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More than 100 venture capitalists said on Wednesday that they had pledged to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in November and had solicited donations for her presidential campaign, in a rejoinder to the splintering among tech leaders over whom to support in the election. The group includes Reid Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn; Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures; Mark Cuban, the former principal owner of the Dallas Mavericks; Ron Conway, a well-known angel investor; and the billionaire Chris Sacca. “We are pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship and pro-technological progress,” the group said in a statement posted to their website, VCsForKamala.org. “We also believe in democracy as the backbone of our nation.” The website asks people to sign a pledge to support Ms. Harris and another to donate to her campaign. The effort was buttressed by another group of tech entrepreneurs and workers called Tech For Kamala, which also wrote a letter this week expressing “enthusiastic and unwavering support for Vice President Harris.” The letter gathered more than 550 signatures in two days.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla, Mark Cuban, Ron Conway, Chris Sacca, “, Harris, ” Organizations: LinkedIn, Khosla Ventures, Dallas Mavericks, Tech, Kamala

☆ Exclusive: Biodiversity startup Dendra Systems has secured a $15.7 million Series B
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

British biodiversity startup Dendra Systems announced Wednesday it has raised a $15.76 million Series B, as investors continue to pour capital into climate tech. The $15.76 million Series B round was led by Zouk Capital, a London-based private equity firm that has previously backed climate-tech companies such as Green Hedge and Orb Energy. Dendra Systems previously raised $10 million Series A in 2020 from At One Ventures, Airbus Ventures, Future Positive Capital, Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital, and others. Climate tech proved to be more resilient than other sectors in a cool market in 2023, with European climate tech startups bucking the trend in declining investment and raising a collective $20 billion. Dendra Systems is among the first batch of European climate startups to get VC backing.

Persons: Susan Graham, Graham, Chris Sacca's Organizations: Systems, Zouk, Orb Energy, Aramco Ventures, Airbus Ventures, Understorey, Business, Tech News, Dendra, One Ventures, Positive, Natural Capital Research Locations: London, Rio Tinto, North America

☆ Climate tech startups Treefera, ReSeed, Vaulted Deep, and Skyqraft raised a combined $18.6 million this month. Check out the pitch decks they used to raise the funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Early-stage climate tech startups Treefera, ReSeed, Vaulted Deep, and Skyqraft have raised a collective $18.6 million in fresh funds this month. It can monitor tree health, carbon sequestration, and the likelihood of a forest fire or drought, which may put the project at risk, in "near-time." Check out the 21-slide redacted pitch deck they used to raise the funds below:ReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedReSeedCarbon sequestration company Vaulted Deep raised $8 millionVaulted Deep, a Texas-based carbon removal and sequestration company, raised an $8 million seed round from Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital. Vaulted Deep already has two injection sites, where waste is injected deep into the Earth. Check out the 11-slide pitch deck below:Vaulted DeepVaulted DeepVaulted DeepVaulted DeepVaulted DeepVaulted DeepVaulted DeepVaulted DeepVaulted DeepVaulted DeepVaulted DeepSkyqraft raised $3.8 million to monitor energy infrastructureSkyqraft, a Stockholm-based startup hoping to improve the resilience of energy infrastructure, also secured $3.8 million earlier this month.

Persons: Morgan, Jonathan Horn, Caroline Grey, Greg Lavender, ReSeed, Baratunde Thurston, Chris Sacca's, Advantek, Louise Gauffin, Gauffin Organizations: Global, Concept Ventures, Twin Path Ventures, Ventures, Thorn Partners, Earthshot Ventures, E.ON, Subvenio, Neptunia Invest Locations: London, New York, The Pennsylvania, Texas, Stockholm

☆ The 23 most important VCs in the Rocky Mountain region, according to other VCs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Rocky Mountains are luring venture capitalists from tech hubs like Silicon Valley and New York. In 2022, according to data gathered by Carta, Denver was the 11th-busiest metropolitan area for venture investment in the country, with more than $2 billion in capital raised on Carta. Startups in Salt Lake City collected another $900 million in funding last year. In 2022, Denver and Boulder, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah, ranked among the top 20 metropolitan statistical areas by venture investment. CartaOur list includes both seasoned venture capitalists who have been elevating Rocky Mountain tech for years and ambitious newcomers looking to strike gold in an overlooked territory.

Persons: Chris Sacca Organizations: Carta, Rockies, Rocky, Foundry Group Locations: Silicon, New York, Denver, Boulder , Colorado, Salt Lake City , Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Carta, Salt Lake City, Boulder

☆ Bill Gates-backed Antora is making big batteries to help factories transition to clean energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Diana Olick | In Dianaolick | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Now, companies like Form Energy, AtmosZero and a Silicon Valley-based startup called Antora Energy are tackling the challenge with more affordable battery technology. "Because of that we're able to store energy at much lower costs." Christina Karapataki of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which was founded by Bill Gates, says this business could be particularly lucrative. There are now about a dozen thermal energy storage companies using sand, rock, brick or other types of ceramic to store energy as heat. Along with funding from Breakthrough energy, Antora is also backed by Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital, Shell Ventures, BHP Ventures, Grok Ventures and Trust Ventures.

Persons: We've, Justin Briggs, We're, Briggs, Christina Karapataki, Bill Gates, Karapataki, Antora, Chris Sacca's Organizations: Energy, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Shell Ventures, BHP Ventures, Grok Ventures, Trust Ventures Locations: Fresno , California

☆ Elon Musk's former Twitter lieutenant says he needs to 'hear hard truths' and not fire everyone who goes against him
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former Twitter lieutenant Esther Crawford warned Elon Musk is surrounded by "yes men." Esther Crawford, Elon Musk's former lieutenant at Twitter, voiced some of her concerns with the billionaire's leadership at the social media company in 14-minute video on Wednesday. Musk has been known to work with close friends across his companies and has even been criticized for having his close friends and brother on Tesla's board in the past. "Instead he'd poll Twitter, ask a friend, or even ask his biographer for product advice," Crawford wrote. Last year, venture capitalist and early Twitter investor Chris Sacca warned Musk needed to surround himself with more people that would challenge him.

Persons: Esther Crawford, Elon, Crawford, Musk, Elon Musk's, David Sacks, Steve Davis, Elon Musk, Clive Mason, Chris Sacca, Sacca Organizations: Twitter, Boring Company Locations: Elon

☆ Why investors pumped $100 million into a startup using microbial fungi to turn soil into a crucial tool in the fight against climate change
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The startup Loam Bio wants to use fungi to boost soil health and help keep carbon in the ground. But soil carbon is in a sorry state, in part due to current agricultural practices. There are different types of soil carbon; some decompose easily while others can take thousands of years to break down. The soil microbiome could also change to start breaking down the carbon that gets fixed in soil, Bailey added. "The most important thing is that we're really accurately measuring the carbon that we store in the soil," Hudson said.

Persons: Guy Hudson, Chris Sacca's, Hacking, It's, Hudson, Monique, Britt Koskella, Koskella, Andy Bailey, Bailey, we're, Chris Shafto, Dr Brooke Bruning, you've Organizations: Green Tech, Service, Australian, Lowercarbon Capital, Lowercarbon, UC Berkeley, University of Bristol Locations: Australia, Brazil

☆ Legendary VC Vinod Khosla predicted in 2016 that AI would eventually transform healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a 2016 paper, Vinod Khosla predicted that there will be some form of automation in healthcare. Buzzy healthcare startups utilizing AI are now capturing the attention of VCs amid a broader wave of AI interest. Hippocratic AI, which recently raised $50 million for its seed round, plans to use machine learning to train AI models for use in healthcare. Carta Healthcare, which uses AI to help healthcare providers cut costs, announced this month it raised $25 million. And New York-based startup Hyro, raised $20 million to replace outdated chatbots in healthcare with conversational AI.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, Khosla, OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Chris Sacca's Organizations: –, Carta Healthcare, Harvard Locations: York

☆ This startup making the electricity grid more resilient while reducing wildfires just raised $10.5 million. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck Gridware used to land the fresh funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

California startup Gridware is working to prevent forest fires and make the grid more resilient. But Timothy Barat, the cofounder and CEO of risk management and wildfire mitigation startup Gridware, does exactly that. On a huge plot of land outside California's Bay area, Gridware has its own electricity grid complete with full-size 40-foot poles and power lines spanning 200 feet. Wildfires can be sparked by a number of things, including downed power lines. For example, the startup can detect vegetation striking power lines as soon as it happens.

Persons: JP Morgan, Timothy Barat, Chris Sacca's, Gridware's Barat, Barat, Gridware, Chris Sacca, we've, Seth Bannon Organizations: Lowercarbon Capital, UC Berkeley, Lowercarbon, Fifty Locations: California, California's, Barat, Gridware's, San Francisco, NYC

☆ This startup uses volcanic rock to capture carbon for the likes of Stripe and Microsoft. Check out the 20-slide pitch deck Undo used to raise $12 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A startup speeding up a natural rock weathering process for carbon removal just raised $12 million. A startup spreading volcanic rock on farms as a form of carbon dioxide removal has just secured $12 million in its first institutional round led by Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital. "We get a 50,000-times increase in rates of reaction versus that natural process, and we can absorb far more CO2," Mann said. The startup makes money by selling carbon removal credits. Mann wants to help regulate the industry before others try selling enhanced rock weathering without fully understanding the process and what is required.

☆ Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital just invested $20 million in Woodoo, a startup making wooden alternatives to steel, cement, and glass, after seeing this pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Woodoo is a biotech startup creating alternatives to leather, glass, cement, and steel using wood. We got a peek inside the 8-slide pitch deck it used to raise from Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital. Now his company, a biotech converting wood into alternatives for emissions-intensive materials such as concrete and steel, has just secured $31 million. Boitouzet is set on becoming the go-to option for building materials, having already seen traction in the luxury goods market. Woodoo's materials are currently more expensive than conventional but costs will come down when the company reaches scale, Boitouzet said.

☆ French tech company Woodoo raises $31 million, led by Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Sudip Kar-Gupta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, April 23 (Reuters) - French start-up technology company Woodoo said it had raised $31 million, led by Lowercarbon Capital, which is a fund co-founded by ex-Google executive and early Twitter investor Chris Sacca. The fund-raising for Woodoo highlights the growing importance of companies involved in recycling raw materials to protect the environment, as well as growth in France's tech sector. Last year President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted a surge in the number of French tech 'unicorns' or start-ups by 2030. Paris has traditionally lagged New York, California and also London as a technology and finance hub, but the French technology sector has recently notched up several high-profile fundraising rounds for some companies. Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta Editing by Frances KerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Zero Carbon Capital just reached third close on its $37 million fund dedicated to hardware and science-based companies. We got an exclusive look at the LP deck it used to raise from Isomer and Extanti
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Zero Carbon Capital reached third close on its £30 million ($37 million) fund. We got an exclusive look at the 10-slide LP deck the climate tech firm used to raise the funds. UK-based Zero Carbon Capital has closed £13 million, around $16.2 million, of its £30 million, about $37.5 million, second fund. Zero Carbon Capital wants to be the first check to lead pre-seed and smaller seed rounds, with tickets ranging £100,000 to £1 million. Isomer has previously backed hardware funds but Zero Carbon Capital is its first dedicated climate fund.

☆ VC firm Counteract just reached first close on its $42 million carbon removal fund. We got an exclusive look at the 11-slide LP deck it used to secure cash from The Grantham Foundation.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

VC firm Counteract has reached first close on its inaugural £35 million fund. It plans to back 40 global companies across all elements of carbon removal. London-based firm Counteract, founded in 2021, has just reached first close on its inaugural £35 million, about $41.9 million, fund. Direct air capture is one of the best-known carbon removal technologies thanks to Swiss company Climeworks. Isaacs stressed the importance of exploring all potential technologies as carbon removal evolves alongside policy, making it inherently risky.

☆ This Y Combinator-backed startup wants to help scale the nascent insect protein sector. Check out the 15-slide pitch deck Entocycle used to raise $5 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Insect protein could displace 20% of the UK's annual soy imports for animal feed by 2050. We got an exclusive look at the 15-slide deck Entocycle used to raise the Series A round. A Y Combinator-backed startup that has developed insect farming technology to help scale the nascent sector has just nabbed $5 million from European climate tech fund Climentum Capital. Insect protein has long been tipped as a way to alleviate pressure on the food system amid a growing population that is also grappling with climate change. Global insect protein startups raised just $146 million in venture capital in 2022, compared with $200 million the year prior, according to PitchBook.

☆ We got an exclusive look at the 18-slide pitch deck Living Carbon, a startup developing 'supertrees' for CO2 removal, used to raise $21 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Climate startup Living Carbon has developed trees that grow faster to ultimately store more CO2. Carbon removal typically sits in two buckets: engineered – or technological – removal and nature-based removal. Living Carbon, founded in 2019, reported its engineered trees grow 50% faster and soak up 27% more carbon than traditional trees. Living Carbon is also running its own carbon removal projects and is currently partnering with landowners in Pennsylvania and Georgia, who get a percentage of the carbon credits generated from the projects. Check out the redacted 18-slide pitch deck Living Carbon used to secure the funds below.

☆ Grand jury indicts former N.J. landlord on sex charges against 30 tenants, authorities say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Antonio Planas | Antonio Planas Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A grand jury indicted a former New Jersey landlord last week on more than three dozen sex charges accusing him of soliciting sex from tenants who were facing eviction or struggling financially, authorities announced Wednesday. Centanni, the former owner of hundreds of rental units across 18 residential properties, “targeted tenants or prospective tenants who were homeless, about to be evicted, or otherwise struggling financially,” authorities said. The lawsuit alleged Centanni had sexually harassed susceptible tenants for more than 15 years. Centanni sold all of his properties as part of the settlement, the statement said. Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, Centanni would pay $4,392,950 in damages to tenants and prospective tenants “harmed by his harassment,” authorities said.

☆ After Elon Musk fired Twitter staff for criticizing him, some remaining employees are hurriedly deleting Slack messages they fear he won't like
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Twitter staff are removing Slack messages they fear Elon Musk won't like, Platformer reported. This comes after the tech mogul fired some Twitter staff for criticizing him online. Engineers Eric Frohnhoefer, Sasha Solomon, and Ben Leib all appeared to be fired on Sunday and Monday for criticizing Musk. Platformer also reported that some of the fired employees had simply expressed sympathy with Frohnhoefer, Solomon, and Leib. Sources told The Times that some fired staff had shared news of Frohnhoefer's termination in internal chats.

☆ An early Twitter investor says Elon Musk is 'straight-up alone' and 'winging' his rapid changes to the social media giant
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sacca, an early Twitter investor, referred to Musk's approach to Twitter as "move fast and alone." Speaking about Musk, Sacca said: "I've recently watched those around him become increasingly sycophantic and opportunistic. Sacca said that Twitter would only succeed if Musk added some "desperately needed nuance." Sacca, who was once one of Twitter's biggest shareholders, has been an outspoken critic of the company over the years. He joked on Monday that he was worried he'd get kicked off the platform for posting the thread about Musk.

☆ Twitter early investor Chris Sacca says Elon Musk is 'alone right now and winging this'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In a tweet thread on Monday, Sacca said he's always admired Musk and he referred to electric carmaker Tesla as "world positive." "His success to date is not an accident," Sacca wrote to his 1.6 million followers. But the challenges that come with running a popular social-messaging service like Twitter require a level of nuance and human understanding that Musk so far has not demonstrated, Sacca wrote. "Batteries and motors and rockets and tunnels and solar panels have definitively right and wrong answers," Sacca wrote. The "hard truth" for Musk is that "he is straight-up alone right now and winging this," Sacca wrote.

☆ Once a dystopian fantasy, manipulating sunlight to cool the earth is now on the White House research agenda
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

"The stratosphere is calm, and things stay up there for a long time," Parson told CNBC. That sulfur dioxide goes through other chemical reactions and eventually falls to the earth as sulfuric acid in rain. Known risks to people and the environmentThere are significant and well-known risks to some of these techniques — sulfur dioxide aerosol injection in particular. And spraying sulfur in the stratosphere would contribute in the bad direction to all of those effects," Parson told CNBC. His goal is "simply that we learn more and develop better mechanism[s] for governance," he told CNBC.

☆ We visited Chris Sacca-backed Epoch Biodesign's London HQ. The startup wants to clamp down on pollution with plastic eating enzymes.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Epoch Biodesign, a startup converting plastic to chemicals using enzymes, has raised $14.5 million. Epoch Biodesign uses plastic-eating enzymes as a base and scientifically alters them to produce a specific chemical from the consumed plastic. Epoch Biodesign is also developing enabling technologies to do this cheaper, faster, better, and at greater scale. This is a colony picker, one the machines used test and select Epoch Biodesign's enzymes in the lab. In the long run, Epoch Biodesign expects to license out its technology so it isn't running facilities itself.

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