Breakthrough Hard Tech, New Partners, and a Bigger Stage: Pangaea’s Year in Review (Part 1)
A year when hard tech stepped into the spotlight
2025 was the year where hard tech moved from the margins to the main stage. Across climate, computational infrastructure, and human health, founders in the Pangaea community turned deep science into real‑world traction, from major funding milestones to global partnerships and new platforms to tell their stories. It was also a year where Pangaea expanded its own footprint, welcoming new colleagues and advisors, and deepening engagement with innovators across North America, Japan, and beyond.
Funding milestones signal momentum
In 2025, capital flowed into the kinds of science‑driven platforms that define Pangaea’s thesis on planetary health. These funding moments did more than extend runway, they demonstrated investor conviction in platform regenerative medicine, bio‑based specialty chemicals, next‑generation power and semiconductor solutions, sustainable water treatment for fabs, and low‑emission, high-efficiency critical metals extraction.
Aspect Biosystems’ US $115M Series B to advance its bioprinted tissue and regenerative medicine platform, with Pangaea participating as part of a global investor syndicate.
Tidal Vision’s $140M Series B to scale its chitosan‑based solutions across agriculture, water, and other industrial applications, underscoring growing demand for bio‑based alternatives.
ChEmpower’s $18.7M Series A, where Pangaea joined a syndicate backing next‑generation semiconductor and power solutions that improve efficiency and performance.
Membrion’s $20M Series B1, announced on the Semicon West stage and positioning the company as a key water‑treatment partner for semiconductor manufacturing.
pH7 Technologies’ $25.6M Series B to scale low‑emissions extraction of critical metals, a deal that speaks to Pangaea’s focus on climate‑positive industrial processes.
Ardent’s Series B to accelerate development and commercialization of its next‑generation thermal energy storage technology, with Pangaea co‑leading the round to advance scalable separations solutions across chemicals, energy, and broader heavy industry.
New faces, new perspectives: growing the Pangaea team
2025 was also a year of intentional team building, with new talent joining Pangaea to expand regional reach, marketing capabilities, and long‑term founder support.
Mitchell Ballentine joined as Marketing Lead, bringing a background in brand building across clean energy, synthetic fuels, and health, and helping tell the stories of hard tech founders to a broader audience.
Yuki Shirato was appointed Senior Advisor, strengthening Pangaea’s presence in Japan and bringing decades of cross‑border legal, venture, and operating experience to support founders in one of the world’s most dynamic hard tech ecosystems.
Kay Enjoji also bolstered our Japan team as Senior Advisor, bringing decades of semiconductor innovation and global CVC leadership to Pangaea and our Limited Partners.
The Hard Tech Report and our evolving thesis
To mark 25 years at the frontier of hard tech, Pangaea released its inaugural Hard Tech Report, mapping where deep science is converging with market readiness in climate innovation, computational and physical infrastructure, and human health. The report distills two and a half decades of pattern‑recognition into a practical guide for founders, strategic partners, and LPs who want to understand how materials, chemistry, and biology are reshaping industry.
Taken together, these funding milestones and new team additions made 2025 a year of meaningful scale‑up for both Pangaea and the founders we back. In Part 2, our focus shifts from capital and team to the ideas, events, and conversations that brought our hard tech community together in 2025, and helped shape where we go next.