The GS Beyond Energy Innovation Challenge celebrates purpose-driven startups that address persistent and emerging energy transition problems. The winner of the challenge will receive a $100,000 cash prize, the top three semi-finalists will receive special consideration for a pilot project with GS Group and the top five startups will be invited to pitch energy industry leaders and investors in a virtual event. Presenting companies receive one-on-one mentorship and coaching from Energy Transition Ventures, GS Beyond, GS Futures, Investors, and industry experts as well as exposure to over $1 billion in venture capital.

The competition is a competitive prize for early-stage cleantech startups to win $50K cash (non-dilutive) and admission to our incubator program. Finalists will be invited to pitch at our annual Urban Future Summit in front of an esteemed jury. This year’s judges will be investors from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Generation Investment Management, and Energy Impact Partners.

The For ClimateTech Global Innovation Challenge aims to rally innovators and partners towards building a global movement to source and develop the most impactful and equitable early-stage climate tech solutions across four sectors key to reducing global emissions: Energy, Buildings, Food & Agriculture, and Transportation.

With a final prize of $10,000 USD for each challenge winner, all applicants will receive resources to better understand and tap into the NY State climate tech ecosystem, while select applicants will be invited to meet with a mix of climate tech,
environmental, and industry leaders to receive immediate solution feedback, input, and additional resources. Challenge finalists will have the opportunity to participate in the V4C Bootcamp with a chance to then be selected for the 6-month
V4C Venture studio + accelerator program!

Note: Challenge finalists will automatically be considered as an applicant for the V4C program and invited to the V4C Bootcamp, entering them into further stages of the selection process for joining this year’s cohort. If you did not apply for the V4C Program but are selected as a finalist for the Challenge, we’ll ask that you fill out the additional application questions later on.

On Deck’s Climate Tech Fellowship is a 10-week program for deep experts to exchange ideas, accelerate each other’s careers, and build impactful climate tech startups. The program is gathering a group of highly technical innovators working on new climate technologies alongside seasoned entrepreneurs, regulatory experts, and investors. 

The Diageo Sustainable Solutions program is calling upon innovators to share their ideas and solutions for growing brands and businesses sustainably.

Diageo Sustainable Solutions will invest time and experience, resources and assets where relevant, and fully fund proof of concept pilots that are selected from the breakthrough innovations. Innovations in energy, water, packaging, and agriculture will be prioritized.

The short online application is due December 16, 2020, and a shortlist of applicants will be determined by December 22, 2020. A virtual pitch day will be hosted in January 2021 and successful pilot proposals will be chosen by the end of January 2021. Up to a 6-month pilot of collaboration will be available to develop ideas and demonstrate a proof of concept within the supply chain.

Each pilot will be sponsored by a Diageo Business Unit lead, with a dedicated Technical support team (from Diageo and supply chain partners). Successful pilots will be considered for scaling within the Diageo Supply Chain.

Prithvi Ventures is an impact-driven early-stage Climate fund set up to protect our earth and its inhabitants – पृथ्वी / Pṛthvī means “earth” in Sanskrit. To protect our Prithvi, we invest in industries that remove/ reduce the rising GHG emissions. We invest in boring problems with interesting solutions that redesign the way some of the largest industries consume energy and resources. We focus on Capex heavy technologies that are carbon negative, and resource-intensive processes from the supply chain, be that in food, fashion, beauty & more. Investing in ClimateTech presents not only an opportunity for a financial return but is also a chance to help protect our environment, public health, and the overall sustainability of how we live on our Prithvi.

The COVID-19 crisis is an especially challenging time for small business owners. In an effort to better help businesses navigate this crisis, the CEBN has compiled a list of financial relief resources. We will continue to update the list of resources as new information becomes available. Please send any additional relevant resources to CEBN staff should you be aware of any.

Each year, this accelerator finds 15-20 companies that best fit their mission and fund each company up to $1 million to improve systems that impact people’s lives: energy, water, food & agriculture, mobility, and the circular economy.

Each year Women Founders Network creates a unique opportunity for Female Founders. What makes their pitch competition different than other fast pitch competitions is the valuable leadership and in-kind sponsorships that offered as part of the program. This individualized attention allows the top women entrepreneurs to become pitch-ready in a way that sharpens their plans to scale their companies and makes their business more appealing to Angel and VC investors.

An enduring challenge to ARPA-E’s mission is that even technologies that achieve substantial technical advancement under ARPA-E support are at risk of being stranded in their development path once ARPA-E funding ends (averaging $2.5M over three years).

The SCALEUP FOA builds upon ARPA-E-funded technologies by scaling the most promising. Stranding promising ARPA-E-funded technologies in their development pathways leaves substantial intellectual property developed with American taxpayer dollars vulnerable to adoption by foreign competitors, who can and do capture it for continued development – and economic benefit – overseas. This harms national competitiveness, as U.S. industries often lose the lead on the development, scaling, and manufacturing of technologies necessary to compete in rapidly evolving global energy markets. These scaling energy technology projects will meet ARPA-E’s statutory direction to achieve the above goals by “ accelerating transformational technological advances in areas that industry by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical and financial uncertainty”.^[2]

• Facilitate networking between members, advisors and their external stakeholders;
• Create new business opportunities for members;
• Share awareness of, and access to, sources of funding;
• Share knowledge and best practices about business and impact
• Create new visibility opportunities for members, locally and internationally.

Generate is a leading sustainable infrastructure platform delivering affordable, reliable resource solutions to companies, communities, and cities. Founded by some of the renewable energy industry’s leading visionaries, Generate builds, owns, operates and finances sustainable resource infrastructure that adhere to what they call the 4 D’s: Decentralized, Decarbonized, Digitized, Democratized.