DCVC 2025 Q3 update

Greetings, friends of DCVC!

We just wrapped up a great New York Climate Week, where we were thrilled to co-host a breakfast with J.P. Morgan and TPG on the future of power and the grid, and to host our annual Climate Week Salon. At gatherings all week, we felt an unmis­tak­able sense of shared purpose around climate solutions that double as resilience solutions for the United States and its allies. We also just published our second annual Climate Impact Report, which provides an update on our first dedicated climate fund: you can find it here.

In July, we were delighted to welcome our newest operating partner, Dr. Prineha Narang, who comes to us from UCLA, where she heads a lab at the inter­sec­tion of theoretical and compu­ta­tional science, condensed matter physics, quantum photonics, and quantum information science. As longtime investors in the quantum space, we’re excited to double down and pursue quantum’s best new oppor­tu­ni­ties to bring the world greater resilience, abundance, and equi­tability. Pri will be key to that effort.

More to come, but we’re thrilled to report that DCVC will be backing Naveen Rao again — in his newly announced company Uncon­ven­tional, which will reimagine the foundations of computing to bring brain-scale efficiency to AI. We’ve known Naveen since before being the largest investor in 2015 in his ground-breaking AI chip company Nervana (which would be bought by Intel), and then co-leading the first investments for his next company, MosaicML, whose market leadership in the improvement of AI/ML training led Databricks (another DCVC portco) to acquire the company in 2023. Naveen, who was head of AI at Databricks, is proof positive that massively beneficial approaches to computing and AI — where control is radically democ­ra­tized and energy use radically reduced — can be massively profitable. We look forward to doing all we can to help Naveen make Uncon­ven­tional a new global leader.

We were honored to be recognized in the top decile of TIME Magazine’s inaugural list of America’s Top Venture Capital Firms and 8^th on Ilya Strebulaev’s list of the Top 50 Unicorn Investors Founded After 2009, thrilled to join Roadrunner Venture Studios’ $25 million coalition to accelerate quantum innovation and commer­cial­iza­tion in New Mexico, and proud to team up with other leading climate investors to launch the All Aboard Coalition to help capitalize climate tech startups on the brink of commercialization.

We look forward to recon­necting with many of you at our Annual General Meeting next week, and wish you all an excellent quarter ahead! We hope you enjoy the highlights below: as you’ll see, there’s been terrific progress across the portfolio. 

FUNDING HIGHLIGHTS

DCVC Flagship & DCVC Climate

Chai Discovery raised a $70 million Series A round, with partic­i­pa­tion from DCVC, to propel its antibody discovery platform aimed at tackling complex diseases, helping accelerate the development of therapies for conditions underserved by current treatments. Chai Discovery was also named to the Endpoints 11 list of the year’s most exciting biotech startups.

Estes Energy raised $11 million in Seed funding, joined by DCVC, to make powerful, affordable batteries in the U.S., strength­ening domestic supply chains and enabling a more resilient clean energy transition.

Fourth Power secured $20 million in Series A+ financing, joined by DCVC, to scale its thermal energy storage technology — a critical enabler of reliable, around-the-clock clean power.

DCVC Bio

Alchemab Ther­a­peu­tics secured a $32 million Series A extension, joined by DCVC Bio, and initiated its first-in-human Phase 1 trial of ATLX-1282, marking a major milestone in validating its approach of harnessing naturally occurring antibodies from resilient individuals to unlock an entirely new class of therapeutics.

Plexium raised $60 million in Series C funding, joined by DCVC Bio, to advance its pipeline of first-in-class and best-in-class targeted protein degrader ther­a­peu­tics, opening up new treatment possi­bil­i­ties against previously ​“undruggable” cancers with high unmet need.
 

OTHER NEWS

DCVC Flagship & DCVC Climate

Agility Robotics continued to power the future of robotics with NVIDIA, adopting NVIDIA’s Jetson Thor to enhance Digit’s AI for advanced manip­u­la­tion, perception, and task performance — further expanding the capa­bil­i­ties of humanoid robots already operating in real-world environments.

Atomic Alchemy, Oklo, and Radiant were selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to participate in its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, under­scoring the leadership of DCVC-backed companies in advanced nuclear innovation and the pivotal role these tech­nolo­gies will play in delivering reliable, carbon-free energy.

Brimstone announced a landmark deal with Amazon, which has committed to purchase cement and concrete materials from Brimstone’s first commercial plant — an endorsement that validates Brimstone’s break­through decar­bonized building materials as a scalable path to cutting emissions in heavy industry.

CH4 Global reached a world-first milestone as Windsor Meats in Australia became the first retailer to sell low-methane beef produced with its seaweed feed supplement, demon­strating the commercial viability of climate-friendly protein in mainstream consumer markets.

Circularity Fuels success­fully demon­strated that its syngas production reactor — which is 1/100^th the cost of traditional reformers — can reform raw biogas from a dairy farm into syngas, a critical precursor for sustainable aviation fuel.

Fortem was named one of 10 finalists for the DIU’s counter-drone challenge (aligned with the DoD’s Replicator‑2 initiative), high­lighting its potential to enhance national security by defending against the growing threat of autonomous aerial systems. Fortem also showcased its CUAS system, DroneHunter, for Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, autonomously inter­cepting a rogue drone midair and demon­strating its critical role in securing airspace and protecting people and infrastructure.

Halter deepened its impact by partnering with the Bureau of Land Management and the Foundation for America’s Public Lands to expand joint rancher and public access to federally managed lands, reinforcing how its technology can advance both sustainable agriculture and land stewardship.

Q‑CTRL was awarded two DARPA contracts under the Robust Quantum Sensors (RoQS) program, totaling $24.4 million, to develop advanced quantum sensing tools for next-generation military vehicles, reinforcing its position as a leader in applying quantum technology to defense and national security.

Pivot Bio partnered with the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund to bring its nitrogen-fixing products to Indiana and Illinois farmers, expanded its retailer network with Aurora Cooperative, and strength­ened its Scientific Advisory Board to guide the development of cutting-edge crop nutrition solutions.

Radiant’s Kaleidos microre­actor was selected by the U.S. DOE to be the first new reactor tested at its DOME facility at the Idaho National Laboratory, and the company also announced an agreement with the Pentagon to deliver the first-ever mass-manu­fac­tured microre­ac­tors to U.S. military bases by 2028 — a historic step toward distributed, resilient clean energy.

Reality Defender partnered with ActiveFence to expand its deepfake detection capa­bil­i­ties and announced a new alliance with ValidSoft, which adds real-time voice identity assurance — cementing its role as a key player in building the global infra­struc­ture for AI safety and trust.

DCVC Bio

Newleos Ther­a­peu­tics dosed the first subject in a second Phase 1b study of NTX-1955 in the E.U. for generalized anxiety disorder. The company also received IND clearance from the FDA to initiate a U.S. Phase 2 trial of NTX-1472 for social anxiety disorder, marking important progress toward safer, more effective treatments for anxiety disorders.

Umoja Biopharma was named one of 2025’s most promising biotech companies by Endpoints (Endpoints 11) and Fierce Biotech (Fierce 15), recognizing its pioneering in vivo CAR‑T therapies aimed at accel­er­ating and broadening patient access to trans­for­ma­tive cell-based treatments.