👑 Oh, those silly billionaires
Plus, 2 new climate podcasts, 17 minerals needed for clean energy, fintech is 20% of all unicorns, 5 agtech and foodtech deals, and Stillness is the Key (book).
Good morning, folks.
As I write this, it’s Valentine’s Day.
Accordingly, I would LOVE to hear from you. (I know, I know…)
Here’s your question:
How soon will big renewable energy project developers and asset owners view green hydrogen and carbon capture as sectors worthy of billions of infrastructure dollars — not just venture capital or corporate VC capital?
Shout out to Casey and Sophie in London for this inspiration.
Cheers,
Chris
🎤 Two podcasts — ArcTern Ventures (venture capital)+ TS Conductor (VC-backed transmission line tech)
I think you’ll enjoy these two recent podcasts from Entrepreneurs for Impact.
Give them some love — share their stories. #ClimateKarma
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Co-led by Cofounder and Managing Director, Murray McCraig, ArcTern Ventures is an earthtech venture capital firm investing to solve humanity’s greatest challenges — climate change and sustainability — since 2012.
Sample portfolio companies include Palmetto (residential clean tech sales platform), SPAN (smart electric panels for homes), Mighty Buildings (3D printed structures), Carbon America (carbon capture), Mosa Meat (cultured meat), Hydrostor (advanced compressed air energy storage), Emitwise (automated carbon accounting), Zoomo (subscription utility e-bikes), and more.
Check out their full investment porfolio here.
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Led by CEO and Cofounder, Dr. Jason Huang, TS Conductor provides smarter power transmission lines that provide safety, reliability, and longevity, all while doubling ampacity over conventional power lines and reducing line power loss by 40%.
Their tech solves sag issues caused by heat, ice, stresses, and long spans in large conductors, while reducing costs in fitting and installation.
Sample investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, National Grid Partners, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Talkot, and Hervé Touati.
Read the summary interview transcripts:
Listen to the podcasts:
📈 Fintech = 20% of all unicorns
Which sector is next in line for the most unicorns?
Software and services = 18%
Commerce & direct-to-consumer = 11%
So, if you’re launching a climate startup — and are eager to donate millions of dollars after you sell your company — then maybe you could consider these types of businesses for your opportunity set.
For more juicy nuggets, check out this report from CB Insights — 1,000 Unicorns: Global Billion-Dollar Private Companies Hit A Four-Digit Milestone.
🌿 $57M for alternative protein — Black soldier flies to the rescue.
Shout out to AgFunder for their awesome roundup of food and agriculture financings and related headlines.
Here are a few that screamed of climate solutions.
“Insect protein startup Protix raises $57 million. Proceeds will go towards further international expansion and R&D for the company, which produces ingredients from black soldier flies. (Protix)
Grocery startup Zero bags $11.8 million. The seed funding will go towards expansion of the startup’s two-hour “eco-delivery” service that drops off groceries in plastic-free containers. (TechCrunch) — And click here to listen to my interview with Zero’s CEO Zuleyka Strasner on the Entrepreneurs for Impact podcast.
Splendid Spoon raises $12 million in Series B funds. The new round will allow Splendid Spoon to scale its core product line of plant-based bowls, soups, and smoothies. (Splendid Spoon)
Sistema.bio closes over $15 million in Series B financing to scale clean energy tech for farmers. The company, which provides biodigesters that convert waste into energy, operates in Mexico, Colombia, Kenya, and India. (Sistema.bio)
ADM and InnovaFeed enter insect protein partnership. The Paris-based startup will supply its black soldier fly protein to ADM’s pet foods division. (AFN)
Cultivated meat included under China’s Five-Year Plan for the first time. A policy document published by the country’s agriculture ministry also highlights synthetic egg analogs and recombinant proteins as specific areas of interest. (AFN)”
⛰️ Are there enough? — 17 minerals needed for the energy transition.
Why does this matter?
As David Roberts at Canary Media writes:
“Clean-energy technologies are more minerals-intensive to build than their fossil-fuel counterparts.
Mining and processing of those minerals are geographically concentrated, often in countries with weak labor and environmental protections.
Mineral mines and processing facilities often pollute water, scar landscapes and impoverish communities.
Production may not be able to expand fast enough to keep up with demand, which could cause supply constrictions and price fluctuations and slow the transition away from fossil fuels.”
Which minerals are we talking about?
(Source: World Bank)
Now let’s throw in some geopolitics and supply chain concerns…
Check this out from the National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries via the US Department of Energy.
US lithium resources and manufacturing capacity are paltry.
Yikes. We have work to do. Recycling to the rescue?
🤫 Book — Stillness Is the Key
I recently finished this book by Ryan Holiday and thought you might like it.
While Ryan’s ten books have sold more than 2 million copies in thirty languages, and his Daily Stoic email has a gazillion subscribers, here’s the real important stuff.
He breaks up his writing amongst raising cattle, donkeys, goats, and a family on a ranch outside of Austin, Texas. As Shawn Blanc says:
“If you work with your head, rest with your hands.”
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Here are some excerpts…
“Build a life you don't need to escape from [with vacation, excess partying, etc.]”
“All of humanity’s problems,” Blaise Pascal said in 1654, “stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
“Most of us would be seized with fear if our bodies went numb, and would do everything possible to avoid it, yet we take no interest at all in the numbing of our souls. — Epictetus”
“How different would the world look if people spent as much time listening to their conscience as they did to chattering broadcasts [and social media feeds]? If they could respond to the calls of their convictions as quickly as we answer the dings and rings of technology in our pockets?”
“To have an impulse and to resist it, to sit with it and examine it, to let it pass by like a bad smell—this is how we develop spiritual strength. This is how we become who we want to be in this world.”
“We have to do the kind of thinking that 99 percent of the population is just not doing, and we have to stop doing the destructive thinking that they spend 99 percent of their time doing.”
“The need for progress can be the enemy of enjoying the process.”
🤴 Billionaires are silly.
Instead of aiming to be the typical financial billionaire, Shaan Puri — cohost of the My First Million podcast — suggests that we aim to be a Help Billionaire or a Time Billionaire.
Much better goals.
Here’s his tweet — from a longer and enticing thread entitled “A few semi-controversial things I believe.”
That’s all, y’all.
Make it a great week, because it’s usually a choice.
— Chris
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Dr. Chris Wedding
Founder and Chief Catalyst, Entrepreneurs for Impact
The Only Private Executive Mastermind Community for CEOs, Founders, and Investors Fighting Climate Change