BYE, FOSSIL FUELS. HELLO, CELEBRITIES IN CLIMATE TECH!
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TL;DR
- Footprint Coalition Ventures, Princeville Capital, The Rise Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures are among the climate funds backed by celebrities
- Robert Downey Jr, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bono, Bill Gates, Will Smith and others have taken a stance towards fighting the climate change
- Beneficial US tax laws help tap into celebrity foundations creating funds such as Prime Coalition Impact Fund
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 Celebrities and Climate Tech?
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With lacking government effort on climate change, celebrities in the private sector have decided to take a stance. Robert Downey Jr announced the launch of his venture fund, Footprint Coalition Ventures that will invest in robotics and nanotechnology to clean up the planet.
Leonardo DiCaprio backed Princeville Capital as an advisor to their $150m Climate Technology Fund, which invests in sustainable technologies with a track record of making a positive impact on climate change.
Bono, U2’s lead singer co-founded The Rise Fund which includes investments in environment and social impact through the lens of the UN social development goals (SDG).
For a long time, Bill Gates has been a major advocate for addressing climate change. In 2015 he founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), a leading climate VC with a focus on sustainable energy and technologies to reduce GHG. BEV's first fund has raised over $1bn with known investors such as Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma and Mike Bloomberg, bringing many of the world’s billionaires together to battle this urgent issue.
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Why are celebrities getting involved?
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In the US, tax laws are also favourable towards celebrity investment in climate tech as foundations and charities are able to use a certain proportion of their capital towards program-specific investments.
Sarah Kearney, the founder of Prime Coalition made use of this tax code through the creation of the Prime Coalition Impact Fund, which taps into celebrity foundations (a $1 trillion market) to back early-stage climate tech start-ups. The fund has raised over $50m with well-known celebrity backers such as Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Prime Impact Fund has invested in 10 start-ups so far, with a strict investment criteria of having the potential of reducing equivalent to 500m tons of CO2 by 2050.
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In the future, this novel source of backing may become more common as not only can climate funds access capital, but celebrities may prefer this opportunity relative to donating to charity as it offers both an element of philanthropy as well as a financial return.
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 Opportunities for Startups
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Energy Tech Challengers
🚀 The applications for Energy Tech Challengers 2021 are now open! Don’t miss your chance to compete with the world’s top energy, transport and sustainability startups in 6 main tracks contributing to the sustainable energy transition – Batteries, Hydrogen, E-Mobility, Digitalization, Automation & AI, and Future Grid.
Applications are open until April 1st.
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