AUGUST 2018
Greetings from David Kenney
President & Executive Director
Join Us! The VertueLab Impact Summit
As I mentioned last month, the
VertueLab Impact Summit (formerly BEST FEST) is coming up on Wednesday, September 26th. This is a unique opportunity to connect with impact investors, innovators, and others in the cleantech world so we can all help advance new solutions that solve global environmental problems.
This issue of
VertueNEWS features the many reasons you'll want to attend this re-tooled and re-imagined event - now a collaboration between VertueLab and the
Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN). Read more below about the
Fireside Chat speakers, the companies presenting during the
Cleantech Showcase, the cohort of startups from this year's
Cascadia CleanTech Accelerator, and more. If you want to meet amazing people, build new connections, and have fun, mark your calendar now for VIS2018.
There's also a story below on the
Sustainable Investing Summit on September 5th - 6th with Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Reed, our own Ken Vaughn, and investment executives from BlackRock, Meyer Memorial Trust, State Street Global Advisors, and others. It's another great cleantech opportunity.
I hope to see you at these events,
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Early Bird Registration Ends Next Week!
The PNW's Premier Cleantech Innovation Conference
September 26, 2018, Castaway, Portland, Oregon
Every September, innovators, investors, and others from across the Pacific Northwest come together at the
VertueLab Impact Summit (formerly BEST FEST) - the Pacific Northwest’s premier cleantech innovation conference. Now in its 10th year,
VIS2018 brings together the doers, thinkers, and innovators working in clean technology across our region to learn, inspire, network, share ideas, and shape our future with
Green Technologies for Good. VertueLab, in collaboration with OEN, convenes a diverse audience of business leaders, entrepreneurs, impact investors, partners, corporates, university researchers, students and scientists - all of whom have the common goal of accelerating solutions to the world's environmental challenges.
Register now (discounted early-bird rates end September 5th!) and plan to join us on September 26th. In addtion to the Fireside Chat and Cleantech Showcase described below, a networking lunch and evening reception are also included.
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Get Inspired at VIS2018 by Fireside Chat Speakers
This year's
Fireside Chat features the leading minds in impact investing - from foundations, family offices, impact venture funds, and field builders - exploring key issues and emerging opportunities for cleantech innovators. Attendees will gain insights into a growing source of "money with a mission" - money that recognizes and values the financial, social, and environmental returns from clean technology solutions.
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SARAH CLEVELAND has been an independent investment consultant with
Sarah Cleveland Consulting since 2011. Previously, she advised institutional investors on investment strategy, implementation, and ongoing monitoring. Currently, Cleveland serves as a board member at the Russell Family Foundation, the Northwest Earth Institute, the Journal of Environmental Investing, and is a member of the Global Advisory Council at Cornerstone Capital.
Read more about Cleveland.
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ABHILASH MUDALIAR
is Research Director at the
GIIN (Global Impact Investing Network), where their research focuses on market activity and trends, investor performance, and the practice of impact investing, designed to bridge information gaps in order to enhance the scale of capital flowing toward addressing social and environmental challenges. Prior to the GIIN, Mudaliar had several years of experience in social enterprise and impact investing in India as well as at Bain & Company in Australia.
Read more about Mudaliar.
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DAVID GRIEST is a managing director at
SJF Ventures and based in Seattle. He joined SJF in 2004 and has served as a board director or observer for SJF portfolio companies Aseptia (sustainable food processing technology), BioSurplus (used laboratory equipment), HYLA (mobile device trade-in and reuse solutions), Intechra (electronics lifecycle management), Optoro (returned & excess goods solutions), Rustic Crust (all-natural and organic pizza products), and others.
Read more about Griest.
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JO BRICKMAN is Director of Impact Strategy at VertueLab and will serve as the Fireside Chat moderator. Tapping a decade of experience leading sustainable design at ZGF Architects, Brickman is responsible for the development and execution of strategic direction and programs at VertueLab, where her current focus is on building cleantech markets through partnerships, as well as impact measurement and management, ensuring that VertueLab programs and supported companies are designed and managed to achieve ambitious targets for triple bottom line impact.
Read more about Brickman.
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Thank You to Our Generous Sponsors!
(And it's Not Too Late To Become One.)
Putting on VertueLab Impact Summit would be impossible without the generous support of our sponsors. We are grateful to each of them, and invite others to become a sponsor of this unique event. The benefits are described in the sponsorship document you can request from
Margaret Lydecker of VertueLab. But the biggest benefit is being a part of a collaborative effort to solve some of the greatest environmental challenges facing our world. Become a sponsor!
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Watch Eight Cleantech Startups Show Off their Stuff
In this fast-paced part of VertueLab Impact Summit, you can watch some of the most up-and-coming cleantech startups from our region tell their stories of innovation, overcoming obstacles, and success. Each company representative will present to the live audience for 10 minutes. The Showcase Companies presenting are:
- Beta Hatch (Seattle) - Growing insects for food, feed, and fertilizer - farming high-protein insects for chickens and creating balanced and natural fertilizer for plants.
- The Renewal Workshop (Cascade Locks, Ore.)- Keeping discarded apparel and textiles out of landfills by transforming them into renewed apparel, upcycled materials, or recycling feedstock.
- Gadusol Labs (Corvallis, Ore.) - Using synthetic biology methodology to produce natural, nontoxic sunscreen compounds found in marine life.
- Wheyward Spirit (Eugene, Ore.) - Utilizing the excess whey from local artisan cheese producers to make a craft vodka - with significantly reduced water and carbon footprints.
- ESS (Wilsonville, Ore.) - Manufacturing long-duration batteries that utilize a nontoxic, non-hazardous, and completely recyclable iron-based electrolyte that provides more than 20,000 cycles of power with little or no maintenance.
- BC Biocarbon (Prince George, BC, Canada) - Using a bio-refining technology to process biomass or biomass-derived materials into high-grade biocoal, biogas, biochar, and other biogenic carbon products supported by Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre).
- Allumia (Seattle) - Funding, designing, installing, and managing complete lighting upgrades to generate savings that are then shared with the customer.
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Meet these Cleantech Innovators on the Cutting Edge
The 2018 cohort from the
Cascadia CleanTech Accelerator will be at VertueLab Impact Summit, showing off their cutting-edge innovations, as well as the assistance they're getting. VertueLab and CleanTech Alliance partner on the Acclerator, offering promising cleantech startups a leg-up as they work to impact the world with new technologies. The 2018 cohort includes:
- Algotek (Eugene, Ore.) – Producer of a 100 percent natural, fully biodegradable polymer solution for replacing toxic and environment-harming plastics.
- Bladerunner Energy (Bend, Ore.) – Developer of a scalable (0.5kW to 5.0kW) micro-hydro solution that harnesses the power found in the natural flow of water. Watch video.
- Drive Zero (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) – Developer of a mobile app that enables drivers to track mileage and automatically invest in local carbon offsets.
- Hive Battery Labs: (Seattle) – Developer of process technologies for lithium-ion battery production that lowers EV manufacturing costs.
- Sironix Renewables: (Seattle) – Producer of environmentally-friendly, plant-based detergents with fewer chemicals and higher concentrations (photo, above). Watch video.
- STARS Technology Corporation (Richland, Wash.) – Producer of a micro/meso-channel process technology, developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, that enables lower cost hydrogen for fuel cells and other solar/renewable energy augmented, low-carbon fuels and chemicals.
- Wheyward Spirit (Eugene, Ore.) – Developer of a process that utilizes the excess whey from local artisan cheese producers to make a craft vodka with significantly reduced water and carbon footprints.
- WHYGrene, Inc. (Seattle) – Creator of the CryptoJoule, a sustainable energy-based cryptocurrency that forms the optimal peer-to-peer universal currency with a joule as the unit of measurement.
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ANOTHER CLEANTECH
OPPORTUNITY
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Climate Change, Sustainable Investing, and You
As concern grows about our changing climate, how can public trust funds and private citizens advance positive investment and environmental results? On September 5 and 6, join Oregon State Treasurer
Tobias Read, VertueLab's Director of Impact Investments,
Ken Vaughn, executives from
State Street Global Advisors,
BlackRock,
Meyer Memorial Trust,
Pegasus Capital Advisors, and others to highlight how Oregon Treasury is helping lead as a responsible shareholder, by engaging for climate action and diversity, managing for ESG risks, and investing strategically for a cleaner future. The Portland event is free, but registration is required.
Learn more and register.
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EVENTS, OPPORTUNITIES,
AND FUNDING
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EVENTS
Join Oregon State Treasurer
Tobias Read and
VertueLab's
Ken Vaughn for this event that brings together state and national finance leaders to highlight how the Oregon Treasury is investing strategically for a cleaner future and a healthy climate.
Presented by OEN and VertueLab, this event (formerly known as BEST FEST) brings together innovators, entrepreneurs, and impact investors to ensure clean technology innovations are impacting the world in powerful, positive ways. Portland
Register!
VertueLab is proud to be the Impact Track Sponsor for the largest angel conference in the Pacific Northwest. Last year, more than 600 attendees, 50 investors, and 70 companies participated, and investments, awards, and prizes totaled more than $1.83 million.
SOCAP is the world’s leading conference activating the capital markets to drive positive social and environmental impact – convening the marketplace at the intersection of money and meaning. San Francisco
This conference and expo is the platform for accelerating a clean economy. Join people from companies and utilities, city and regional governments, policymakers, NGOs, solution providers and startups - to explore scalable solutions at the intersection of technology and sustainability. Oakland, CA
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OPPORTUNITIES
Application Deadline: September 10th
Sign-up today for the 10-week Accelerate program offered by Oregon State University. Work in a cohort format to validate your startup's product/market fit using the materials, instructors, mentors, and intern resources available through the Advantage Accelerator. Fall session starts September 18th.
Application Deadline: September 13th
BIRD Foundation is a U.S. - Israel bi-national R&D fund established to promote innovative R&D collaborations. Three funding cycles per year offer non-dilutive funding. Executive summaries due September 13th.
Application Deadline: October 5th
Launch Alaska is recruiting 4 to 6 energy and transportation companies for its spring 2019 cohort, and an additional 4 to 6 food and water companies in the fall.
RocketSpace and BP have teamed up on this accelerator to shape the future movement of people, goods, and services. Up to 21 startups are selected to participate.
If your product or service is “Made in America,” your company could qualify for this matching grant funding from the Northwest Trade Adjustment Assistance Center.
A group of investors contributes time, expertise, capital, and connections to help founders gain access to the right people and resources to grow their business their way.
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Let's Collaborate and Make an Impact!
Resources and expertise for innovators and investors
Here at
VertueLab
, we support great ideas from entrepreneurs and help investors ensure that their dollars are making a positive impact on the planet. We collaborate to help transform ideas into successful enterprises and measure the success all along the way.
Contact us
!
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