🪷Issue #51: Climate-ratings for consumer investing, Diverting textiles from landfill, Algae-shells for personal care products
Meet the new members of the ClimateRaise team. See you in San Francisco!
Welcome back!
ClimateRaise showcases early-stage climate startups led by all women and non-binary founders, and connects them with investors and climate ecosystem partners through warm introductions.
How it works:
🔎 We find vetted, actively raising women-led climate startups.
📝 Our biweekly newsletter then highlights a diverse selection of those startups.
🔗 We introduce investors, ecosystem partners and fellow founders to the featured founders.
📩 Submit companies, opportunities and resources (or say hi!) for the newsletter here.
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Welcome to our new team members!
We are excited to officially welcome our new team members. Priya Parkash, Natalie Geise, Ratnika Prasad, and Marcella Muse are joining Charlotte Mallo as Directors. Vicky Regan is joining the team as a fellow all the way from London! This opens a new chapter of growth for ClimateRaise as we look forward to supporting more founders and investors to diversify climate-tech.
ICYMI - They are still raising
Planet conscious snacks company West~bourne led by Camilla Marcus and Rishi Das
Methane capture Bluemethane, led by Louise Parlons Bentata and Nestor Rueda-Vallejo
Waste heat recovery company Kanin Energy, led by Janice Tran and Jake Bainbridge
Request an introduction to the companies by filling this form.
Featured companies
*Featured companies are actively raising.
Swedish Algae Factory
#️⃣ Biomaterials, Circularity
Swedish Algae Factory cultivates a type of microalgae - diatoms - and extracts their nanoporous silica shells. This material has unique light manipulating, absorbing, releasing and blocking properties that are unmatched by synthetic alternatives. The company is branding this material under the name Algica, which is today sold in the personal care industry where it replaces hazardous chemicals. Algica is also tested together with commercial actors for efficiency enhancements of solar panels and capacity improvements of batteries with good initial results.
They have 35 current customers and 320 actors are at the moment testing Algica in their personal care formulations. The limiting factor for growth has been production capacity. In Q1 2023, they started operations in their first larger plant, to supply in relation to the growing demand.
Co-Founder & CEO: Sofie Allert
Co-Founder & CTO: Angela Wulff
HQ: Gothenburg, SE
Current funding stage: Series A
GreenPortfolio
#️⃣Products & Services, Fintech
GreenPortfolio’s climate-first ratings engine and platform enables millennials and Gen Z to align their investing and banking decisions with climate impact. They’re replacing a research process that is extremely time consuming, confusing, and plagued with greenwashing - there are no curated solutions for younger audiences. Today, GreenPortfolio’s proprietary algorithm provides portfolio analysis and product suggestions directly to consumers, but B2B licensing will allow them to scale to decarbonize $4 trillion in retail financial assets.
The company joined R/GA Ventures’ Future Climate Venture Studio. They reviewed over 10,400 stocks, funds, and banks, which they rated for climate impact. They expect to launch their beta platform in April.
Co-Founder & CEO: Bonnie Gurry
Co-Founder & COO: Elizabeth Landau
HQ: New York, NY
Current funding stage: Pre-Seed
Company Asks: GreenPortfolio would like to connect with companies looking for consumer-friendly, climate-first ratings of financial products. They're also looking for intros to business analysts and data scientists.
Beni
#️⃣Circular Economy
The Beni browser extension instantly shows users the best resale listings from 30+ resale marketplaces while they shop their favorite brands online. Beni welcomes shoppers to the world of re-commerce by making it easier to find and buy secondhand apparel and accessories.
With over 6000 total users, Beni has seen 30% growth since YE 2022 through organic channels only. They have 40 partners (with 11 new since January) including Poshmark, Rebag, and Worn Wear/Patagonia, Swoondle (kids), SidelineSwap, and Out&Back. They have 200mln+ products in their database, the largest aggregated database of online resale.
Co-Founder & CEO: Sarah Pinner
Co-Founder & CTO: Celine Mol
HQ: Santa Barbara, CA
Current funding stage: Seed
Company Asks: They want to support resale marketplaces big and small - if you are involved in the resale space, please let the Beni team know at partnerships@joinbeni.com
Resources for founders
📅 ClimateRaise Events
ClimateRaise at SF Climate Week - April 21st Join the ClimateRaise community at our event during San Francisco Climate Week, April 17-23! SFCW is a week-long series of over 50 events happening in the Bay Area, gathering diverse climate organizations, leaders, and the broader community working at the intersection of climate action and innovation. Join us at our event, The ClimateRaise Community Meetup to connect with founders and investors from diverse backgrounds.
What makes a good pitch? Mai Ly, investor at Collab Fund answers all your questions on how to best prepare for a raise, and how to pitch to investors. Pre-seed, Seed and Series A climate-tech founders are welcome. Please submit your questions in advance and sign up here.
🫶 Networks
StartOut accelerates the growth of the LGBTQ+ community to drive its economic empowerment, building a world where every LGBTQ+ entrepreneur has equal access to lead, succeed, and shape the workforce of the future. They are a community of over 25,000 and serve 450+ individual founders each year through our programs. Learn more.
🤑Funding
StartOut's Access to Capital program sends daily signals and monthly reports to our Investor Community whose thesis and preferences match founder’s startups. They have over 300 investors in their network and in 2022 made over 287 introductions. To get started, fill out an application for their Founders Program.
Opportunities
Grantham Environmental Associates (GEA) is looking for an extraordinary individual to join their team. The position is a core role in supporting their grant-making programs. GEA is the support organization for both the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment and the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust.
Thanks!
~Charlotte and Ratnika
ClimateRaise resources
📅 Check out our (new) event calendar.
📚Read our past issues.
💡Consult the list of previously featured companies.
🤝 Request warm introductions to featured companies.
💽 Request access to the 500+ climate tech ecosystem players database.
🙋 Forward this email to a founder to get them featured.
📣 Enjoying ClimateRaise? Share our newsletter with your network!
Disclaimer: Please note the information contained on this website and provided in any form does not recommend the purchase or sale of any security nor is it to be construed as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Furthermore, the information contained on this website and provided by ClimateRaise in any form is not intended to be, nor should it be construed or used as investment, tax, or legal advice. The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon to make any investment decisions. ClimateRaise is an independent organization and is not affiliated in any way with any other organization, including but not limited to the employers or affiliates of its founders.
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