A Full Harvest of Opportunities for Climate Tech Teams
Welcome to For ClimateTalk – For ClimateTech’s monthly newsletter highlighting upcoming opportunities for climate innovators, thought leaders, and community connectors.
Scale For ClimateTech Applications Now Open
Are you a climate tech innovator looking to commercialize your hardware product? Apply to be considered for a spot in Cohort 5 of the Scale For ClimateTech (S4C) program. Participating innovators receive dedicated support throughout their manufacturing process in order to gain confidence in their path to market and in scaling up production to meet demand. This includes receiving programmatic resources such as:
- Manufacturing education
- Access to manufacturing resources
- Tools and templates
- Technical support
- Facilitated matchmaking with vendors within the climate tech ecosystem who are willing to work with early-stage companies
Click the link (here) to learn more about how to apply! Applications close on Dec. 4, 2023, so don’t delay!
Find Funding
Application Period for Breakthrough Energy Fellows has Been Extended
The Breakthrough Energy Fellows program supports the best and brightest innovators working to develop, scale, and commercialize technologies that have the potential to reduce carbon emissions by at least 500 million tons per year by 2050. There are many pathways to choose from. Access the Innovator, Business Fellows, and Explorers applications here.
Applications are due November 22, 2023 at 11:50 PM EST.
Chloe Capital Founder Fellowship is Now Accepting Applications
Chloe Capital’s Founder Fellowship is open to any applicant who resides in New York City, including those led by founders from underrepresented backgrounds. They are specifically seeking companies building innovative tech solutions in the climate, education, or health sectors. The program includes funding opportunities, peer-to-peer and expert mentoring and coaching, investor connections, networking, and educational programming delivered through virtual and in-person sessions.
Learn more and apply here by December 5, 2023.
Cohort News
RainStick Makes TIME’s Best Inventions of 2023 List
Late October, TIME revealed its annual Best Inventions list featuring 200 extraordinary innovations that people should be aware of and purchasing. RainStick was selected under the reuse and recycle category. Rainstick addresses the pressing issues of water and energy conservation across North America, offering 80% water savings, up to 80% energy savings, and 2x the standard water flow rate.
See the full list here.
Hydronic Shell Technologies Wins $3 Million Grant to Build Revitalizing Syracuse Multifamily Building
Enterprise Community Partners and the Wells Fargo Foundation awarded Hydronic Shell Technologies $3 Million as a winner of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge–a national competition to find and seed innovative housing solutions. The funding will go towards its first demonstration pilot in Syracuse, New York, where they will build out their external retrofit system on a seven-story multifamily building. This project is in partnership with Cycle Architecture + Planning, Syracuse Housing Authority, and BlocPower.
Read the full release here.
Ashlawn Energy Wins Grand Prize at NYS Fuzehub Competition
This year, Ashlawn Energy from Cohort 4 of Scale For ClimateTech, took home the grand prize of $150,000 at FuzeHub’s Commercialization Competition. Ashlawn produces vanadium flow battery systems that store power at off-peak times for use during peak energy usage times. Twelve other New York based startups pitched at the competition to a panel of four expert judges, which awarded a total of $450,000 in prizes. Ashlawn plans to use the award money to obtain an automated manufacturing process and speed up assembly times for the production of its batteries.
Read the full story here.
CLIP Raises $2.8 Million Seed Round to Make E-Bikes More Accessible
CLIP, a Brooklyn-based clean mobility company, closed its $2.8 Million seed round at the beginning of the month. It also announced a new partnership with Motovolt Mobility Pvt. Ltd., a global EV manufacturer. The round and new partnership will help CLIP further scale its operations and manufacturing, and pilot a new concept in India that will provide affordable mobility to emerging economies across the world CLIP was a TIME Best Invention winner of 2020.
Read the full story here.
Get to Know Hydronic Shell on Forward Faster’s Newest Episode
Heating and cooling old buildings is one of the largest emitters when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. Hydronic Shell is addressing these older buildings head-on with its patented HVAC technology for decarbonizing multifamily buildings in a way that’s cost effective and non invasive. Hear directly from CEO David Goldstein in the latest podcast.
Tune in to the full episode here.
Supply Chain Network News
Introducing our newest section, Supply Chain Network News, where we highlight and share trends, events, and opportunities for manufacturers, along with stories of how our partners across the ecosystem are working with innovators to bring emerging technologies to market..
ReTool WNY is Empowering a Climate Tech Manufacturing Community in Western New York
Retool WNY, a collaboration of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and regional organizations, works to raise awareness of economic opportunities for cleantech companies and encourage the development and expansion of climate technology related businesses in the Western New York region. Retool WNY is making connections to generate funding and resources for local manufacturers looking to explore climate tech. Retool works directly with GreenForce Training through Viridi Parente which addresses labor shortages that manufacturers face through providing supportive services and workforce training.
Founder Feature
Karen Baert| Co-Founder and CEO of Ammobia
What’s your elevator pitch?
Ammobia is on a mission to feed and fuel our decarbonized world with clean ammonia. We revolutionize ammonia synthesis by enabling cost-effective clean ammonia production. Our breakthrough technology enables ammonia production at 10x lower pressure than standard. This drastically reduces capex and production cost, and increases the flexibility and safety of ammonia production. Cost effective clean ammonia production will enable the decarbonization of a wide range of use-cases including fertilizers, chemicals, marine shipping and the power sector. Make sure to follow Ammobia’s LinkedIn page if you want to stay up to date on the latest and greatest at Ammobia.
What’s your motivation for your company?
I have always been focused on and fascinated by decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors. These “unsexy” industries where the options to decarbonize are limited. Clean ammonia is expected to play a major role in decarbonizing exactly these sectors. And yet today the traditional ammonia production process (Haber-Bosch) is incompatible with “clean”. At the same time the process hasn’t been truly disrupted for the last century. This realization is why, together with my co-founder Tristan Gilbert, we started Ammobia to develop Haber-Bosch 2.0 and revolutionize ammonia production.
What are your top 3 go-to places to learn what’s happening in the climate tech space?
- All the knowledgeable founders in the V4C community
- Shayle Kann’s podcast the Catalyst
- My own podcast on all things hydrogen (shameless plug, wink): The Stanford Hydrogen Innovators Podcast which can be found on Spotify and/or Apple Podcast.
Outside of work, what do you do for fun?
When I am not thinking about ammonia, you can find me on the water. I am an avid sailor and kitesurfer. Spending time on the ocean is where my passion for climate tech came from in my early teenage years. And still today, time on the ocean is humbling and brings perspective.
What lesson or piece of advice from your founder journey would you share with other founders?
The importance of staying focused on the long term goals without getting too hung up on the daily ups and downs. And to not get too excited when things go well, or too down when things go badly. Because it truly is a marathon (I’m still learning to get better at it – every day).
Program Update
Want To Become A Scale For ClimateTech Mentor?
Scale For ClimateTech connects experts with climate tech companies working on breakthrough technologies to save the planet. Our volunteer experts serve as mentors to help derisk these companies as they work to commercialize their products. Become a Scale for ClimateTech mentor and get matched with companies in need of your expertise! Desired fields of expertise include customer discovery, design for manufacturing, sourcing, supply chain, inventory management, engineering, and operations. In the process, they contribute to the important cause of reducing carbon emissions, while expanding their network and impact.
If you’re interested please apply to be a mentor here.
Venture For ClimateTech Takes on VERGE23
In October, the Venture For ClimateTech team traveled to the biggest climate tech conference in the country in San Jose to meet founders, old and new, and learn about the latest innovations in the industry. Scott Meyers, program manager for Venture For ClimateTech, wrote up his thoughts on the conference, along with his key takeaways from VERGE23.
Read Scott’s full blog post here.
Expert Spotlight: Devin Sandon
The For ClimateTech team thrives with a dedicated group of individuals who are fervently supporting the launch and rapid growth of climate solutions. We are highlighting our incredible team in our new series, starting with our operations guru and the go-to person for just about everything, Devin Sandon. See what fuels Devin, from club sports to climate technologies.
Find the full interview here.
Community
You could win $1M in 2024 – Apply to Luminate for your chance!
If you have a startup with a solution that’s enabled by optics, photonics, or imaging (OPI), you should look into Luminate. The international accelerator awards $3M+ in funding annually to companies developing emerging solutions in almost every industry, including climate tech, and participation is primarily remote.
Apply for a chance to receive comprehensive support, including:
- $100,000 investment at program acceptance, plus a chance to compete for $2M in follow-on funding
- Access to investors, a world-class advisory board, industry experts, and a vast OPI supply chain network that can help you scale your startup
- Mentoring, lab facilities, and resources that provide the specific business and technical support you need
Space is limited in this highly competitive program. Applications will be accepted until January 8, 2024. Apply now, or register for a free info session to learn more.