Newsletter - January 2026

Welcome to the 23rd edition of the AFI Ventures’ newsletter.

As a reminder, AFI Ventures (fund managed by Ventech) is an impact VC fund that invests in pre-seed/seed startups with a strong environmental and social ambition, producing a systemic change. We invest once a month in France & Europe tickets ranging from €250K to €500K.

Each month in this newsletter, you’ll find:

1. 🔍 A focus or key resources on an impact-related theme

2. 📰 Our Top must-read articles on the impact ecosystem

3. 🌱 Even more news from the AFI: public fundraisings, portfolio updates, and (new) where we’ve been spotted (at events) & where you can catch us next, plus a job board featuring open roles at our amazing startups.

More insights, more opportunities, more ways to connect. Let’s dive in! 💚

🔍 Focus on… Building more resilient and low-carbon data centers

As part of our ongoing work on data center decarbonization, we’re excited to host a roundtable focused on one key question:
Can we truly design data centers that are more resilient in the face of rising energy, water, and critical raw material consumption?

Together with RAISE Sherpas, we’ll bring together key players from across the value chain — including data center construction, IT infrastructure, and next-generation cooling technologies — to explore concrete solutions.

🎙 A particular focus will be placed on cooling, a major lever for both performance and sustainability in data centers.

Investors, corporates, and startups: if data center resilience and decarbonization are topics you’re actively thinking about, we’d be happy to have you join the discussion.

Join us on February 19 !

👉Registration link below.

📥 If you’re an entrepreneur and want to start a project, please send us an email at dealflow@afi.ventures.

📰 Top must-read articles — What Caught Our Eyes This Month

Climate Change

France’s green industry startups are facing a sharp slowdown in funding and industrial momentum—revealing how difficult it remains to scale climate technologies beyond early enthusiasm, said Les Echos.

France is preparing BXIA, a €3 billion project for a high-power supercomputer and AI-oriented data center in Bordeaux—signaling France’s ambition to build major compute infrastructure for AI research and digital innovation, said France 3 Régions.

At Davos 2026, climate change discussions were overshadowed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s geopolitical focus—raising questions about U.S. commitment to global climate cooperation, said The New York Times.

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Sustainable production and consumption

As sodium-ion emerges as a potential alternative to lithium-ion batteries with solid-state breakthroughs promising safer, lower-cost energy storage, the technology edges closer to reshaping EVs and grid storage, said 20minutes.

Rising compute loads are pushing data centers to rethink cooling strategies, with liquid cooling gaining traction over air cooling for efficiency and sustainability despite water-use challenges, said TechRadar.

Major shippers are accelerating efforts to decarbonise ocean freight, as DHL and CMA CGM launch a joint biofuel initiative to cut shipping emissions, said Biofuels-News.

Advances in material science are enabling researchers to synthesise exotic nanomaterials at high temperatures, opening new applications across energy, electronics, and sustainability, said École Polytechnique.

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Health & Social Changes

As innovation moves beyond symptom management in chronic diseases, the EU has approved Sanofi’s Teizeild as the first disease-modifying treatment for type 1 diabetes—marking a major regulatory and medical milestone, said Le Monde.

Personalised preventive health is gaining momentum, as Oura and the National University of Singapore launch a joint lab to advance individualised wellness insights, said Medical Science News.

Following a landmark year for metabolic health, 2026 is being touted as the year of obesity pills, with major launches expected from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, said CNBC.

The UK’s Department for Business and Trade is stepping up efforts to improve gender inclusion in tech through targeted hiring, retention, and recognition initiatives aimed at boosting diversity and innovation, said GOV.UK.

🍃 AFI Ventures Highlights

Recent News from our Portfolio

AFI Ventures is proud to back Co-reactive as the company raises €6.5M in Seed funding to scale its CO₂-negative construction materials technology! By mineralising CO₂ into high-performance cement alternatives, Co-reactive is tackling both construction decarbonisation and material scarcity head-on. Learn more

Moonwatt hits a major milestone with the launch of its first solar-native, sodium-ion BESS and secures €1.15M in DEI+ funding from RVO. The company will deploy its first solar+storage project in the Netherlands in 2026, alongside Veolia and Cleantech Park Arnhem—bringing storage-native solar from concept to real-world operations. Learn more

Elsee joins the new HEC Paris Incubator cohort at Station F, marking a key step in its growth journey. By building the infrastructure for accessible, preventive healthcare—especially for women, Elsee is making prevention a right, not a luxury. Learn more

Equitable Earth kicks off 2026 with €12.6M in fresh funding, bringing total capital raised to over €25M to accelerate the scale-up of its nature-based carbon certification programme. The round will enable the certification of millions more hectares of forest—driving verified carbon credits with real climate, nature, and community impact. Learn more

Estuaire is partnering with Sweden’s National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) to map the full climate impact of air travel, including CO₂ and non-CO₂ effects like contrails. By delivering route-level insights, this collaboration will support evidence-based transport policy and more sustainable aviation in Sweden. Learn more

Paladin partners with Moka.Care to strengthen mental health prevention in the workplace, offering HR teams practical tools to assess psychosocial risks, support managers, and provide confidential access to qualified professionals. A concrete step toward healthier, more resilient work environments. Learn more

Sirona Technologies secures a landmark DAC credit offtake agreement with Wild Assets, ranking among the top 10 largest DAC purchases announced in 2025 and marking the largest deal in the company’s history. The transaction provides strong backing for Sirona’s upcoming flagship project and signals growing conviction in durable carbon removal at scale. Learn more

Tilt Energy partners with EKZ, one of Switzerland’s leading utilities, to launch a large-scale smart EV charging pilot starting in 2026. By optimizing charging for 500 EV drivers over 12 months, the project demonstrates how flexibility can be embedded directly into electrification—delivering value for users and resilience for the grid. Learn more

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Talent Wanted: Our Startups Are Building the Future

💼 New format!
The previous view was quite long and not very reader-friendly, so we’ve created a dedicated Notion view to give you a clear overview of all open positions across our portfolio.

Special mentions to Stokelp, Enrise & Paladin, currently on a strong hiring ramp with multiple roles open. More than 60 open roles this month!

👉Accessible here

Don’t hesitate to reach out to the teams to unlock great opportunities.

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Events

We were at:

• Climate Coffee – January 15th ☕
  A great moment to kick off the year—Sarah joined the Climate Coffee community to exchange with climate founders, operators, and investors.

• Securing Europe’s Critical Minerals – January 23rd 🛠️
  Sarah attended this high-level discussion on strengthening Europe’s supply chains for critical minerals with Wind Capital, Genomines, InfraVia, and VoltR.

• Zenon Conference on Logistics & Decarbonisation – January 29th 🌍
  A focused discussion on how logistics can drive the energy transition by reconciling efficiency, resilience, and emissions reduction — Constantin was there.

Where to meet the AFI Ventures team next month:

• Tech&Fest – February 4–5, 2026, Grenoble 🏔️
  A flagship innovation festival bringing together startups, corporates, researchers, and public actors around frontier technologies. You’ll find Sarah in the crowd, meeting founders and ecosystem partners.

• World Impact Summit – February 5–6, 2026, Paris 🌍
  One of Europe’s leading impact summits dedicated to accelerating concrete climate solutions. Axel will be there to connect with impact-driven founders.

• AI Day – February 10, 2026, Paris 🤖
  A one-day event focused on applied AI and real-world use cases. Sarah will be there to exchange with AI founders and operators.

🗣️ Feel free to reach out if you’d like to connect onsite!

🤝 Our Team

• Charles Fourault - charles@afi.ventures

• Constantin de Chaudenay - constantin@afi.ventures

• Sarah Laznowski - sarah@afi.ventures

• Axel Chaumel - axel@afi.ventures

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re an impact entrepreneur or just interested in any of these topics. 🍃