Programs +
Happy summer, all. It’s a pleasure to contribute my first newsletter to our community during these summer months—and on a holiday week, no less—when the days are longer, the pace is a bit slower, and the timing is ripe for reading.
In this issue, we are pleased to launch the ClimateHaven Content Hub (CHCH): Your resource for insights from our members, by our members. The CHCH aims to provide our readers with a breadth of articles, talks and podcasts directly featuring or generated by our members, including our startups, staff, and extended community of supporters on critical topics such as climate change and technology, innovation and commercialization. This newsletter, complete with Ted Talks and podcasts from our startups, articles by our founders, and interviews of our community leaders—plus Ryan Dings’ “Startup Playbook”—is just one of many tools which will unlock the potential of our inventive community decarbonizing our economy.
At the core of ClimateHaven’s mission is our profound commitment to catalyzing transformative innovations in climate tech. With the launch of the ClimateHaven Content Hub, we espouse a value critical to fulfilling that mission: the amplification of our bold and brilliant founders. Their accomplishments and asks, their diverse thought-leadership and intellectual excellence, and realistic, rigorous optimism ignite the untapped potential in all of us to build a better, healthier planet.
Before we get to it, a quick introduction: I am Haley Lieberman, Director of Community and Marketing at ClimateHaven. My esteemed and wonderful colleague, Casey Pickett, Managing Director–Incubation, and I are leading ClimateHaven as Interim co-CEOs. We thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm for all that we are building as the diligent search for Ryan Ding’s successor proceeds.
So sit back and soak it all up. Or lean in and really dive deep. It’s your newsletter.
Connecticut’s blue economy is making waves. On July 10, 2024, ClimateHaven and our partner stakeholders from organizations such as AdvanceCT, Mystic Seaport Museum, OceanX, ThayerMahan and UConn will celebrate the launch of the Connecticut Blue Economy Coalition (CBEC). According to Tim Miller of AdvanceCT, the overall directive of the CBEC is to “fuel and catalyze new technologies focused on the ocean and maritime ecosystem” in our state–on a global level. The coalition’s goal of acceleration and advocacy for the bolstering of blue-economy technologies in Connecticut aims to drive economic development and both coastal and community resilience.
I met with Christina Brophy, Senior Vice President, Mystic Seaport Museum and Editor-in-Chief of journal Mainsheet to learn more about the founding of the CBEC.
Haley: Christina, what motivated you and your work at the museum to steer this coalition forward?
Christina: Mystic Seaport Museum is proud to be a founding member of the Connecticut Blue Economy Coalition. As the leading maritime museum in the United States, we feel strongly that we leverage our resources as storytellers, educators, and stewards of maritime history and industry to support and accelerate the regional blue economy.
Haley: Why have we formed this coalition now?
Christina: The urgency of coastal resilience and sustainable ocean economies has never been more evident and the only way to accelerate and grow is to collaborate.
Haley: What does the CBEC aim to accomplish in the next year?
Christina: We hope to host a series of town hall workshops to bring together stakeholders in education, investment, innovation and infrastructure to discuss barriers for success and solutions based on data and experience; successfully advocate for updated blue economy data; exposition of blue economy at Mystic Seaport Museum with a slate of programs; and launch a website of resources and opportunities.
Haley: What will success look like? Can you share some examples?
Christina: Increased investment in blue economy infrastructure in the state; demonstrable success in workforce development pathways; increase in blue tech companies based in Connecticut.
Reader, you’re invited! Attend the launch of the CBEC at the Mystic Seaport Museum for the official signing of the coalition agreement, cocktails, and a ride on the historic Sibino steamboat. Please RSVP here: CT Blue Economy Coalition Launch Event Tickets, Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 3:30 PM | Eventbrite.
Plus: Building in the blue economy? DOE's Water Power Technologies Office $5 million grant supports programming and services for entrepreneurs and small businesses in hydropower and/or marine energy.
Insights from ClimateHaven Members
Watch... Impact3D founder, Nick Callegari, recently gave a TEDxYale talk where he described his journey to Impact3D as a first-generation, low-income college student and former SpaceX engineer. Watch it here… and then please check out the company’s crowdfunding campaign.
Read... The latest post on the Raise Green blog: What is a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) and The Role DAFs Can Play in Climate Impact Investing.
Read... Lonnie Garris of Cool Amps Energy Solutions writes the guide for startup success in tough tech in this National CIO Review article. Read more from Garris, a retired U.S Air Force colonel and a cybersecurity expert, here.
Listen to... Ryan Li of ReVert Technologies was also selected as one of IMPEL's 2024 Innovators and was interviewed on the Rectified Podcast to discuss harnessing the power of AI for sustainability, which you can listen to here.
The Startup Playbook No. 20
Ryan Dings’ Playbook is back with the first installment of a five-part series (more summer reading, folks!). The Race to Revenue: A Climate Tech Marathon, focuses on financing first-of-a-kind (FOAK) physical technologies. “We’re taking it to a whole new level,” Ryan writes, “because humanity is taking the CO2 level in the Earth’s atmosphere to a whole new level (425.10 PPM in March 2024!).”
General Biological is hiring as they build out the team at their new downtown New Haven laboratory, to help design green chemistry replacements for industrial chemicals. Open positions include: Chemical Engineer, Chemistry R&D Lead, Microbiology Lab Technician, and Strain Engineer.
ThreadMap needs student interns with technology backgrounds. Current openings include: Software Engineers (code building and testing), Front End Engineer, and Tech Project Manager. Applicants should understand data structures and algorithms. The internship period will be from July to September 2024. Please email your resume and a paragraph on your interest to eunjee.koh@yale.edu and maggie.boreham@yale.edu.
Impact3D, founded by Nick Callegari, launched a crowdfunding campaign to support their summer R&D efforts at ClimateHaven.
Oxylus Co-Founder & COO Harrison Meyer spoke about the role carbon capture & sequestration plays in decarbonizing aviation through the production of low-carbon fuels at The Carbon Capture and Technology Expo in Austin.
ReVert closed a $1 million Seed Round. In addition, the Maine Venture Fund announced investment in ReVert, the company won the Audience Choice Award for the Climate Showcase at the Yale Innovation Summit, and was one of seven awardees that won the New York State Innovation Summit - FUZEHUB's Commercialization Competition. ClimateHaven recently installed 12 Acorn Smart Plugs as a ReVert Plug & Save™ partner.
Founder Ryan Li won an Exelon pitch competition and ReVert announced a partnership with Exelon, the largest electric utility in the country. Ryan Li was also selected as one of IMPEL's 2024 Innovators.
Cool Amps Corp. has been selected as a Phase II winner of the US Army's xTechSearch 8 competition. From a pool of 800 eligible companies, Cool Amps Corp. is one of twenty to receive a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. This award allows Cool Amps to take their innovative electrochemical reclamation process for lithium-ion batteries and increase reclamation of lithium-ion batteries from battlefields and battery waste streams.
ThreadMap recently was selected for the Venture Well Propel Program,which includes attending a 2-day workshop in Seattle in August, participating in a three-month coaching program, and receiving a grant award of $20,000. Keep up with ThreadMap on their recently launched LinkedIn page where you can follow them.
WindLoop won the ClimateHaven Golden Ticket at the Yale Innovation Summit and announced a partnership with Avangrid to make large-scale circular recycling solutions a reality for wind turbines. You can read more about the partnership in Business Wire, REVE, Global Renewable News, the Hartford Business Journal, North American Windpower, and Renewable Energy World.
ReVert is looking for introductions for the following potential customers in the New Haven/NYC corridor—commercial property managers, schools, small businesses with commercial offices or manufacturing facilities, independent fitness centers, independent hotels, non-profits. Please reach out to Andy Rapkin (abrjenn@gmail.com) or Ryan Li (ryan.li@revert-tech.com) if you have any leads.
Green Drinks, August 29th
Yale Clean Energy Conference, October 10-11
Green Drinks, November 12
Have a fulfilling holiday week, friends.
Until then, if you liked what you read and are interested in sponsoring a newsletter or contributing your expertise to our hub, please reach out to us by replying to this email. Our doors (and inboxes) are always open to you.
For the love of the planet,
Haley and the ClimateHaven Team
Haley Lieberman
Interim co-CEO
Director of Community and Marketing
