“Fixing the planet is just good business. Shame and guilt won’t get us there, markets will.”
Chris Sacca, Co-Founder of Lowercarbon Capital
With each Tech Trek guest speaker, I have found myself in awe of their story and/or their company and am left itching to share what I’ve learned with someone. That means bugging my older brother to tell him about the numerous founder stories we’ve heard. To my surprise, he was already vaguely familiar with the start-up world through his friend’s recently launched company, Alga Biosciences.
Alga Biosciences
On a mission to slow global warming, Alex Brown turned to aglae to create a novel solution. After various rounds of laboratory and field research, he and his co-founders, two PhD students from the University of California Berkeley, landed on a feed additive (AlgaBio) for cattle that reduces methane emissions by 90%. Yes, you read that correctly. The winning product: special kelp for cows. While I bet that is not where you thought this was going, Alga Biosciences’ feed additive targets the second largest culprit of annual methane emissions. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, 27% of the United States’ annual methane emissions come from ruminants (cattle). Moreover, the methane in each lovely cow burp is 84 times more potent than pure CO2. So for farmers that are extra concerned for the environment and climate change, the resulting 90% reduction in methane emissions from AglaBio feed might be enough of an incentive. But for the cost-conscious farmers – oh wait – AglaBio wins there too. With the additive, cattle exert less energy towards methane production, therefore requiring substantially less feed to maintain their same weight.
With a product that is both ecologically and financially enticing, Alga Biosciences has gotten the attention of various science-focused venture capital funds and accelerators. Currently, Alga has received funding and grants from the Cool Climate Collective, SciFounders, and Y Combinator. Discovering that there are accelerators and VCs dedicated to helping climate technology start-ups get their feet on the ground got me left me optimistic and eager to learn more. Though some of our Tech Trek guest speakers have discussed environment-related work they’ve gotten their hands on (most recently James Loftus and his work with Google’s renewable energy), we have not seen much of the science and environmental side of technology start-ups. So, I figured I would dig into it a bit more.
Lowercarbon Capital
At $800 million, Lowercarbon Capital is the largest climate fund in the industry. As their website puts it, “Lowercarbon Capital backs kickass companies that make real money slashing CO2 emissions, sucking carbon out of the sky, and buying us time to unf**k the planet.” Their team, consisting of 12 highly experienced partners and fund managers, has invested in dozens of different start-ups. They range from lithium mining to farming bots to beef alternatives. The more I look into their portfolio, the more intrigued and excited I am about the future of climate technology and solutions. I figured I would pass on this boost of entrepreneurial and ecological optimism by highlighting a few of Lowercarbon Capital’s investments.
Coda
No, not the Oscar winning movie. This Coda is a universal internet of things custom-fitted for irrigation equipment to “provide real-time visibility and remote control for on-field technology.” Applicable to any pre-existing farming equipment, each Coda device can save 440 thousand gallons of water saved annually and generates data covering yield, crop health, and more.
Compound
To my fellow coffee drinkers…this one might spur some mixed reviews. Compound works to reduce CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) released from coffee consumption. Despite being an avid coffee drinker, I had no clue that each cup of coffee releases 15 times its weight in CO2e and requires 140 times its volume in water. Alternatively, Compound has reinvented coffee…without the coffee. By synthetically engineering the same compounds that give coffee its unique flavors and aromas, Compound delivers a “100% identical” taste while avoiding 16 tons of CO2e per ton of coffee.
Heart Aerospace
As entirely electric cars are inching towards being considered main-stream, I don’t think it’s that surprising to see fully-electric passenger planes. Although air travel only contributes to 2% of global emissions (as of 2019), it is expected to reach 8%-16% by 2050. Within the industry, 40% of emissions can be attributed to short-haul flights, and that’s exactly what Heart is trying to reduce. With a 19-seat, entirely electric airliner, Heart is hoping to operate its first flight by the end of this year and to be certified for commercial travel by 2026. Heart Aerospace has predicted the potential to avoid 0.5 gigatons of CO2e emissions by 2050.
Tech for Good
Seeing all of the incredible minds and companies at work to try to create inventive solutions to the climate issues we are facing really excites me about the future of business and technology. Whether it is through cattle-feed or electric airplanes, I think it is encouraging to see businesses and investors dedicated to such pressing concerns.