Hi , we hope you enjoy this edition.
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Neil: What the hell happened here?
Protagonist: It hasn't happened yet.
- Tenet
Robots that roam the land to sequester carbon; 10x cheaper EV charging without wires; an API to instantly optimize logistics; intersections that cut congestion by 50%; your hyperlocal water quality data and “Minority Report” for EV purchase intent.
This isn’t science fiction. This is a list of the startups we’ve been fortunate enough to work with over the summer. Now we’re excited for you to meet them. On October 15th, please join us.
Call for Startups
Urban Us is looking for pre-seed and seed-stage companies that upgrade cities and urban systems to face climate change. We’re interested in themes like electrification of everything and building defenses against growing natural hazards like wildfires and floods. Please forward this to any startup who might be interested in joining us or just reply and introduce us. Here’s more about what we’re looking for.
Climate & Cities
China has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2060. Details aren’t available yet, but, as the US has continued to invest in protecting oil interests, China has invested in next-generation energy infrastructure. China produces 80% of materials for advanced batteries and controls 60% of the global capacity for solar. As climate commitments accelerate outside the US, it looks like these decisions could pay off for China.
Even with these new commitments, decarbonization can’t happen fast enough. After the worst fire season in the US, new maps show climate risks for each US county along with the growing economic costs. Insurance could be an option, but, without significant effort to increase resilience, insurance is becoming unaffordable.
Startups
S-1 filings reveal a lot about how few tech companies control their own destiny nowadays. Google's search changes, Apple's App Store policies, and Amazon's AWS functionality are increasingly cited as risks in S-1 documents. There are likely many more dependencies on various lesser-known APIs.
We’re starting to see more data on the impact of Covid-19 on startups. SaaS benchmarks suggest that growth projections have been cut in half. The main issue appears to be churn and new bookings, but there are more insights in 2020 SaaS Survey Results- COVID Edition.
Careers
Cove Tool is hiring engineers, salespeople, and architects with a passion for stopping climate change. Near Space Labs is looking for a high-altitude-balloon field operator. There are lots of open positions across departments at BRCK, Miles, Social Construct, Treau, Urbint, Bowery Farming and Onewheel.
Urban Us
One Concern announced its risk score for Japan. Flair is Alive and Growing. Kibbo’s launch was featured in the NYTimes. From our team: Michael talks about how he helps startups focus on early branding challenges and Shilpi talks climate tech investing trends.
“We have honestly made enough clothing to last humanity for generations. It’s just a matter of making all that clothing discoverable, accessible, and appealing.” – Shilla Kim-Parker in her interview with Fortune about Thrilling.
Best,
Zeev, Liz, Stonly, Shaun, Shilpi and Mark
How do we create this newsletter? The content comes from our slack channels where we review contributions from people like you. So you can wait for this newsletter or join us on Slack.