Elemental Excelerator

🏆Congratulations to the winners of the Resilient New Orleans Innovation Challenge! As our VP of Partnerships, Mark Chambers said, "the Resilient New Orleans Innovation Challenge underscores the importance of co-creating climate solutions with impacted communities. At Elemental, we are merging the worlds of climate tech and public finance to accelerate community-driven solutions with greater local impact. This challenge is an exciting opportunity to partner more deeply with the city of New Orleans alongside an organization that has a deep-rooted history of serving the local community." Meet the winners 🎉 • Gro Enterprises implements and manufactures carbon-negative, high-performance building materials sourced from industrial hemp 🏠🌿 • Gradient makes high-efficiency air conditioning and heating equipment that can be installed by anyone ❄️🔥 • Frontline Gig is an AI-driven workforce development platform that connects 10 million blue-collar workers to the green economy 🤖🛠️ • RainStick is developing water and energy innovation technology for the home, allowing people to thrive using only 13 gallons of water per person daily. Their first technology is a shower appliance that saves 80% water and up to 80% energy 🚿💧⚡ Join us in celebrating these four companies as they drive resilience and sustainability in New Orleans and beyond! 🌍 Learn more: https://bit.ly/3VIIwdd

More than a year ago we decided to explore ways we could support founders through the Scale Gap - aka the ‘missing middle’ or that period of growth between venture and commercial scale. We’d noticed that it’s a uniquely challenging stage for climate tech, and with the collapse of SVB there was an even more acute lack of funders in the space. So, we launched an Infrastructure Prize with access to financiers-in-residence and other experts, collaborated with Robert O'Connor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to create a flexible investment tool called the Development-SAFE (an iteration of Y Combinator’s well-known SAFE), started funding Scale Up projects in this space with audacious philanthropic partners (like The Rockefeller Foundation, Waverley Street Foundation and others), and partnered with Parham Peiroo Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and BCG X to research and convene stakeholders. I’m so excited to share one of the products we created to bring more clarity and collaboration to the field - our newly released report: Traversing the Climate Technology Scale Gap. We talked to over 100 investors, corporates, and others to figure out what exactly was missing from the current landscape. Turns out we have most of what we need, with a few adjustments. Check out our findings, and reach out if this resonates: https://lnkd.in/g6gMXhep. One of our main takeaways is that we need partnership across asset classes and stakeholders. More to come on this part, we’ve got some ideas for this too 🤓! Dawn Lippert Avra van der Zee Danya Hakeem Saritha Peruri Natalie Volpe Veronica Chau Raju Sarma Jonah Goldman Jason Salfi Matt LeDucq Tim Latimer Daniella Henry Scott Zimmermann Alexander Bashian Thomas Belazis Alexandria McBride John Moon Elemental Excelerator Earthshot Ventures Emerson Collective

✨ We're hiring a Senior Manager of IT Strategy and Operations! ✨ Are you a strategic thinker passionate about leveraging technology to scale climate solutions and drive community impact? Join Elemental and lead our tech strategy to shape a sustainable future. Apply now: https://bit.ly/4bdzlHt

Over the last year, we have deployed 8 low-friction, synthetic development loans, the “Development SAFE,” to projects with significant climate and community impact. It’s like a reverse convertible note: an equity instrument that converts to debt at the CEO’s option once the project is fully funded and underway. Today ImpactAlpha is out with a story shining a light on this new tool, which we developed with Robert O'Connor of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Amy Cortese dug in with Avra van der Zee to understand the backstory and why we created the D-SAFE. I like this part— “‘That’s the capital that’s very high risk, but very catalytic, because without it, projects don’t happen,’ Jason Salfi of Dimensional Energy, a New York-based startup that upcycles captured carbon into chemicals and aviation fuel, told ImpactAlpha. Dimensional is among the first climate tech startups to use a new development-specific instrument to scale the gap and get commercial plants off the ground. The Development-SAFE, a twist on the “simple agreement for equity” widely used in Silicon Valley, was created by Elemental Excelerator and law firm Wilson Sonsini to address the specific needs of startups developing their first pilot plants or commercial facilities.” Dimensional used the D-SAFE to unlock 20x more project funding from Seneca Holdings and others to finance its sustainable aviation fuel plant in upstate NY. And we’ve deployed D-SAFEs to accelerate FOAKs and project development for Fervo Energy with Tim Latimer, Forum Mobility with Matt LeDucq, Capture6 with Ethan Cohen-Cole, and more Elemental portfolio companies. Our goal is to have the dollars recycle back to us as soon as the projects get larger financing so that we can re-deploy capital for impact. We’re grateful for attorneys and CEOs who innovate alongside us to help climate technologies close the $150B Scale Gap for climate financing, a number uncovered in our new white paper out today with BCG. Onward!

🔍 We're hiring a Director of Compliance! 🔍 Are you a detail-oriented leader with a passion for ensuring compliance in climate, technology, and environmental justice sectors? Do you champion equity, diversity, and collaboration in your work? Join the Elemental team and help us navigate the regulatory landscape as we grow! Apply today: https://bit.ly/4bus2M1

We are excited to celebrate the launch of "Project Monarch" with Capture6 and Palmdale Water District as they break ground on this innovative water-positive carbon capture facility. Together, we're shaping a sustainable future! 🌍💧 - Hear from Gwendy Brown, our Senior Policy Advisor, for the on-the-ground recap of yesterday’s groundbreaking event!!

Sharing two pieces of related news here, both about 10 months (!!!) in the making. This morning, ImpactAlpha featured our initiative at Elemental to bridge the financing gap with the Development-SAFE, a new funding mechanism we developed with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's Robert O'Connor ( an iteration of Y Combinator's well-known SAFE). Check out the ImpactAlpha story on why we created the Development-SAFE and how it supports entrepreneurs in deploying critical climate projects: https://lnkd.in/ewKyi8Dv The effort on the D-SAFE is one example of our work quantifying gaps and piloting solutions. To get a market-wide view, we also worked with BCG to identify the $150B Scale Gap for climate financing, described in our new white paper - also out today.  Grateful to the 100s of investors, climate solutionists, and CEOs we have the privilege of working with, and for ALL your feedback along the way. Jason Salfi Tim Latimer Matt LeDucq Ben Riddle-Turner Dawn Lippert Melissa Uhl Danya Hakeem Saritha Peruri Parham Peiroo Naveen Sikka Cheryl Martin Lauren Tonokawa Camille Bangug Melissa Rouse

👷🏽♀️Today we launched a new tool for fast-tracking development funding! Built in partnership with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the D-SAFE is designed to help climate companies and investors bridge the $150B Scale Gap and get projects off the ground. The D-SAFE is a new take on a familiar tool. It’s modeled after Y Combinator’s SAFE note with a key difference: it can operate either as a loan to be repaid or as convertible equity like a traditional SAFE. This makes it a versatile and cost-effective way to get money where it’s needed, when it’s needed. 💸 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gu9i5Jyu

🧗🏽♀️Exciting News! We are thrilled to announce the release of “Traversing the Climate Technology Scale Gap,” a collaborative report with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and BCG X that delves into the critical challenges and opportunities in scaling climate technology. Over the last year, we have engaged with over 100 investors from across the climate capital stack to talk about the $150B scale gap that is hindering early-stage commercial deployments. In these conversations, we uncovered a promising idea: with a few thoughtful adjustments, we already have what it takes to de-risk investments in the scale gap. 👀 A combination of existing financial instruments (“old tools”) 🧰 and strategic partnerships (“new friends”) 🤝can mitigate the risks associated with early-stage climate technology projects and eliminate the “green premium” that has made it too expensive to reduce global emissions at the necessary scale to combat climate change. Read the report to learn more about how we are traversing the scale gap: https://lnkd.in/g6gMXhep A heartfelt thank you to the many friends, old and new, who made this report possible. To the BCG contributors Parham Peiroo, Veronica Chau, Katie Hill, Raju Sarma, Vinay Shandal, Michael Bernstein. And to our Elemental team: Melissa Uhl, Dawn Lippert, Saritha Peruri, Avra van der Zee, and Danya Hakeem.

Couldn't say it better than Hannah did here! Thank you Motor City and our fantastic partners and speakers at the clean Economic and Community Impact Summit. Kerry C. Duggan Eli Lieberman Ali Zaidi Alexis Wiley John Chilton McAuliff Chanell Scott Contreras Betony Jones