#66. Don't miss our Startup Showcase + carbon black and Microsoft update
Hello Understory community! We are excited to see you all on Wednesday at our ‘Startups Driving Sustainability’ event. I’m super excited to hear from Open Water, NEXT Energy Technologies, and Topl. Have you registered yet? Last chance!
If you missed our May event, you can learn more about what Carbon Black is and how Living Ink is creating sustainable ink in our latest article.
And don’t forget to join us on Slack to get the latest info and converse with other ecosystem leaders. Have a climate friendly week and don’t forget to #LiveSustainabily.
📚 Worth Reading
Microsoft released a progress report on its sustainability initiatives detailing new product offerings, investments, and new commitments to achieve a net zero carbon economy. The company announced a new commitment to a decarbonized energy grid whereby 100% of energy consumption will be matched by zero carbon energy purchases. To achieve this, Microsoft mentioned new initiatives around temporal and spatial matching and purchasing partnerships.
The post has a wealth of information about the other initiatives it has underway.
New Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability offering
Progress on commitments and its Planetary Computer initiative
Investments in NCX, Twelve and Rheaply through its Climate Innovation Fund
Sustainable supply chain and sustainable building initiatives
Recommended reading for organizations big and small looking for inspiration for their own sustainable transformation.
🚀 Funding and Congrats!
GHGSAT closed its $45 million Series B round. GHGSAT brings high resolution greenhouse gas monitoring from space.
Mighty Buildings raised a $22 million Series B extension. They company uses 3D printing and automation to build homes.
Vaayu, a carbon tracking platform for retailers, raised a $1.6 million seed round led by CapitalT.
Ubuntoo, a marketplace for sustainability projects, raised $3.3 million to expand the team and open a new office in Europe.
Heart Aerospace raised a $35 million Series A round led by Breakthrough Energy Partners, United Airlines venture group, and Mesa Air Group. The electric aviation startup also received an order for 200 aircraft.
Boeing is partnering with SkyNRG, a sustainable aviation fuel production company, and will invest in its U.S. production facility.
Breakthrough Energy Partners expands its partnership with the EU to raise up to $1 billion for low-carbon technologies - particularly hydrogen produced from renewable energy, sustainable aviation fuels, technology to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere, and long-duration energy storage.
The Female Founders Fund launched their $57 million Fund III and will expand coverage to climate tech.
Eka Ventures raised $95 million to invest in companies that will make positive system change.
💡 Startup Spotlight
Air Protein - makes meat out of elements of the air, such as CO2.
👀 Quick Hits
GM launches EV fleet charging service within its new BrightDrop business unit.
China launched a national carbon emissions trading market.
Maine becomes the first state to shift the cost of recycling to packaging producers from taxpayers. At least 10 other states are expected to pass similar legislation.
Unilever will roll out carbon footprint labels on its products by the end of the year.
New fabric made from recycled carbon emissions is created by LanzaTech and Lululemon.
The Amazon rainforest is no longer a carbon sink, as it now emits more carbon than it absorbs.
🎧 Podcast
Just Salad: Pioneering Zero Waste in Restaurants
A Good Company: mitigating mindless consumption
LimeLoop: revolutionizing smart reusable packaging
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.
Customer Success Manager at Goodr
Business Development Director at Act Analytics
Program Manager, Energy & Sustainability Advocacy at Google
Principal Product Manager for Sustainability at Amazon
Sustainability Strategy Manager at Coca-Cola
Aladdin Sustainability Investor Lead at BlackRock
Climatetech Financial Analyst at Climate Collective
Fellowship Senior Product Manager at The Cartier Women’s Initiative
Senior Product Manager at The RealReal
Packaging & Sustainability Expert at The Clorox Company
Environmental Data Analyst at Arc’teryx
Multiple Roles at Rheaply
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Carbon Buyer at Indigo
Head of Sales at LimeLoop
Multiple Roles at Cervest
Brand Partnerships Manager at TerraCycle
Head of Sales at Lizee
Business Developer & Sales at Resortecs
Product manager and engineers at Topl
🗓 Events
July 21: Startups Driving Sustainability - July Showcase
Don’t miss presentations by:
Open Water - making sustainable and climate neutral bottled water
Topl - using blockchain to increase transparency in ESG initiatives
NEXT Energy Technologies - transforming windows into solar energy
📧 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.
Until next week!