The SOSV Climate Tech Summit (Oct. 25-26 / free & virtual / register now) gathers the top entrepreneurs, investors, and organizations in climate tech. Throughout the Summit, VC funds and federal agencies will be hosting live breakout sessions where summit attendees can meet team members and ask live questions. If you’re a founder, you won’t want to miss out. We’re excited to announce the next three sessions:
Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) is a $2B climate tech fund seeking companies that can lead the world to net-zero emissions. Founded by Bill Gates, BEV has backed climate tech unicorns including Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Form Energy. Gates expects another 8 to 10 Tesla-sized companies to come out of climate tech, as he shared at last year’s Summit. His team is bullish on the Inflation Reduction Act (i.e., the climate bill) and believes it will enable hundreds of new climate tech companies. BEV Partner Allegra Kowalewski-Ferreira will host the session.
America’s Seed Fund, a program powered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), awards over $200 million in research and development (R&D) funding to about 400 high-tech startups every year. Each startup is eligible for up to $2 million in seed funding; the government takes zero equity. It’s all part of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs, which have an awards budget of over $3 billion across 12 federal agencies. Dr. Elizabeth (Ela) Mirowski, SBIR/STTR Program Director for the NSF, will present the opportunities for climate tech startups.
Lowercarbon Capital, founded by investor Chris Sacca to “unf**k the planet” (he’s speaking on our main stage), backs some of the boldest climate tech startups. Recent investments include Flair, a smart ventilation system, River, maker of two-wheeled EVs, and Seabound, which captures CO2 emission from ships. If your startup can slash CO2, suck up carbon, or buy the world time, Lowercarbon might be interested. Partners Dr. Christina Chang and Kristin Ellis will lead the session.
Plan for 30-minute breakout sessions starting with a short presentation followed by Q&A. Breakouts run in parallel to the main stage events, all of which will be recorded and available on-demand. So don’t worry, you won’t miss a thing.
Register today for the SOSV Climate Tech Summit to join the breakout sessions.
Allegra Kowalewski-Ferreira is an investment professional passionate about innovations that can address climate change, and driven by the process of partnering with entrepreneurs to accelerate their development and maximize their impact. She is currently a partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a 2bn+ USD climate focused venture fund structured to last 20 years and dedicated to backing disruptive technologies to decarbonize the economy at large.
Dr. Elizabeth (Ela) Mirowski is a Program Director for the SBIR/STTR program at NSF where she manages technology portfolios involving Advanced Manufacturing, Mobility, Semiconductors, and Robotics. For two decades, Ela engaged with start-ups and small businesses as a founder, executive officer, and scientific lead on the development of technologies involving medical devices, photonics for displays, semiconductor electronics, renewable energies, nanomaterials, and biotechnologies. Ela holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Colorado.
Christina Chang is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, the venture capital firm backing kickass companies that make real money unf**king the planet. Dr. Chang was previously a Fellow at ARPA-E in the U.S. Department of Energy, where she developed new chemistry for sustainable manufacturing of commodities, including iron and steel. She completed her PhD in physical chemistry at Harvard.
Kristin is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital where she leads the firm’s diligence on all things biology and works with the best founders in the world to — in the technical parlance — unf*ck the planet. Before joining Lowercarbon, she was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence with Carbon180 and a fellow with the NREL LabStart Program, where she investigated the commercialization potential of several technologies at the intersection of carbon removal and synthetic biology. Prior to that she was one of the earliest employees at Opentrons, an SOSV-backed robotics startup.
