#73. Molecular coffee, new showcase event, startup funding, carbon accounting
It’s hard to imagine that summer is over and we have 4 months left in 2021! We have much work to do to help bring insight into technology, innovation, trends in climate technologies, sustainability, and enterprise solutions.
🗓 Reminder
Startups Driving Sustainability Showcase on September 15th!! Don’t miss one-hour of high quality discussions and networking opportunities.
Lex Kiefhaber will share how United by Zero is helping consumers find truly sustainable clothing.
Hamoun Karami will talk about making garbage smarter and reducing waste with Smartbin.io.
David Wei will explain how SolarKal makes solar energy accessible to businesses.
Alexander Bulkin from A100x Ventures will discuss investing at the intersection of disruptive technologies and impact.
Join us to hear these stories about doing good through business.
📚 Worth Reading
Bitcoin mining and electricity. With the reward of mining bitcoin increasing as price of bitcoin goes up, bitcoin miners have bigger incentive to use the biggest, fastest machines to run the complex computations and be the dominant players to gain bitcoins. In the process, the bitcoin mining facilities (data centers) consume significant amount of electricity. China used to be the dominant location for global bitcoin mining but that is no longer the case. China now accounts for 46% of the global mining while countries such as the U.S. see a surge (from 4% in 2019 to 16% as of April 2021). At the peak of bitcoin mining (May 2021), it was estimated that at least 13 years of typical household electricity is consumed per mined bitcoin!
🚀 Funding and Congrats!
Carbonfuture, a marketplace for carbon credits based in Germany, raised a $2.8 million seed round led by Ubermorgen Ventures, Wi Venture, and seed + speed Ventures.
Environmental 360 Solutions Inc., an Ontario-based environmental management company, received a strategic investment from Oaktree Capital Management.
Electric vehicle infrastructure startup Revos has raised $4m from Union Square Ventures and Bengaluru-headquartered Prime Venture Partners.
Sphere has raised $2m to help employees lobby for green retirement savings plans.
Compound Foods raised $4.5m to help make coffee without coffee beans. Funders include Lowercarbon Capital, SVLC, Humboldt Fund, Collaborative Fund, Maple VC, and Petri Bio.
Rivian, the hottest electric vehicle startup focusing on trucks and SUVs, has filed to go public at a reported $80 billion valuation.
💡 Startup Spotlight
Atomo!
Coffee without beans.
“The environmental toll due to demand and climate change is destroying the rainforest. Another mind blowing fact they learned is that coffee is the 2nd most intense carbon footprint agricultural crop, behind cocoa!”
👀 Quick Hits
Big Four Accounting firms are gearing up for ESG. PwC is launching trust institutes to train clients. Deloitte is starting a climate learning program for all of its employees. KPMG is advertising its work with large clients such as IKEA to attract more clients. EY and all three other competitors are getting their seats at the table as international standards for measuring sustainability mature.
Speaking of IKEA, it is launching a furniture buyback program in the U.S. to make progress on a circular model of doing business. Similar service has been offered in other countries such as the U.K. and Singapore.
Carbon accounting can be tricky and it will come to the fore. Every company that has a climate initiative is tabulating and calculating its carbon emission and offsets. Imagine how hard that is because every organization is like a living organization - there are ins and outs and credits and debits everywhere. How to do this accurately is an area of innovation and digital transformation.
Know companies in the space? Let us know.
🎧 Podcast
Abby Lyall of Big Idea Ventures: investing in foodtech
Climate Neutral: certifying climate claims
AeroShield: a clear (and energy efficient) window to the future
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.
VP / Director of Marketing at Cloverly
Software Engineer at Joulea
Climate Data Analyst at CO2HERO
Multiple Roles at Patch
Chief of Staff, Sustainability at JPMorgan
Director, Strategic Initiatives (Circular Economy) at Walmart
Senior Product Manager, Re-commerce at REI
Senior Legislative Counsel at Earthjustice
Head of Product at KEY ESG
Marketing Associate at Big Idea Ventures
Marketing Director at THIS
Communications Manager with Climate Neutral
Head of Product, Bus Dev Director, Engineers at Nitricity
Developer roles at Gybe
Project Manager, ESG at Techstars
Chief of Staff at ReGen Ventures
Senior Manager, Growth Strategy at R-Zero
Numerous Roles at CarbonCure
VP, Sustainability at Macy’s
Sr. Program Manager, Net Zero Carbon & Sustainability for Grocery at Amazon
Marketing Manager at Goodr
Director, Energy & Sustainability Services at JLL
Circular Economy Specialist at Rubicon
Senior Vice President of Impact at Bombas
Director of Social Impact at Minecraft / Microsoft
Open Innovation Sustainability Segment Lead at Accenture
🗓 Events
September 15: Startups Driving Sustainability - September Showcase (REGISTER NOW!)
October 21: Startups Driving Sustainability - October Showcase
October 28-30: Sustainable Fashion Week Atlanta
December 1: Startups Driving Sustainability - December Showcase
Nominate a speaker or apply today to present at one of our showcases. We are currently working on exciting lineups for our end of year events.
📧 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!