Get Your Idea Off the Ground

The goal of Venture For ClimateTech is to accelerate innovations likely to have substantial climate impacts for all, and which have potential for adoption in NYS. In particular, we want to offer a path to help entrepreneurs whose highly impactful innovations face unique barriers to commercialization through normal processes due to long paths to market and high capital intensity, along with other more traditional startups.

Venture For ClimateTech is designed to help you quickly and effectively address the biggest risks in launching your venture. It’s a three-phase, 30-week program that seeks to help you build the team, knowledge, and personal network you need to succeed, while providing the capital, community, access to talent, and connections to make the journey faster and smoother.

We broadly are interested in companies developing technologies which have the potential to substantially reduce GHG emissions globally, and in the state of New York in particular. This often means technologies related to transportation, built environment, energy grid, energy storage, energy generation, or more broadly climate tech. We support software, hardware, and business model innovations.

We work with early-stage entrepreneurs and solo founders, some of whom will not yet have formed a legal entity. We are looking for pre-seed, meaning you may have raised money through grants but no significant amount from institutional investors. We are happy to have a conversation about other resources in our ecosystem which might be appropriate, or whether you might be a fit for our Scale For ClimateTech program! So don’t be shy, we are here to help!

We can work with companies located anywhere in the world, but we do want the technology to have potential applications in New York State.

Applications for the first Venture For ClimateTech cohort are open from through March 12, 2021. Click here to apply.

The top candidates for the program will be invited to a bootcamp the week of April 5th, and will then make a pitch to the selection committee the week of April 12th. The cohort will be announced on April 22nd.

The program will run for 30 weeks from April 26th – November 12th.

This is a part-time program spread over several months. It’s meant to help you launch, but not to take away your ability to make ends meet. Some weeks will be more intense than others, particularly at the beginning of the program, but you can expect to spend about 10-15 hours a week on your company through the program.

Applications are now being accepted for cohort 1, closing March 12, 2021. You can apply by following the link here.

Startups will be evaluated on the following criteria: 

• The potential carbon equivalent reduction impact of the technology or service
• The business opportunity makes sense, is substantial, and there is evidence of market interest 
• The founder or founding team is sharp, motivated, self-aware, and coachable
• The company is of an appropriate stage, and is positioned to benefit substantially from participation in the program
• The startup product or service has a clear fit with the NYS ecosystem, in terms of having the opportunity for a presence, partnerships, or a market within the stage 
• The solution addresses and/or involves underserved communities in development or application

Participation in Venture For ClimateTech will require 10-15 hours a week, which includes instructional and mentoring time, and time working on your company. You can participate concurrently in other accelerator or incubation programming outside of Venture For ClimateTech; however, we ask that you dedicate the necessary time to fulfill the requirements of this opportunity.