Good Morning
Harvard University will divest its $42bn endowment from all fossil fuels, following the University of California system. This has been a hot-button issue on college campuses for years. I can’t help but wonder how much this decision came down to ethics vs a simple financial bet that the oil & gas industry will keep tanking (sorry). Either way, if I were a betting man I’d put my money on many more higher-ed institutions following suit in the next couple years.
What We’re Listening to This Week
Podcast: Vox’s Robert Frank’s Radical Idea
Great rec for Mack from Josh. This isn’t a planetary health-focused podcast - it covers a lot of ground across many topics - but does touch on some great ideas related to shared spaces and environmental justice.
Top Deals of the Week
Arcadia raises a $100M Series D led by Tiger Global and the Drawdown Fund (Y)
The story: This 8-year-old, DC-based startup provides alternative avenues to access renewable energy for customers.
Why we’re excited about it: A key part of Arcadia's businesses is providing access to solar energy to people who can't install panels because they live in multi-unit buildings or aren't homeowners. This is awesome for renters like me - my landlord is great but there’s no way we’re getting solar on our foggy, 5-unit Victorian anytime soon. Similarly, their B2B offering connects businesses to local solar farms. The success of this project represents the growth of an entirely new market for solar and validates its potential to complement the rooftop market.
Neat raises $30M from Zoom (BW)
The story: Neat is attempting to make a sleeker and more human-friendly video conferencing tool for meetings.
Why we’re excited about it: Telepresence has the ability to cut down on multiple gigatons of carbon equivalents over the next several decades, but many complain of the quality of video conferencing in conducting business. If we can develop better solutions for remote work, we stand to reduce business travel, especially flights.
Other Deals This Week
Immi, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that says it's aiming to reinvent Asian-American foods, beginning with high-protein, plant-based instant ramen, has raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Siddhi Capital led the round. (TC)
Gr3n, a 10-year-old, Ticino, Switzerland-based plastic recycling tech company, has raised €6.3 million in Series B funding from backers like Chevron Technology Ventures and Standex International. (VCJ).
Supply chain sustainability startup Sourceful raised a $12.2M seed round led by Index Ventures (TC)
Who Gives A Crap, a nine-year-old, Melbourne, Australia based direct-to-consumer maker of forest friendly toilet paper, paper towels and tissues, has raised $30.7 million (in U.S. dollars) in Series A funding led by Verlinvest. (BI).
AgBiome, a nine-year-old, Durham, N.C.-based developer of microbial-based products, including a fungicide for disease control in a variety of crops, has raised $116 million in Series D funding co-led by Blue Horizon and Novalis LifeSciences. (TC)
EnerVenue, a startup accelerating clean energy use by using nickel-hydrogen batteries, raised a $100M Series A from Schlumberger, Saudi Aramco’s VC arm, and Stanford (GN)
Online grocery store platform focused on ESG Misfits Market raised a $225M Series C-1 led by SoftBank (BW)
One Actionable Item
Invest in Climate Tech Startups on Republic
Republic is like GoFundMe for startups raising capital. Help climate tech startups grow - and maybe make some green cheese yourself - by investing in their rounds! Cool companies that have recently been funded through Republic include: Terraformation (scaling tree-planting projects), Enrod (NZ-based green energy), and PittMoss (soil made from recycled paper). This is not financial advice but go check it out for yourself.
Green Theory
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90083219-3c02-4f35-868a-6235d04ce44f_4288x2848.jpeg)
Meat Market
What we eat plays a major role in our cultures, our daily life, and also our planet’s health. Shifting to plant-based diets challenges the ingrained habits of our consumerism, and value system that holds little space for the lives of livestock: a mass of animals weighing more than humans do. We’re hooked on meat, despite the far-reaching benefits of de-animaling our food: protecting antibiotic efficacy, reducing leading causes of illness and death, and ending crimes against sentient beings, to name a few--and we haven’t even talked about climate change!
Animal agriculture accounts for 14.5% of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, at stunningly inefficient rates of water and land use in the production of food. The global scale is staggering: Drawdown clocks plant-rich diets as the #3 or #4 solution, ranked by total emissions saved by 2050. For a personal scale: one hamburger requires the water of more than 40 luxurious American shower sessions.
At the same time, subsidies favor the mass production of meat, rather than price-in the costs to society. Neither the moral nor existential appeals of plant-based diets have taken hold on a per-person basis, but entrepreneurs and big business alike are betting on technology and market forces to deliver an animal-free future for what we eat.
What if we could eat the savory, rich foods we desire, without the destructive costs to our bodies, to our planet, and to our wallets? Solutions to replace animals in food are diverse and advancing rapidly, and the trends of rising quality at falling prices give hope of a plant-forward shift in demand. Ideally, these companies can provide nutrition and taste as never imagined, multiplying positive effects for and beyond climate, while lovers of burgers and lovers of animal welfare rejoice together.
The Closer
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Happy baby rhino :)