🌳 Understory Newsletter on sustainability and climate tech #64
Hello everyone, hope you had a great weekend. After another very successful Startup Showcase June’21 Edition, we are announcing the date for the July’21 Edition. We are excited to be joined by Open Water, Topl, and NEXT Energy Technologies!
📚 Worth Reading
Who will be the market makers of renewable energy? Big Tech. Wall Street Journey piece discussed how Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are investing significant amount of capital to buy and pay upfront for renewable energy. They are often the renewable energy project originators. Just this past Wednesday, Amazon announced that it has committed to buy additional 1.5 gigawatts of production capacity of solar and wind.
What these companies doing are highly strategic. While other companies are still figuring out the clean energy strategy and capital allocation, the Big Tech are moving ahead aggressively to reserve renewable energy supply with the anticipation that clean energy demand will inevitably grow. Just like anything else in a competitive market, there isn’t unlimited ocean or land to build harvest solar and wind energy. Furthermore, there isn’t unlimited supply of talent and resources to go around for all major projects plus other clean energy projects like hydrogen fuel generation. Big Tech understands this.
🚀 Funding and Congrats!
Aeroseal raised $22m! Aeroseal helps residential and commercial buildings to lower carbon emission with its duct and sealing technology. The round is led by Breakthrough Ventured, backed by Bill Gates.
Heliogen raised $108m to tackle fossil fuels. Investors include Bill Gates, ArcelorMittal, Edison International and other VC funds.
Recycle Track Systems (RTS) raised $35m. Lead investor is Citi Impact Fund. RTS focuses on waste management and collection.
Rheaply raised an additional $2.2m from Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and Solve from MIT.
Electric Hydrogen, a renewable energy company, raised $24m. The round was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Prelude Ventures and Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund also participated.
Elevation Home Energy Solutions raised its Series A. The company focuses on providing residential energy solutions including solar, energy efficiency, and smart energy technology.
Forto, a Germany-based freight forwarding and supply chain solution, raised $240m.
EnMass Energy, a provider of a digital procurement for global waste-to-energy supply chains, raised $2.15M in funding.
XCharge, a China-based EV charging solution for Asia and Europe, raised its Series B round. Investors include Shell Ventures.
📌 Startup Showcase Event June’21 Edition
Missed our event? Access recording here.
✅ Learn from Mimica about using chemistry to identify actual food spoilage to help change behavior of food waste.
✅ Arbor gave the audience a preview of their product connecting consumers and carbon offsetting projects.
✅ PlanIT Impact discussed how they are working to build green buildings.
✅ And finally, hear from Choose Paris Region about what the City of Paris is doing in sustainability and sustainable fashion (a lot and many opportunities for startups expanding to Paris!)
💡 Startup Spotlight
Puro Earth - marketplace for carbon removal.
👀 Quick Hits
McKinsey published its Top Trends in Technology Report highlighting 10 trends in technology that continue to change the world. One of those trends is clean technologies. Applications range from power supplies to transport to buildings and infrastructures to water.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation this month to require public companies to report ESG metrics.
Siemens reveals its new growth strategy with sustainability and ClimateTech as major areas of focus. In addition to meeting its own goals, Siemens identified areas that the company can help its customers meet sustainability goals.
🎧 Podcast
A Good Company: mitigating mindless consumption
Revolutionizing smart reusable packaging
Weighing waste, transforming the waste industry
The Understory Podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Google Podcasts.
⚙️ Jobs
Share your open positions on the Understory Slack channel.
Brand Partnerships Manager at TerraCycle
Vice President, Sustainability at JLL
Circular Economy Product Manager at Iron Mountain
Head of ESG Solutions, Energy at AWS
Sr. Program Manager, NA Transportation Sustainability at Amazon
Sustainability & Social Impact Lead at Adobe
Sustainability Program Manager - Carbon at Facebook
Program Manager, Energy & Sustainability Advocacy at Google
Circular Economy/Sustainability Program Manager at Cisco
Manager Sustainability and ESG at JetBlue
Director of Sustainability at Georgia Pacific
Sustainability Communications Manager at UPS
Senior Director, Sustainability at Tory Burch
Associate for Sustainability and ESG Strategies at JP Morgan
Head of Sales at Lizee
Software Engineer at LimeLoop
Business Developer & Sales at Resortecs
Various Roles at Imperfect Foods
Product manager and engineers at Topl
Various Roles at Southface
Commercial Development Manager at Matter
Director, Strategic Innovation at NRG Energy