Azolla Ventures is the successor fund to the Prime Impact Fund, the early stage catalytic climate fund led by the Prime Coalition. In its first investment, Azolla co-invested in Norway-based Heaten with Shell Ventures and Nysnø Climate Investments. The €6 million in funding will help Norway-based Heaten build out customer pilots to commercialize its high-temperature industrial heat pumps.
“Heat pumps are one of the few tools for decarbonizing industrial-process heat,” Azolla Ventures’ Amy Duffuor told ImpactAlpha, but it is a “notoriously unsexy” category that has not stirred investor interest.
Catalytic capital
Electric-powered heat pumps, which channel ambient or waste heat, are increasingly replacing oil and gas to cool and heat buildings, but industrial applications requiring higher temperatures pose a challenge. Heaten’s pumps can deliver temperatures up to 215 degrees Celsius, although its first applications will focus on industries such as food, plastic and pulp that require up to 165 degrees Celsius.