Beth Foster-Chao
Kevin Iraheta Sousa
Alli O'Connell
The Autodesk Foundation is excited to launch its Inclusive Climate Innovation Initiative (ICII) to bolster the inclusive innovation environment in climate technology through philanthropy. We are providing grant funding to four Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs) addressing capital and resource inequities for climate tech founders: Browning the Green Space, Elemental Excelerator, New Energy Nexus, and LabStart Innovations.
The stark reality of inequitable access to capital in climate tech
Launching a climate tech venture is particularly challenging for women, people of color, and local founders who face additional hurdles to accessing venture capital, particularly for more capital-intensive, deep tech innovations. 2022 research by McKinsey highlighted significant disparities in the resources founders receive at nearly every step of the journey in preparing for, launching, and growing a startup, depending on their backgrounds.
Inequitable access to capital and resources for founders creates an exclusive innovation ecosystem, affecting whose solutions are resourced and which communities are heard. ESOs play a crucial role in making the innovation ecosystem more inclusive, and their support can be the difference between whether a climate entrepreneur reaches key inflection points like deploying projects or raising a Series A.
As a funder, it’s important to amplify the insights and expertise of leading innovators to shift the narrative, and ultimately, the practices around inclusive funding. Throughout the initiative, the Autodesk Foundation will release a series of insight reports from each ESO on emergent topics in inclusive climate innovation ranging from supporting underrepresented founders through the climate tech “valley of death” to equity rubrics in due diligence and bringing community voice to the innovation process.
Entrepreneur Support Organizations of the Inclusive Climate Innovation Initiative
Browning the Green Space (BGS)
Browning the Green Space is an ecosystem builder committed to driving a just energy transition by creating jobs, building wealth, and reducing energy burden in Black and Brown communities, with the ultimate aim of narrowing the racial wealth divide and tackling climate change. BGS facilitates a just energy transition by putting Black and Brown communities first, and enabling systems change at the intersection of social, environmental, and economic justice.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with the Autodesk Foundation on creating opportunities and breaking down barriers for Black and Brown entrepreneurs, investors, and job seekers to thrive in the growing green economy. This partnership and the Autodesk Foundation’s investment in BGS will enable us to deepen our commitment to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, and change the face of the clean energy and climate industry as we know it.”
— Kerry Bowie, Executive Director & President, Browning the Green Space
Elemental Excelerator (Elemental)
Elemental Excelerator has pioneered a project-based model to commercialize climate technology with deep community impact. Its nonprofit investment platform seeks to fill gaps between what technologists are building in labs and what communities really need to transition away from fossil fuels and participate fully in the emerging decarbonized economy. Elemental believes that climate startups that foster equitable business practices are better equipped to successfully partner and co-create local benefits in frontline communities most impacted by the climate crisis. This is evidenced by Elemental’s increasingly diverse portfolio of more than 160 companies—54% of which are led by traditionally excluded founders and 56% of which serve low- to moderate-income communities—employing more than 5,000 people in all 50 United States across the energy, mobility, food, nature, carbon, and industrial sectors.
“We started Elemental to innovate around how communities are centered in the deployment of new technology. With the support of the Autodesk Foundation, we will double down on our approach in two significant ways: by deepening our investments in traditionally excluded founders deploying climate projects with meaningful community benefit, and by increasing our customized support through executive coaching and talent recruitment services to help these companies reach commercial scale.”
— Dawn Lippert, Founder & CEO, Elemental Excelerator
New Energy Nexus (NEX)
New Energy Nexus works across 11 countries to build inclusive innovation ecosystems and run programs that are locally tailored to support the specific needs of entrepreneurs in that region—providing accelerator services, capital, mentoring, skills, and networks to help clean energy entrepreneurs thrive. NEX aims to achieve 100% clean energy for 100% of the population by investing in diverse and flourishing clean energy entrepreneurs and businesses that are critical for a large-scale clean energy transition.
“New Energy Nexus is pleased to join the Inclusive Climate Innovation Initiative’s cohort of Entrepreneur Support Organizations that are building inclusive innovation ecosystems. We are grateful for the Autodesk Foundation’s leadership and support to advance our Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) work and to be able to share our learnings over the next year through more robust data, storytelling, and thought leadership. Through this partnership, we will co-create and amplify actionable insights on the need to support more diverse clean energy entrepreneurs across the Global South within this critical decade.”
— Elizabeth Andrews, Chief Development Officer, New Energy Nexus
LabStart Innovations (LabStart)
LabStart has launched a national fellowship program that empowers underrepresented founders to launch climate startups from cutting edge innovations hidden in US National Labs and universities. The fellowship provides historically overlooked and systemically disadvantaged entrepreneurs with ground floor support from the earliest possible stage in their startup journey. LabStart has propelled into the ESO scene with a strong vision to demystify the lab-to-market commercialization process in a way that welcomes all entrepreneurs, accelerates climate innovation, and incentivizes tech transfer accessibility and inclusion.
“The Autodesk Foundation and all our partners in the ICII cohort unlock both human and technological potential to bring necessary climate solutions to the market. With LabStart’s focus on the earliest days of an entrepreneur’s journey, we plant the seeds of a more diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem. LabStart builds a bridge to connect National Labs and academic institutions with high-potential entrepreneurs to accelerate the commercialization of high-potential climate tech. With the Autodesk Foundation’s support and thoughtful vision, we own and celebrate the courage to solve big problems, together.”
— Deepa Lounsbury, CEO, LabStart
Looking forward
Addressing climate change and inequality is core to the Autodesk Foundation’s mission and is a through-line across each of our impact opportunity areas: Energy & Materials, Health & Resilience, and Work & Prosperity. The ICII is an opportunity to build on our work, adopt best practices in how to invest equitably across our impact areas, take our DEI strategy to the next level, and influence a broader ecosystem dialogue and impact.
We look forward to elevating insights from each of the ESOs in the ICII over the next 18 months. Follow the Autodesk Foundation, Browning the Green Space, Elemental Excelerator, New Energy Nexus, and LabStart on LinkedIn to be part of shifting the climate tech landscape towards inclusion.