#81 | COP26 updates, startup resources, and upcoming Showcase lineup
Understory newsletter on climate and sustainability tech
Welcome to November! As we speed toward the close of 2021, we are excited to announce our final ‘Startups Driving Sustainability’ Showcase event of the year on December 1st. One big theme of December's event is Smart Cities, especially as it relates to renewable energy and reducing waste. We are excited to feature these exciting speakers and companies:
Mercedes Benz USA - building the future of electric vehicles
Siklus - delivering refills for household products without plastic packaging
Sesame Solar - simplifying solar deployments to power critical areas
Choose Paris Region - discussing sustainable cities and initiatives in France
📚 Worth Reading
The COP26 Climate Summit kicked off in Glasgow bringing together world leaders to make progress on climate change. Many progress announcements came out of the first week.
Pledge to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.
40+ countries pledge to stop using coal, phasing out coal power by 2030 in major economies and 2040 for poorer nations.
India surprised all by pledging to meet net zero targets by 2070.
450+ financial institutions pledged that assets under management will be net zero by 2050.
New International Sustainability Standards Board will develop sustainability disclosure standards putting them on par with accounting standards.
Not all are impressed by all the talk. Climate activists including Greta Thunberg called for immediate action to prevent further climate deterioration. An excerpt from Greta’s speech at COP26:
"We don't need any more distant non binding pledges. We don't need any more empty promises. We don't need any more commitments that are full of loopholes, of incomplete statistics and that ignore the historical emissions and climate justice. But it's all that we are getting."
More to come next week.
🚀 Funding and Congrats!
BlackRock raised $673 million for its new climate infrastructure fund focused on renewable energy in the emerging markets.
Salesforce announced $300 million in climate investment which will be split: $100 million establishment of the Benioff TIME Tree Fund, $100 million from TIME Ventures, and $100 million from Salesforce to provide grants and donate technology.
ReGen Ventures announced the close of its $50 million climate fund. They made their first investments into Hide Biotech and Seqana. Former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario also joins the firm as a partner.
Alante Capital closed its first Fund I focused on investing in sustainable fashion and apparel.
Sustainable sneaker company Allbirds IPO’ed with a $2.15 billion valuation and subsequently traded higher after its debut.
Helion Energy secured $2.2 billion of investment to commercialize its fusion energy technology. The investment is split between a $500 million Series E and an additional $1.7 billion tied to milestones.
Sequoia, Primavera, and GIC invested $1 billion in Envision Group, a net-zero technology company.
Future Farm, a Brazilian plant-based food tech company, raised $58 million in Series C funding to expand to the US and Europe.
Sofar raised a $39 million Series B round. The company operates an ocean intelligence platform.
Evrnu, a textile recycling company (and former Startup Spotlight company) raised a $15 million series B round.
Plan A raised a $10 million Series A from HV Capital, Keen Ventures, with Demeter and coparion participating. Plan A helps with carbon accounting, decarbonization, and reporting.
Resilient Power, an EV infrastructure company, raised a $5 million seed round led by Energy Transition Ventures and included investment by the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund.
The Amazon Climate Pledge Fund also made minority investments in CMC Machinery, creator of an automated packing machine, and Infinium, an electrofuels company.
AKUA, an alternative meat company that uses kelp, raised a $3.2 million seed round.
Sway, which makes seaweed-based alternatives for plastic packaging, raised a $2.5 million seed round.
💡 Startup Spotlight
Robotics Cats develops early wildfire detection tools using AI-based technologies.
🌱 Startup Resources
Take on an intern! Via the University of Guelph’s flexible internship course, a student can complete a 40-hour, unpaid placement with your organization. Contact Danica Matovic (matovic@uoguelph.ca) for more information.
Apply to participate in the Climate Hack to create a climate tech solution in one weekend. Happening November 12-14th.
Superscape 2022 calls for submissions for its biannual prize. This year’s theme is GREEN SHIFT - visions for sustainable living.
👀 Quick Hits
The U.S. passed a major infrastructure bill with $47 billion earmarked for climate resilience investments.
The World Economic Forum and 30+ major corporations launched the First Movers Coalition. It’s goal is to create demand and lower the cost for climate tech - things like low-carbon approaches to steel, cement, aluminum, chemicals, shipping, aviation and trucking, and direct air capture.
The head of Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund explains how it allocates investments in climate tech and what its looking for in a startup.
Is water the next net zero target?
Climate change is changing the height of the atmosphere.
🎧 Podcast
Zachary Witman of GrowSquares: transforming the home gardening experience
Alex Diamond of Descartes Labs: sustainability analysis at planetary scale
Nathan Stuck of Ad Victoriam Solutions: demystifying B Corps
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.
🆕 Multiple roles at Plan A
🆕 Program Manager, Inclusive Circular Economy at PYXERA
🆕 Growth Marketing Manager - Community Solar at Nelnet
🆕 Logistics Manager at Sesame Solar
🆕 Global ESG Communications Manager at Deloitte
🆕 Director of Sustainability Education at Salesforce
🆕 Sustainability Accelerator Entrepreneur in Residence at Techstars
🆕 Customer Sustainability, Senior Director at Rockwell Automation
Circular Economy Strategist at Rheaply
Circular Economy Lead at AWS
Manager Strategic Relationships - Circular Economy at TerraCycle
Senior Director, Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners
Analyst / Senior Analyst at Amplify Capital
Multiple VC roles at Revaia
Regional Sustainability Value Practice Lead at Google
Project Leader/Principal, Climate & Sustainability at BCG
Climate and Net Zero Specialist at Citibank
Sustainability Tech Investment Principal at G-Force
Account Manager at Climate Neutral
VP / Director of Marketing at Cloverly
Software Engineer at Joulea
Multiple Roles at Patch
Senior Product Manager, Re-commerce at REI
🗓 Events
October 31-November 12: COP26 - Glasgow
November 16: Webinar: Why we need Planet-First Leadership
December 1: Startups Driving Sustainability - December Showcase (REGISTER NOW!)
📧 Stay in Touch!
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