now poised to be able to produce one million gallons per year of sustainable aviation fuel made from CO₂.

Outside of DCVC Climate, our portfolio companies continued to make headlines:

In October, Amazon announced that it is testing Agility​’s bipedal robot, Digit, in its fulfillment centers. Then, last month, GXO Logistics — the largest pure-play logistics provider in the world — similarly began testing Digit in a warehouse it operates for Spanx. Both were major votes of confidence in Agility’s deployment of practical robotics addressing a near-term multi­bil­lion-dollar annual market. Agility also recently showcased its integration of large language models into Digit, with a goal of making its robots more versatile and faster to deploy.

Fourth Power, whose $19 million Series A we led in December—can store excess energy from the grid at one-tenth the cost of lithium-ion batteries and, critically, put electricity back on the grid. Like Fervo and Twelve, Fourth Power has tremendous potential to help the world get the carbon-free, ²⁴⁄₇ energy and fuel it will require in order to move fully away from fossil-fuel-based energy. See good Bloomberg coverage of Fourth Power here.

Proprio celebrated its successful first-in-human spine surgery using its Paradigm platform — a major step forward in surgical navigation technology. Q‑CTRL​’s error-suppression technology was implemented by IBM, and ZwitterCo, whose membranes allow the fouling-free filtration and reuse of the dirtiest waters imaginable, announced that it will open a first-of-its-kind Innovation Center in Massachusetts.

Following the announce­ment of its $50 million investment from NVIDIA to accelerate ground­breaking foundation models in AI-enabled drug discovery, Recursion Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, DCVC’s leading TechBio portfolio company, continued its clinical progress, announced new part­ner­ships with Tempus and Enamine, and sharpened its focus on oncology in its collab­o­ra­tion with Bayer.

Rocket Lab secured a large government contract to produce and operate 18 satellites, and Capella Space and Fortem Tech­nolo­gies continued to contribute materially to national security and the safety of democracies

We wish you an excellent start to 2024!

Very best regards,

Matt and Zack