#104 | Climate tech vc news + register for Tuesday's Showcase
Understory newsletter on climate and sustainability tech
What a week! We start this Monday with a ton of energy and inspiration from all the Earth Week events we attended. Check out our “Worth Attending” section below to see members of the Understory community out in action. If you missed some of those events, don’t worry! We’ve got our latest Showcase event happening on Tuesday, and we’d love you to tune in.
Understory x gener8tor: Startups Driving Sustainability Showcase
Join us for a special edition of our Showcase Event on Tuesday, April 26th. Understory is hosting the five startups participating in gener8tor's inaugural sustainability accelerator program: itselectric, blip energy, SolarSteam, Carbon Yield, and Mycocycle.
📚 Worth Attending
The Understory team was out at the Atlanta Green Market Fair and Sustainable Fashion Week in celebration of Earth Day. We loved seeing so many of the Understory community companies and organizations in person: Romp + Tumble, Last Bottle Clothing, Greencom, B Local Georgia, and eKlozet to name a few.
We moderated a panel on ‘Inspired Innovation’ telling the stories of two emerging startups - Wundergrubs and Joulea. Both apply concepts from one industry to create sustainable solutions in another.
And after learning about Greencom on our recent podcast episode, we got to experience the Greencom app in action. Attendees were downloading the app and using it to make purchases at the Green Market Fair. They could also give back directly to a few of the local environmental organizations who had booths at the fair. The app made it easy to support green and local initiatives all in real time.
Quick Links:
The Understory Podcast episode featuring Greencom
Sign up as an environmental project on the Greencom platform
🚀 Funding and Congrats!
Lygos merged with Flexible Solutions Group - both manufacture biodegradable products.
The Carbon Removal Xprize announced $1 million funding for 15 startups: Calcite, Carbyon, Heirloom + Carbfix, Project Hajar, Sustaera, Verdox + Carbfix, Bioeconomy Institute at ISU, Global Algae, NetZero, PlantVillage, Takachar, Captura, Marine Permaculture, Planetary, and Carbin Minerals.
Treeconomy, a nature-based carbon removal company, raised a £500K pre-seed round.
Upside Foods, a cultivated meat company, raised $400 million in funding.
Crusoe Energy Systems raised a $350 million Series C. The company harnesses natural gas flares to power data centers.
Air Company raised a $30 million Series A. The company produces alcohol and consumer goods from captured carbon.
Greenly, a French carbon footprinting company, raised a $23 million Series A round.
Vaayu raised a $11.5 million seed round. The company helps retailers track their carbon emissions.
New $8.1 million in Series A funding for CellMEAT, a company that grows shrimp in a lab.
Glacier, a recycling robotics firm, raised a $4.5 million seed round.
Unicorn Biotechnologies raised a $3.2 million seed round. The company develops a biomanufacturing platform to help scale cultivated meat production.
EQUO raised $1.3 million in seed funding. The company uses compostable materials to replace single-use plastic items.
💡 Startup Spotlight
The Rounds - a zero waste refillery with local delivery.
👀 Quick Hits
Best Buy launched a new haul-away service that will pick up and recycle old appliances and consumer electronics.
Twitter bans ads that deny climate change.
California’s main grid almost hits 100% renewable energy usage.
🎧 Podcast
Rich Mokuolu: sustainable and resilient supply chains
Christian Mundy of Greencom: rewarding green behavior
Stefan Gönner of Seqana: sequestering soil organic carbon
The Understory Podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Google Podcasts.
⚙️ Jobs
Find and share your open positions on the Understory Slack channel.
🆕 Partnerships Intern at Newlab
🆕 GEM Project Manager at Greenlink Analytics
🆕 Business Development, Marketplace Partnerships at Cloverly
🆕 Director, Sustainability Product Management, Long-Term Bets at Google
🆕 Sr. Product Sustainability Strategist at Intel
🆕 Director, Climate Impact Data Portal at Boundless Impact
🆕 Public Affairs Specialist, Circular Economy at NatureWorks
Circular Economy Specialist at Rubicon
Multiple Roles at Air Protein
Social Media Engagement Intern at Wallet Max
Multiple Roles at Gradient Comfort
ESG/Sustainability Product Lead at Hartford Funds
Product Manager - Sustainability at Travelport
Public Affairs Specialist, Circular Economy at NatureWorks
Head of Marketing at Nth Cycle
Director of People at Nth Cycle
Multiple Roles at Goodr
Fellow, Climate Solutions at Emory University
Sustainability Engagement Lead at Twitter
Circular Economy Portfolio Leader at Owens Corning
Director at Georgia Social Impact Collaborative
Solutions Engineer at Clarity AI
🗓 Events
April 26: Understory x gener8tor: Startups Driving Sustainability Showcase
May 17-19: Circularity 22 Conference
May 24: Understory’s Startups Driving Sustainability - May Showcase
June 2-4: Chamonix NFT Summit
Do you have any events to share? Post them in our Understory Slack community.
📧 Stay in Touch!
You don’t have to wait for our weekly newsletter for all the latest content. Join us on Slack or follow along on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter to see real-time updates.