#85 | Latest Startup Showcase recording + growth of human-made mass
Understory newsletter on climate and sustainability tech
Hello! We are starting this week’s newsletter with a huge shoutout to everyone who joined our events last week. We heard insightful presentations about Smart Cities at our ‘Startups Driving Sustainability’ Showcase. If you missed the live event, the recording is now available on our website. Save the date for our Q1 Showcase events - you can find all the dates toward the end of the newsletter.
Last week, we also hosted an inspiring meetup in Atlanta and couldn’t believe how many people were in attendance. The climate and sustainability tech movement in Atlanta is strong and growing by the day.
The Understory Podcast dropped a new episode featuring Ed Thomas from Hazel. The Hazel app is now live in the app store. It calms climate anxiety by helping individuals offset their carbon footprints. Check it out!
📚 Worth Reading
In 2020, anthropogenic mass (the mass created by humans since 1900) exceeded all global living biomass (the dry weight of all life on earth). Visual Capitalist has a stunning visualization that breaks down the anthropogenic mass - check it out. It was too large for this short newsletter.
The rate of accumulation of this man-made mass is significant. Humans produce mass equal to their own weight every week. This means that the amount of human-made mass will be 3x living biomass in less than 20 years. While human mass is small (0.01% of living biomass), our impact is extraordinary.
🚀 Funding and Congrats!
Speedinvest, a Vienna-based early-stage investor, has launched a new €80 million Climate & Industry Opportunity fund.
Opal Fuels is going public via a SPAC with a valuation of about $2 billion. Opal Fuels recovers methane from landfills and dairy farms to make a diesel-fuel alternative.
The REMADE Institute awarded $33 million in new technology research funding for circular economy solutions.
Fusion power company Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $1.8 billion in Series B funding to commercialize fusion energy.
Mainstream Renewable Power, a Dublin-based global wind and solar company, raised €90 million in additional funding.
Bio-based plastic alternative producer Cruz Foam raised $2.5 million in seed funding with participation from At One Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, and Regeneration.VC.
Gelatex, an Estonia-based startup enabling cell-cultured meat production, raised €1.2 million in seed funding.
Joanne Rodriguez, CEO of Mycocycle and former ‘Startup Showcase’ presenter, was named one of the Top 100 2021 Environment & Energy Leaders.
💡 Startup Spotlight
Persefoni - a saas-based climate management and accounting platform.
👀 Quick Hits
Iberdrola and H2 Green Steel are partnering to develop a $2.6 billion green hydrogen project in Europe.
P&G warns there is not enough recycled plastic to meet its sustainability commitments.
L’Oréal formed a partnership with Breezometer (former #StartupSpotlight company) to develop an exclusive beauty-driven exposome platform.
A new report indicates that the U.S. is the biggest polluter of plastic waste. The nation generates 42 million metric tons of plastic waste a year, more than all the EU countries combined.
A deeper look into the scramble for EV-related raw materials and the environmental challenges with mining.
🎧 Podcast
Ed Thomas of Hazel: climate empowerment with a single click
Ryan Jeffery of gener8tor: accelerating climate innovation
Zachary Witman of GrowSquares: transforming the home gardening experience
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.
🆕 National Director - Campus Solar at Nelnet
🆕 VP of Sales at Rheaply
🆕 Head of Legal at Energize Ventures
🆕 Senior Environmental Social Governance & CSR Analyst at Cox Enterprises
🆕 Lead Product Manager, Enterprise Sustainability Product Solutions at Google
🆕 Senior Manager, Environmental Sustainability at Electronic Arts
🆕 Senior Manager, Climate & Sustainability at Expedia Group
🆕 Project Leader / Principal, Climate & Sustainability at BCG
Data Scientist, Sr. Full-Stack Engineer, and more at GrowSquares
Global Head ESG Transformation at CBRE
Business Development Associate and Data Scientist at Seqana
Sr Manager / Director - Food Product R&D at New Age Meats
Sustainability Strategy Leader at Microsoft
Sr Program Manager, EU Circular Economy at Amazon
Scope 3 and Circular Economy Manager at Jabil
Multiple roles at Plan A
Program Manager, Inclusive Circular Economy at PYXERA
Logistics Manager at Sesame Solar
Director of Sustainability Education at Salesforce
Sustainability Accelerator Entrepreneur in Residence at Techstars
Manager Strategic Relationships - Circular Economy at TerraCycle
Analyst / Senior Analyst at Amplify Capital
Multiple VC roles at Revaia
Software Engineer at Joulea
🗓 Events
January 20: Understory’s Startups Driving Sustainability - January Showcase
February 16: Understory’s Startups Driving Sustainability - February Showcase
March 23: Understory’s Startups Driving Sustainability - March Showcase
April 23: Atlanta Green Business Market Fair
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.