At One Ventures

Have you ever stood with one foot on each side of the Continental Divide? 🏔️ Water spilled on one side will eventually reach the Atlantic Ocean, while on the other side it would drain into the Pacific. One foot in each watershed. 💧 Last night at The Continental in San Jose, over a thousand miles from the famous Divide, we hosted a watershed mixer of our own... A catchment of entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem partners all in climate tech. Thanks to our co-hosts Clean Energy Ventures, TDK Ventures and Khosla Ventures for pulling off this gathering of makers & builders. Wonderful seeing turnout from our founders Noon Energy, Orbillion Bio (YC W21), MOXY O.I.D., Cruz Foam, Finless Foods MightyFly and Ravel. with Chris Graves Anouck Champsaur Liz Krymalowski Robert Bedard Dylan Tinker Robert Gagne, CIPM, CISM, CISSP, CRISC, John Felts Leslie Nakajima Brian Wyrwas Manal Habib Zahlen Titcomb and Dilip Goswami, James Beck, Ana Yoerg and William Dunbar in to represent our team. 🧞♂️

SOCAP24 kicks off today in San Francisco... 🌁 Come see Tom Chi explain how capital is being deployed into climate solutions that are both profit- and planet-positive. Amy Cortese of ImpactAlpha will be leading the discussion, with additional guests LAURA ORTIZ MONTEMAYOR of SVX MX / SVX México and Gilad Goren of Nature Tech Collective #socap24 #climatecapital #climatetech

Another #FlashbackFriday to our AGM last month, this time a recap video...

Wouldn't this be a glorious sight to behold at the EV charging station? Pull up and less than 10 minutes later, no matter what, you're done and on the road again. 🏁 Solid-state batteries are considering the holy grail of EV battery tech. Because the anode is lithium metal (solid) vs. lithium-ion (liquid), the sheer difference in energy density means you can charge faster and squeeze out more miles. We want EV adoption and we want it now, not later. Imagine how people, especially those without home charging stations, would respond if automakers can offer: ‣ 2X driving range ‣ 10X increase in battery lifetime ‣ 30% lower cost per kilowatt hour AND a far safer driving experience, with lower flammability risk. (Have you tried setting a solid metal on fire, vs. a flammable liquid? Exactly.) Up until now, solid-state has been plagued with a little – but massive – problem called dendrites. They are microscopic lithium structures that grow at high currents and can crack the solid electrolyte, leading to short-circuiting. Volume change (shrinking and swelling) during operation also leads to mechanical stress. At Harvard, the Adden Energy team developed a self-healing separator and 3D-porous anode scaffolding prevent dendrite formation and mechanical degradation, respectively. Bam! Problems solved. 👏🏽 We led this $15M round followed by Primavera Capital Group, Rhapsody Venture Partners, and MassVentures, which will kickstart a pilot production line in the Boston area. We can't wait to see how this Series A will bolster the growth of this team and technology and bring to market what might be the single-most important development in EVs this decade. #batterytech #EVadoption #climate Read more about why we backed Adden Energy and founders William Fitzhugh, Xin Li and Luhan Ye in our investment memo by Brian Steinberg: https://lnkd.in/gWAD9E33

Last month I had the pleasure - and terrific fun - of doing a panel at the AGM of At One Ventures with Laurie Menoud and Pulakesh Mukherjee - "Can climate tech finally succeed?" We covered a lot of ground - what sectors are over/under hyped? What are the trends within the climate tech funds market? What are the main risks that could undo the current climate tech wave? Highlights of that conversation here: https://lnkd.in/e_FU6yH2

You've heard the term "valley of death" probably one, or 10 times, too many. But did you know that one of the things that can put you smack dab in the middle of it is actually a very well-intentioned, seemingly reasonable act? To raise capital, many hardware or #deeptech startups race to generate revenue, often diverting resources towards side products targeted at consumers vs. businesses, writes Danaé Robert. The intention is good – faster revenue generation through satisfying a market need – but it can dilute your focus from the core offering. The result is higher R&D, talent, and marketing costs, which then reduces available capital for manufacturing and scalability of the main product, she explains. Then the company requires even more time to generate stable, annual recurring revenue and a concrete environmentally positive impact. And early-stage companies with limited runway do not have that time to waste... hence they get mired in the valley of death. So how do you avoid or get out of the dreaded valley? Read Danae's full article on our blog to find out: https://lnkd.in/erYtcNcc

Have you ever done a cross-country road trip? 🏞️ How about a long motorcycle journey? 🏍️ Now imagine your trip is not powered by gas, but by electricity. ⚡️ But wait, you say. I don't want to plan my every stop. And the EV charging infrastructure just isn't good enough for that. 🪫 What about the sun? ☀️ It's always with you, and with the right equipment, as the Roam team had, you could potentially do this journey by recharging your battery with solar sources. Fascinating concept, right? Read more about the 6,000km journey just completed from Nairobi to Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ep6amUEe

Great news to share ✨ Helios

We gave the earth a fever 🥵, writes William Dunbar in a custom piece for our blog. If you pushed the human body up 1.5℃ (= 2.7℉) your body temperature goes from 97-99℉ to 100-103℉. Not at the point where you need severe medical intervention, but absolutely where you feel the side effects. 🥴 And that's where we are at today, he says – experiencing significant side effects. "Increasingly worse and more frequent droughts, hurricanes, and severe weather systems are all in the forecast," he reminds us. Bill's article is not about side effects, but rather how important widespread acceptance of the "fever" truly is. Taking cancer, for example, "the emperor of maladies," he notes that following widespread acceptance came action. We have never been better at diagnosis and treatment than we are right now. 💊 Perhaps the same combination of technical breakthroughs, capable investors, and government funding can fuel a similar path to diagnosis and treatment of our planet's illness. 🌏 Read more from Bill on the Perspectives section of our website: https://lnkd.in/gf8dgA6r

#FlashbackFriday to our AGM a few weeks ago... It was a day packed full of content and creativity, and at the end of it, we climbed the stairs and emerged onto the #livingroof of the California Academy of Sciences for some drinks, snacks and chats. A bit blustery, and the wind carried a few things away, but the connective conversations stayed put. #climatetech #AGM #events