Corporate-Backed Tech Accelerator's Innovation Ecosystem to Foster Climate Solutions
Today, Third Derivative (D3) — a joint
accelerator venture of the of Rocky Mountain Institute and
New Energy Nexus — unveiled its inaugural
cohort of almost 50 climate-innovation startups, selected from more than 600
applicants across 60+ countries.
Known as “Cohort 417” (named for this year’s peak atmospheric carbon dioxide
concentration of 417.1 ppm, recorded in May) the startups span many of the
world’s highest GHG-emitting sectors — including electricity, transportation,
buildings, industry, energy access, food and agriculture, and financial and
business model innovation.
D3 combines a next-generation accelerator, committed venture capital, a curated
ecosystem of global corporations; and unparalleled market, regulatory and policy
insights. D3’s partner investor
funds manage $2 billion
of assets, and its corporate
partners — including
AT&T, bp ventures,
Berkshire Hathaway Energy, FedEx, Microsoft and Wells Fargo —
have a combined market capitalization exceeding $3 trillion.
D3 represents a new kind of collaborative, global, vertically integrated
ecosystem united behind a singular purpose: to find, fund, hone and scale the
most-promising technologies; to achieve larger, faster reductions in global
carbon emissions.
“Startups hoping to transform our energy
future
face enormous challenges,” explained D3 CEO Bryan Guido Hassin. “Many
succumb to a gauntlet of multiple valleys of
death,
yet the world needs climate innovation startups to succeed. That’s why we’ve
assembled the best-resourced accelerator in clean energy and climate tech,
ever.”
Climate-tech startups — especially hard tech solutions — face enormous challenges. They have more significant capital needs and
longer paths to market than software startups favored by investors. They rely on
large, slow-moving, risk-averse corporations as critical customers, deployment
partners and acquirers; and must navigate complex market, regulatory and policy
landscapes that favor incumbents and challenge disruptors. D3 is designed to
overcome these specific challenges — bringing together top climate researchers,
visionary investors, global corporate partners, and transformational innovators
all under one roof.
“Achieving our commitment to be carbon negative by 2030 will require the
development of new carbon reduction and removal technologies,” said JoAnn
Garbin, Director of Innovation and Datacenter Advanced Development at
Microsoft — which earlier this year
committed
to erasing all of the carbon it has emitted since its founding in 1975, by 2050.
“We look forward to serving on the Third Derivative advisory board and working
with its member organizations to help accelerate the commercialization of global
early-stage climate technologies.”
D3 will formally announce the first cohort on December 1st — for the next 18 months, D3 will work with the startups, corporates and investors to facilitate investments, growth and long-term partnerships.