Climate Tech Wins to Kick-off Fall
Welcome to For ClimateTalk – For ClimateTech’s monthly newsletter highlighting upcoming opportunities for climate innovators, thought leaders, and community connectors.
The Innovation Showcase Success at NYC Climate Week
The Venture For ClimateTech teams came together for the Innovation Showcase at Indie Bio in New York where they pitched their innovations to over 75 VCs and investors. The keynote speaker, Assembly Member Emily Gallagher for New York’s 50th District, continued to show her support for initiatives that are leading to emission reductions and environmental justice by opening up the floor to the startups. Phase II of the Venture For ClimateTech program culminated with the Showcase, and now the teams are moving on to Phase III where they’ll focus on fundraising and pitching to additional investor groups to reach their ultimate goal of scaling their climate solutions and businesses.
Find Funding
The Manufacture of Advanced Key Energy Infrastructure Technologies (MAKE IT) Prize, through the American-Made Challenges, will offer approximately $30 million in total funding through two tracks: the Strategies Track and the Facilities Track.
The Strategies Track seeks to promote interest and engagement in clean energy technology manufacturing, particularly within disadvantaged communities.
The Facilities Track aims to accelerate the development of manufacturing plants by moving manufacturing facilities from planning to shovel-ready.
The phase 1 deadline for applications is on October 18. Learn more and apply here
Last call to apply for funding from NYSERDA’s NextGen Buildings Innovation Challenges program, PON 3519!
For Round 7 of this solicitation, up to $18 million may be available for projects that target the following topics of interest:
- Building Envelope Systems and Components – Solutions for single-family and multifamily buildings that will substantially reduce heating and cooling costs, increase comfort, and modernize facades by introducing new materials and construction techniques.
- Ground Source Heat Pump Cost Compression – Solutions for residential and commercial buildings that reduce the system installation cost by 20% or greater through new heat pump equipment, ground loop technologies, and hybrid systems.
- Intelligent Buildings – Solutions for residential and commercial buildings that enable electrification without electric service upgrades, connect legacy and siloed energy systems, and maintain residents’ desired comfort, while minimizing the building’s peak electricity demand, emissions, and impact on the grid.
- Thermal Storage – Solutions for residential and commercial buildings that integrate thermal storage with HVAC equipment to provide space conditioning as a single functional system and to reduce overall heating peak loads.
Applications are due on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at 3:00 PM EDT. Learn more and get started here.
Cohort News
Cascade Biocatalysts Secures $2.6M in Pre-Seed Round to Scale Enzymes for Biomanufacturing
Cascade Biocatalysts, a biomanufacturing company catalyzing green chemistry, raised an oversubscribed $2.6M pre-seed round led by Ten VC, with participation from Amplify.LA, Boost VC, Range Ventures, Spacecadet, and the Cool Climate Collective. Cascade aims to use the raised funds to scale its impact from the lab bench to pilot scale, and to support its initial wave of customers.
Read the full press release here.
FLUIX Inc. Accepted into Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Labs
From over 7900 applicants, FLUIX Inc. was 1 of 23 startups selected to join the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Venture Labs accelerator from across North America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Companies in the cohort receive $250,000 investment from Morgan Stanley in addition to participation in the five-month accelerator for underrepresented founders of technology startups.
Read the full announcement here.
Holocene Secures First-Ever Carbon Removal Purchase Agreement Via Frontier Climate, a Group Spearheaded by Stripe, Shopify, and H&M.
Holocene is one of 12 companies that Frontier Climate facilitated $7M of carbon removal purchases on behalf of Stripe, Shopify, and H&M Group. Holocene participated in Cohort 2 of Venture For ClimateTech and captures CO2 from air using organic molecules that can be produced at low cost. Frontier is a public benefit company that advances market commitments to accelerate carbon removal through yearly cohorts. The companies Frontier selected were from a pool of 132 applications that detailed carbon removal projects for this fall’s annual purchase cycle.
Read more about the agreement on CNBC, Bloomberg, or Frontier Climate’s Release.
Pvilion Becomes Eligible for Sole-Source Phase III Contracts from Any Federal Agency
Pvilion has become eligible for Sole-Source Phase III contracts alongside the work it has been conducting across government agencies in support of recent disaster relief and efforts in Ukraine. They’ve provided demonstrations at Joint Base Elmednorf-Richardson and at Cooperación IX Perú, a multinational Air Force exercise, on behalf of the US Air Force, where airmen used Pvilion Solar Power Integrated Structures.
Read more about Pvilion’s defense work here.
Acuicy Featured in Entrevestor for Using AI to Help Reduce Organizational GHG Emissions
Acuicy, Cohort 3 member of Venture For ClimateTech and designer of the AI business intelligence tool to generate tailored carbon reduction solutions, was featured in Entrevestor’s latest writeup. The story covers the team’s work in demonstrating its technology and next steps for the company.
Read the full story here.
WeRadiate LLC Introduces Dual Temperature Sensor™ for Composting Operations
WeRadiate has released its latest innovation, the Dual Temperature Sensor™, a unique digitally-controlled remote monitoring system to track compost health. The dual temperature sensor harnesses technology and data analytics remotely to assist operators to make real-time decisions. The solution empowers composting operations, improves profitability, and ensures regulatory compliance–a growing need to use or sell the compost for soil amendment.
Read the full announcement here.
Founder Feature
Jeff Prosserman | Founder and CEO of Voltpost
What’s your elevator pitch?
Cascade catalyzes greener chemical manufacturing by making enzymes more affordable in industrial settings. Currently, the chemicals industry produces three gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions, which we can lower by leveraging nature’s catalysts. My co-founder invented our patent-pending Body Armor for Enzymes™ which improves performance and lowers costs across industry verticals, from breaking down plastics to wastewater treatment to capturing carbon (which enzymes have been doing for billions of years).
What’s your motivation for your company?
Thanks to advances in biotechnology, we have an improved understanding of how nature manufactures the molecules all around us, creating what we see, smell, and taste from renewable resources. But billions of dollars have gone into unsuccessful companies trying to engineer biology including Zymergen, where I was at for four years before Cascade. I leveraged my learnings from there to build Cascade around a more scalable technology and a more diversified product portfolio.
What are your top 3 go-to places to learn what’s happening in the climate tech space?
CTVC: Well organized data and coverage of climate startups
Keep Cool: Insightful deep dives into various parts of the climate world
SynBioBeta: More climate biotech oriented and super helpful for this emerging space
Outside of work, what do you do for fun?
I live in Brooklyn and can be found playing beach volleyball at Domino Park, mixing mezcal into new cocktails, and playing board games like Terraforming Mars. I always enjoy exploring more of the world, whether in person (I’m excited for an upcoming trip to Oaxaca) or even virtually through Geoguessr.
Do you have any advice for other founders on how to keep up with the mental stamina and demands of being a founder?
My favorite advice is to not take any advice. Everyone will have thoughts on what you should be doing, and the best advice I have gotten is to do none of it, just listen and understand where it comes from. Only you have the full picture of your business and vision. So build the company you believe should be built.
Program Update
Governor Hochul Announces Continuation of Scale For ClimateTech
SecondMuse was selected to be the next administrator of the Scale For ClimateTech program (formerly referred to as M-Corps), working with partner NextCorps. The contract was awarded after a competitive bid process. Scale For ClimateTech will continue to help entrepreneurs and startups by connecting them with resources, supply chain partners, and manufacturers. The program will be open to local and global companies with services available to all areas of New York State with an emphasis on prioritizing connections and opportunities in disadvantaged communities.
Read the full release here.Community
93rd NY Hardware Meetup @ Makelab | Climate Week Panel
Wednesday, September 20, 2023, 6:30 PM ET
Attend the next hardware meetup during ClimateWeek NYC for a panel discussion on best practices in sustainable and alternative models in hardware development and manufacturing. Sponsored by Scale For ClimateTech, this panel will be moderated by Shelby Thompson, Program Director, For ClimateTech.
RSVP here.
Opportunistic Sisterhood: Behind the Scenes and Beyond the Show
Tuesday, September 26, 2023, 6 – 9pm ET
Join the Women Who Hardware crew at Newlab as they welcome Netflix’s “Hack my Home” trailblazing stars Jessica Banks and Ati Williams. Jess and Ati are two of the four cohosts who dream up space-maximizing solutions and ingenious engineering ideas to transform families’ homes in inventive ways.
Learn more and register here.
Register to Watch Innovation Ignited at the Luminate Finals 2023
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
See emerging technologies, including climate tech, coming out of the world’s largest accelerator for startups working on technology enabled by optics, photonics, and imaging. Find out which companies take home more than $2 million in follow-on funding, and vote live for your favorite startup to help them take home $10K. The free event offers virtual or in-person attendance at The Theatre at Innovation Square from Rochester, NY.
Learn more and register here.
Battery & Energy Storage Supply Chain Webinar
Thursday, October 5, 2023 | 1:00-2:00 PM ET
On behalf of New Energy New York (NENY), NY-BEST, and Scale For ClimateTech Finger Lakes region manufacturers are invited to learn about opportunities to become involved with or expand in the Battery / Energy Storage Supply Chain.
Topics will include
- What is the scale of the growth opportunity for battery and energy storage manufacturing in the region?
- What types of companies / products are part of the supply chain?
- How can companies engage with the NENY Supply Chain team and capitalize on these opportunities?
- What resources are available to support companies and organizations around this opportunity?
Who should attend
- Finger Lakes region Manufacturers who are currently part of the Battery / Energy Storage Supply Chain
- Finger Lakes region Manufacturers who are interested in becoming part of the Battery / Energy Storage Supply Chain
This webinar will be recorded and attendees will receive a copy of the recording and slides following the event.
Learn more and register here.