Issue #34 [Special Pre-Seed]: Climate investment for everyone / Sorting out textile waste / Play-to-earn natural capital app
Climatize connects retail investors to a marketplace of climate projects / Sortile provides sorting and management solutions for textile waste / Sādu rewards healthy behaviors
ClimateRaise is a newsletter for our network that showcases early-stage climate startups led by women, non-binary and gender non-conforming founders, and connects them with climate ecosystem partners. The newsletter is short and to the point. We want to provide you with useful information, not flood your inbox with yet another lengthy publication.
How it works:
🔎 We find vetted, women-led climate startups.
📝 Our biweekly newsletter then highlights a diverse selection of those startups
🔗 We give you the opportunity to opt-in for 1:1 introductions to the featured founders!
Missed the last issue with Thermulon, Conscious Container and Intention? Check out how these companies create the infrastructure for the circular economy, bring to market affordable insulation materials for all buildings, and democratize green investments. Read more here and request an introduction here.
Featured Companies
Climatize Earth
Climatize is a mobile app that enables individuals & organizations to donate to solar & energy efficiency projects starting from as little as $5. They are currently supporting two solar projects for low & very income families in the Bay Area: Solar For All with Grid Alternatives & Powering Homes, Empowering Communities with Community Services Development Corporation in San Benito County.
*All donation options are operated by Climatize Earth Inc.When someone donates, they are typically looking to support a project without looking for a return. As with any donation, once the money is donated, donors cannot change or take back their donation.
Co-Founder & CEO: William Wiseman
Co-Founder & CSO: Alba Forns
HQ: Santa Cruz, CA
Stage: Pre-Seed
Sortile
Sortile provides sorting and management solutions for textile waste. The company currently provides a low-cost sorting device for textile sorters that can easily identify the fiber composition of an item so that it can be sold to fiber-to-fiber recyclers. Additionally, they provide textile sorters with a data visualization tool that allows them to see their processing rates, data about the sorted items, and more.
Sortile currently has five customers, including Goodwill, participating in beta programs. So far, Sortile’s beta customers were able to triple the volume they were previously processing. The company was the winner of the GreenBiz's Accelerate at Circularity 22 and the Latinas in Tech StartUp Competition.
Co-Founder & CEO: Constanza Gomez
Co-Founder & COO: Agustina Mir
Co-Founder & CTO: Florencia Valladares
HQ: New York
Stage: Pre-Seed
Company Ask: Connections in the fiber-to-fiber recycling industry are always appreciated. Additionally, they are currently looking to hire a data scientist to join their team.
Sādu
Sādu is a play-to-earn mobile app for nature-based carbon removal. With Sādu, people and companies can reduce their footprint and gain access to the nature-based carbon removal market. Users can sync their health app or fitness tracker. With Sādu, and are rewarded for committing to a sustainable lifestyle with a collection of eco-friendly NFTs. Every earned reward guarantees funding to an ecosystem restoration project. Sādu app launched in July 2021, and the first set of digital assets (NFTs) backed by Living Trees will launch next week. Since launch, users have collectively participated in over 248 Crew Challenges either as individuals or with their employer.
Co-Founder & CEO: Brittany Salas
HQ: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Stage: Pre-seed
Company Ask: If you are a team manager and need an easy to implement community building solution, with an emphasis on environmental sustainability, reach out to them! They are also on discord where they chat about the intersection of web3 and climate.
Bonus: Events, Content & Community Highlights
Startup Challenges
FinTech for Tomorrow Challenge: Calling all green finance startups based or looking to expand their presence in Europe
Finance for Tomorrow announced the launch of the 5th edition of its Fintech for Tomorrow Challenge, the reference call for projects to support and promote green and sustainable fintechs.
This year also includes a Diversity & Inclusion prize for companies fostering social inclusion within the financial sector or that come from entrepreneurs from all backgrounds. Laureates will earn €16 000 and other benefits.
Apply here before September 15th, 2022.
Community highlights
VAPAR Announces Closing of Seed Round
Congrats Amanda Siqueira, CEO, and Michelle Aguilar, CTO, of VAPAR for closing their seed round! VAPAR was featured in issue #28 of ClimateRaise which led to an additional investor chipping into the round.
The Australian AI-based stormwater and sewerage pipeline maintenance software company announced it has raised AUD$2,500,000 in seed funding to lead its expansion into global markets. Founded at the beginning of 2018, VAPAR started with a vision to help utilities eliminate unexpected pipe failures by building a data-driven way of implementing pipe maintenance and rehabilitation.
Green Steel, now Limelight Steel, Joined the Activate 22 Cohort
Limelight Steel, fka Green Steel, announced they are now Activate fellows. Limelight Steel produces zero-emissions steel while using 40 percent less energy than any other technology. Its mission is to eliminate fossil fuels from steelmaking, which currently contributes over 7 percent of global CO₂ emissions, by providing clean industrial heat specifically tuned for iron ore. Congrats Andy Zhao and Olivia Dippo!
Content we 💚
Making Prize Competitions Work for your Climate Startup
While prizes can seem like an attractive non-dilutive funding source, the competition process itself is often onerous, highly competitive, and can be difficult to navigate over the typical multi-year process. Enduring Planet sat down with Zenia Tata, Chief Impact Officer at XPrize and innovation strategist, to dig into the challenges and benefits of incentivized prize competitions.
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