👀 118 climate tech startups to watch
Your 3-minute summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.
Good morning, folks.
In today’s 3-minute read, we’ll cover these delicious nuggets:
🎤 3 climate podcasts for you. From me.
🌤️ 56 early-stage climate startups to Google.
🏆 62 world-changing companies tackling the climate crisis.
💸 My two-week course on raising capital for climate tech startups.
🏀 Can you jump 44 inches into the air and dunk a basketball?
Enjoy.
Chris
🎤 3 climate podcasts for you. From me.
Check out these serial entrepreneurs, sustainability experts, and carbon-negative market makers.
Shopify is a leading global e-commerce platform where "millions of the world's most successful brands sell, ship, and process payments anywhere." Nearly 600M shoppers made a purchase from a Shopify merchant in 2021, and around $496B has been sold on Shopify by merchants to date.
Stacy Kauk is the Head of Sustainability and formerly Head of Ozone Protection and Head of Chemicals Management at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
She plays leadership roles in the $32M they've invested to support carbon-negative companies through their Sustainability Fund, and the new $925M commitment from Shopify, Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, and McKinsey Sustainability to do the same over ten years in the Frontier Fund.
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Cemvita Factory is reimagining heavy industries for the net-zero economy via a portfolio of nature-inspired microbial solutions for the oil and gas and mining. Their work focuses on carbon-negative biomanufacturing, biomining, and subsurface biomanufacturing.
Moji is the Cofounder and CEO, as well as a carbon-negative entrepreneur and a technology futurist. His mission is to create a sustainable future where humans have applied technology to balance the rate of climate change. A future where humans live in harmony with nature. As an operator, he has a track record of taking a range of multidisciplinary ideas to market.
He started the company with his sister, Dr. Tara Kojimi, who has devoted her academic and professional careers to studying biological systems and applying natural principles in the service of creating biologically-inspired technology.
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Sustain.Life is a software solution that futureproofs mid-cap businesses tackling climate change. This includes the following benefits: (1) measure, track, and manage carbon emissions, (2) identify areas to make operational changes that reduce emissions and offset the rest, and (3) leveraging tools and reports to engage suppliers, employees, customers, and other key stakeholders.
Mike Hanrahan is the Co-founder, Interim CEO, and Board Member. He is also the CEO of 4Sided, a firm that builds SaaS companies; former Co-founder of Jet.com; and former CEO of Intelligent Retail Lab at Walmart.
Alyssa (Zucker) Rade is the Chief Sustainability Officer. She was formerly Director of Sustainability for Vornado Realty Trust and Environmental Designer at Atelier Ten.
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Listen to the podcasts here:
🌤️ 56 early-stage climate startups to Google.
The Diamond List is now out.
It is an Airtable of select climate startups that have been nominated by qualified climate investors.
And most have been overlooked by VC investors because they are too early.
Below is a teaser for this list.
Access the full list here.
For background:
“We modeled Diamond List after Hollywood’s Black List for under-the-radar screenplays.
Since 2005, the Black List has uncovered hidden gems such as ‘Argo’, ‘Juno’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, and ‘The King’s Speech.’
Black List films have grossed over $25 billion and have been nominated for over 240 Academy Awards, winning more than 45.”
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Shout out to the Diamond List creators:
Olya Irzak - CEO of Frost Methane; Previously at Zola Electric, Google X, and Google Energy
Cassandra Xia - Head of Engineering at Evergrow, Former software engineer at Google, Cofounder of workonclimate.org
Zeina Fayyaz Kim - Operating Partner at Climate Capital Collective (C3), Head of Strategy & Programs at The Plant (a global home for climate solutions)
Jeremy Brewer - Impact investor who previously helped lead investments for the Google alumni community, a PE firm, and a family office
🏆 62 world-changing companies tackling the climate crisis.
Here’s another list of climate startups to watch.
But most of these are a little further along regarding customers, capital raised, etc.
Below are teasers from Fast Company.
Here’s the full list.
💸 My two-week course on raising capital for climate tech startups.
Do you want to join 24 other current and future entrepreneurs for a live, cohort-based course with me?
Come on, I know you do.
Just give in to the temptation.
The details:
“Fund Your Climate Tech Startup”
June 1 to 14 = Class time
May 25 = Deadline to enroll
Capital raising is confusing.
And time-consuming.
So…
Take this course to leapfrog common mistakes and partner with the right investors to avoid $100,000+ in opportunity costs.
You can't afford that risk.
And the planet can't either. 🌎
Enroll here.*
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* By joining this first cohort, you’ll be extra smart. Because you’ll save money, too. If I teach this again, the course price will be higher. 😇
🏀 Can you jump 44 inches into the air and dunk a basketball?
No?
Me neither.
But Ja Morant can.*
Who’s that?
A high-flying NBA basketball pro that my boys and I like.
Watch him fly here.
Even if you think b-ball is boring, you’ll like this.
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So why am I talking about this?
It’s all about playing to your strengths, instead of trying to improve your weaknesses.
If you want to be reminded of your strengths…
Here are two books (including 20-30 minute tests) that are worth your time.
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I’ve used both.
And when I got the results, it was like someone had been screening my emails and phone calls.
Spot. On.
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* For comparison, the average NBA player can only jump 28 inches.
That’s all, y’all.
Make it a great week, because it’s usually a choice.
— Chris
Dr. Chris Wedding
Entrepreneurs for Impact
“The only mastermind peer group for growth-stage CEOs, founders, and investors tackling climate change”