I joined Startmate on January 1st 2018. At that point humanity had 420 gigatons of carbon left to emit if we wanted a 67% chance of averting an extinction level event. Today that number is under 350 gigatons and falling fast.
At current emission levels, our carbon budget is gone in under eight years. With current technology we’ll need a global mobilisation of resources on the scale of WWII to avert disaster. That shows no sign of happening.
We need to bring everything we have to this fight. In addition to policy, activism, and personal action, we need an explosion of creativity to develop new technologies and better leverage and deploy the tools we have. At massive scale.
At Startmate, our role is to supercharge Australia’s most ambitious founders. We run two 12-week accelerator programs where we invest in seed-stage startups and help them convert their ambitions into reality. Never has that conversion been more important to our survival.
And so today we’re launching a new way to fund and support founders who are on a mission to help humanity avert this crisis. It’s called the Startmate Climate Cohort. We’re expanding the 12-week Startmate accelerator program with up to 10 spots for climate-focused founders. We’re also bringing in experts in the field and climate-focused investors to make sure these teams have the funding, connections and support to accelerate the adoption of their technology.
We are investors and we want to put the fast growth mechanics of venture capital to work in addressing this crisis. We also believe that businesses that have the ability to draw down carbon at scale have the potential to be the most valuable businesses in the world.
Here are the details:
$75k in funding matching your current valuation or at a $1M valuation
Dedicated time with climate-focused mentors and investors including Mike Cannon-Brookes, Blackbird Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Airtree Ventures, Grok Ventures, Skip Capital and many more
Ability to leverage Australia’s most powerful startup network to get help from relevant global experts in your field
A trip to San Francisco to meet world-leading investors and founders
Entry into a community for life with a cohort of your peers
If we’re to avert disaster, we need to be exploring every possible area. We want to hear from founders looking at everything from turbines to tropical forests and everything in between. In particular we’re looking for:
Teams or solo-founders who are moving fast, can show tangible progress in a 12-week period, and will stop at nothing to achieve their ambition
Businesses capable of hyper-growth that can scale globally
Technologies capable a large atmospheric CO2-equivalent reduction
If that sounds like you —apply now. We can’t wait to read your application.
If that’s not you please spread the word far and wide by sharing this post. Help us find and support people who can make a difference.
