Episode 572
572: Green Is The New Gold: Why Investing In Climate Tech Helps The Planet
Recently in REsource Labs, we’ve been keying in on things from how to measure your carbon footprint to how to invest your hard-earned dollars into climate-tech startups. If you’ve been following me for long, you know that I’ve been involved in a few groups working to unlock retail investor access to capital and I’ve even done a little Angel Investing myself!
Kyle Cherrick is an entrepreneur, past SunCast guest, and has become a bit of a mentor in the world of climate investing. He’s the founder & lead investor for Climate Avengers, a venture capital community of more than 400 angel investors, and he’s a full-time climate tech operator at concierge marketplace platform, Electrum.
He's focused his 15-year career on startups, from early-stage through the venture-funded (growth) stage and beyond, and has worked with industry leaders like First Solar, SunEdison, and Chint Power Systems.
While heading business development at Electrum and its affiliate, Solar.com, in his spare time, Kyle also leads investment into climate tech startups vis-a–vis the syndicate he founded called Climate Avengers. Electrum is a managed, online bidding platform homeowners can use to find competitive offers on solar, battery storage, and electrification products, and Solar.com is an online marketplace that helps homeowners find, select and contract certified solar installers. Both are an extension of his original vision with his previous company, Solar Merchant, which was merged with PickMySolar and has become the realization of Kyle’s dream to make solar purchasing easier and faster for consumers.
In today's Tactical Tuesday, I'm sharing a conversation with Kyle who joined our exclusive Discord community, REsource Labs, for its first-ever Office Hours. The discussion centered around climate investing, and we had several community members participate in the call to provide color, questions, commentary, and counterpoints.
Office Hours is a great place to ask questions and get answers. Today Kyle takes questions and shares insights on the latest trends and topics in climate investing and clean tech.
He thinks the world needs to create more climate angels and grow investment in the climate space, especially in early-stage startups.
It's why Climate Avengers launched its first fund in 2021 and added a rolling fund last year, which enables it to back the most promising climate startups more quickly. The syndicate has invested more than $ 1 million into a dozen promising startups, and the rolling fund writes checks in the $10,000 to $50,000 range and makes three to five investments a quarter.
There's much to hear in the conversation, and I invite you to join us.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to his contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/.
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