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“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” - Richard Feynman
Since early 2020 we’ve hosted bi-weekly group calls with all of our portfolio founders to share learnings and insights. These sessions have led to a few playbooks and takeaways related to everything from racism to pandemics. We recently held a discussion on pricing and the feedback was very positive, so we’re sharing the takeaways in a collaborative working document. Climate and Cities Electric vehicles have a long history but are playing the most prominent role yet in shaping mobility. EVs represent a major shift in mobility ‘refueling infrastructure’ but it’s never been easy to move away from existing options, and even supportive policy can fall short. If EVs are increasingly managed for subscribers and not owned, who’s responsible for putting chargers in fair locations and optimizing charging for carbon-free energy? And what impacts might the demand for lithium spurred by EVs mean for international relations, including with Afghanistan? GHG emission reduction on the other hand, while new, is teaching us all of the same old math problems. For example, the Pareto principle shows up - the biggest portion of the emissions are attributable to a handful of cities and power plants. There are a number of corporate emitters too but the majority of their emissions are scope 3 (emissions from their supply chain) and the hardest to nail down. There are financial lessons too. But it’s hard to tell if we’re seeing billions pour into decarbonization because of reverse incentives or just risk capital seeking the highest profit. Finally, we may be faced with the toughest history lesson of all; that tech can’t solve all the things and definitely not most of the climate equation.
Portfolio News We’re seeing some interesting uptick in impact reporting around our portfolio. Funding announcements like Urbint’s $60M haul are a byline to their impact on climate risk and wildfires. People are excited about HVAC systems like Gradient which hope to save us from climate disaster. Founders who are less interested in startup fame and more interested in fun EV adoption are getting deep-dive interviews like Kyle at Onewheel. Startups that enable new mobility taxing and reward eco-friendly transit are getting well-documented funding. Companies’ milestones with customers are being measured by how much gas is avoided and how much logistics-related CO2 is curtailed. Most rewarding of all is software that’s winning industry awards for how much they're helping the industry address climate change. We’re also increasingly asked to share our approach to impact investing and working with founders. Jobs and Opportunities Bowery Farming is looking for a mechanical design engineer, a VP of marketing, and 53 other roles to deliver fresh, pesticide-free produce from their indoor vertical farms. Bumblebee Spaces is looking for an install technician and global supply manager and 6 other roles to deliver robotic furniture to get more from our living spaces. Cove.Tool is looking for a sales executive and 3 other roles to automate the design of high-performance buildings. Radiator Labs is looking for a Chief Financial Officer and 4 other roles to cut building heating GHGs. Thrilling is looking for a Head of Marketing to drive down GHGs from clothing by getting more people to shop vintage and secondhand. There are over 500 more opportunities to work on climate and cities with our portfolio companies. If you’re a startup, there are open opportunities to work with SAP.io, ProspectSV, US DOE, and Covetool. UU News We're excited about our latest investments. Waste*development is building next-generation sanitation reducing energy use as well as synthetic fertilizers. Plentify accelerates the use of renewables by coordinating home appliances with the grid. Climatebase is building the best place for climate careers. Partsimony helps manufacturers build more resilient, sustainable supply chains. Phuc Labs has created a digital water filter, enabling new types of separation and sorting, without physical filters. Finally, we can now claim athletic and horticultural achievement as part of our culture. Please help us in welcoming Ashtynn and Yana to the team.
Edited by: Stonly With support from Shilpi, Liz, Shaun, Mark, Zeev, Ashtynn, Yana and Anthony
How did we create this update? 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. You can find our previous updates here.
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