DCVC 2025 Q1 update

Greetings, friends of DCVC! We hope your 2025 has been off to an excellent start. We’ve had a busy quarter across the portfolio …

Highlights from our Flagship and Climate funds

In February, we announced our incubation of Circularity Fuels, founded by DCVC Entre­pre­neur-in-Residence Stephen Beaton, which is working to turn atmospheric CO₂ into ultra-pure methane in a single step. We were also happy to participate in solid funding rounds for several of our portfolio companies, including: $85 million for Twelve; $75 million for Lumafield; $28 million for Equilibrium Energy; and $5 million for Alta (co-led by DCVC).

Brimstone announced that its deeply decar­bonized process for making Ordinary Portland Cement will now also produce smelter-grade alumina — a big step toward reducing America’s dependence on imports of alumina and bauxite. Pivot Bio, already on millions of acres of corn with its best-in-market replacement for synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, introduced an improved product for that crop — as well as an inaugural product for cotton. The company added ALCIVIA, its ninth retail partnership in just 6 months, and next month will announce a major additional partnership.

Fervo Energy and Agility Robotics garnered tremendous press coverage this quarter: Fervo, because its best-in-class advanced geothermal energy production is increas­ingly viewed as an ideal answer to data centers’ voracious appetite for firm power, and Agility, because it is working with both NVIDIA and Google to make its Digit humanoid robots the answer to massive labor shortages in warehouses and other industrial work spaces (Digit distin­guished itself from its peers by being on full and round-the-clock display at NVIDIA GTC and ProMat). Kanvas Biosciences was featured in a moving NBC article about a cancer patient who in 2022 had only months to live, but is now cancer-free thanks in large part to Kanvas, which partnered with MD Anderson to identify and isolate beneficial microbial strains from a super donor, which were provided in a fecal microbiota transplant that allowed a full response to PD‑1 inhibitors. Upcoming trials at MD Anderson will put Kanvas’s PD‑1 inhibitor supporters into the clinic. Recursion announced two key inves­ti­ga­tional oncology drugs advancing to clinical trials, and CH4 Global (also backed by DCVC Bio) opened the world’s first commercial-scale asparagopsis production facility to produce its Methane Tamer feed additive, which reduces ~90% of methane emissions from cattle.

Two DCVC companies are flat-out saving lives: Evolv’s 6,000 weapons-detection units deployed among 850 customers are screening 3 million people — and detecting more than 500 firearms — every day, whether at the Super Bowl or sports and concert venues across the country. And with its Drone­Hunters, Fortem Tech­nolo­gies has been working to protect the Southern Border from human and fentanyl traffickers, U.S. prisons from contraband smuggling, critical defense facilities from foreign drone incursions, and senior govt officials, including at the Presidential Inauguration.

Highlights from our DCVC Bio funds

We led funding for AgZen ($10 million), Auron ($27 million), and Umoja ($100 million); partic­i­pated in funding for Newleos ($93.5 million); and are preparing to announce our founding of a company that has the potential to transform our ability to treat autoimmune and other inflam­ma­tory conditions. We were glad to see significant clinical progress for Auron (detailed below) and Orca Bio, which recently announced that its T cell therapy, when used in people with certain blood cancers, reduced the risk of compli­ca­tions in bone marrow transplants — cutting the risk of moderate-to-severe chronic graft-versus-host disease or death by 74% at one year compared to conven­tional bone marrow transplant. The company plans to apply for FDA approval later this year. As Co-Founder Ivan Dimov told Endpoints: ​“We can potentially break free from that deadly trade-off that patients and physicians are going through every day.” Outside of the clinic, MycoWorks launched a commercial site for its luxury leather alternative, Reishi, immediately made their biggest sale, and announced major advances in the quality and durability of the product.

On the firm side, Matt gave a well-received deep-tech-rallying keynote — ​“Canceling the Apocalypse for Fun and Profit” — at this year’s Upfront Summit at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, where we were glad to connect with those of you who were in attendance: thanks to the whole Upfront Ventures team for letting us be part of such a special event. And Zack had another whirlwind Davos, partic­i­pating in a number of panels and hosting friends from the global deep tech community at our annual ​“Deep Tech in Davos” nightcap. Deep tech’s importance at WEF has never been higher, and our partnership continues to lend its help to the Forum’s efforts all throughout the year.

We wish you a strong start to Q2!

FUNDING HIGHLIGHTS

DCVC Flagship & DCVC Climate

Alta launched from stealth with $5.1 million in Seed funding, co-led by DCVC, to transform mineral separation with advanced biochemistry.

Circularity Fuels emerged from stealth with Seed funding, led by DCVC.

Equilibrium Energy raised $28 million in B2 funding (joined by DCVC) to support its mission to help power companies, independent power producers, and corpo­ra­tions unlock the full potential within their energy portfolios. It also launched its flagship software platform product, EQ Mission Control, at CERAWeek.

Lumafield raised a $75 million Series C, joined by DCVC, to continue developing its industrial CT technology, which helps companies find issues with products before they escalate into failures or recalls.

Twelve raised an additional $85 million in funding (joined by DCVC), building on the momentum generated from its $645 million funding announce­ment last fall.

SafelyYou announced a $43 million Series C to extend the reach of its leading AI offering, which is addressing acuity, staffing, and resident turnover in the senior living industry.

DCVC Bio

AgZen announced its $10 million Series A (led by DCVC Bio) for feedback-optimized agriculture, a new approach that aims to improve outcomes and reduce costs for every part of the direct-ag-inputs industry.

Auron closed a $27 million Series B round, led by DCVC Bio, as it seeks to improve patient outcomes in oncology and inflammatory disease.

Newleos announced its $93.5 million Series A, joined by DCVC Bio, toward bringing new and better therapies for major mental health conditions.

Umoja announced its $100 million Series C, co-led by DCVC Bio, to advance its CAR‑T cell therapy pipeline.

OTHER NEWS

DCVC Flagship & DCVC Climate

Brimstone announced that its deeply decar­bonized process for making Ordinary Portland Cement will also produce smelter-grade alumina.

Cape Analytics was acquired by Moody’s — recognition of the trans­for­ma­tive power of geospatial artificial intel­li­gence in under­standing property risk.

CH4 Global made significant commercial progress: it received an investment from Chipotle; announced a strategic partnership with Mitsubishi Corporation to expand adoption of Methane Tamer across Asia-Pacific markets; and officially began production at its EcoPark (the world’s first commercial-scale facility for growing Asparagopsis).

Oklo made good progress toward deploying its first commercial powerhouse in Idaho, signing an Interface Agreement with Idaho National Laboratory and advancing its envi­ron­mental review. It also closed its acquisition of DCVC-backed Atomic Alchemy.

Proprio announced a strategic partnership with Life­Health­care, expanding access to its AI-powered surgical guidance system, Paradigm, in Australia and New Zealand.

Q‑CTRL and Lockheed Martin were awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Innovation Unit to prototype a quantum-enabled Inertial Navigation System. This technology could revo­lu­tionize navigation capa­bil­i­ties for warfighters, providing precise location measure­ments even in envi­ron­ments without access to GPS.

Rocket Lab had a very busy quarter: it celebrated numerous successful Electron launches and the successful delivery of Varda Space’s capsule back to Earth — another example of its ability to enable complex space missions. Rocket Lab also reached an agreement with NASA to include Neutron launch services through its existing VADR contract and announced the successful completion of its Critical Design Review for the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command’s Tactically Responsive Space mission, VICTUS HAZE.

DCVC Bio

Auron announced that the FDA granted Fast Track designation to AUTX-703 for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).

MycoWorks launched its first-ever e‑commerce site where customers can buy its luxury leather alternative, Reishi, directly. The biomaterial has also achieved new performance results, enabling the production of luxury products with intricate construction techniques.

Orca Bio announced positive results from its pivotal Phase 3 Precision‑T study of Orca‑T, its lead inves­ti­ga­tional allogeneic T‑cell immunotherapy, in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), high-risk myelodys­plastic syndrome (MDS), and mixed-phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL).