Starshot is a climate technology fund founded by Sam Levac-Levey and Jeremy Brewer.
Lora Kolodny interviewed by CNBC
Childhood friends Jeremy Brewer and Sam Levac-Levey launched their first clean energy startup in 2018.
Brewer was at Google and FacebookHe is a co-founder of Starshot Capital with Levac-Levey, who has worked in mechanical engineering at Tesla and SpaceX. The company just raised $35 million to invest in early-stage startups that the two friends believe have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from polluting industries beyond energy and transportation.
“What really motivated us to launch the fund was seeing a lot of data about the climate crisis and funding gaps,” Brewer said in an interview.
Starshot intends to support new startups in the food and agriculture, industry, manufacturing and construction sectors.
according to PwC 2023 Research In terms of the state of climate technology, more than 70% of investments are in energy and transport. The two industries include wind and solar energy, as well as electric cars, aircraft and other vehicles.
But Brewer said these sectors accounted for only about 27% of global carbon emissions. Starshot saw an opportunity to invest in industries that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases and consume large amounts of natural resources.
There are also still gaps in certain industries that attract capital. For example, Brewer said that in food and agriculture, about 40% of climate technology funding over the past two years has gone to “alternative proteins,” while less than 5% has gone to solutions that reduce or replace nitrogen-based fertilizers.
Excessive use of nitrogen-based synthetic fertilizers in agriculture leads to the emission of nitrous oxide and can lead to surface and ground water contamination. It can also increase the amount of algae growing on the surface of natural water resources. This can result in less oxygen in the water, killing fish or other marine life and organisms.
Brewer said Starshot is looking to invest in companies that provide “gigaton-scale solutions that can increase customer profitability and revenue.”
Brewer and Levack-Levy went to high school together in Montreal. They joined forces in 2018 to form a clean energy startup called H2Ohm, which aims to capture and harness the energy generated by the excess pressure created by water flowing through gravity-fed pipes.
They entered a climate tech accelerator in Canada called the Creative Disruption Lab, where they worked for several months to refine their plan. However, as they delved deeper into market and product research, they realized the business wasn’t working.
The pair still had to show something to prominent early investors on demo day.
“We ended up giving a presentation to over 100 investors explaining why they shouldn’t invest in our business,” Levac-Levey told CNBC. The response was surprising.
Brewer recalled the enthusiastic response from the audience, who came up to chat with them. One of them is a potential investor.
“He said, ‘Listen, if you’re going to shut down this project, can I hire you to figure out why all my other investments are failing?'” Brewer said. “So that’s what we did.”
During the pandemic, Brewer and Levack-Levy have also begun building an online network for former employees of large tech and industrial companies who are interested in pivoting their careers to address climate issues.
They are two of the eight founders climate work, has now grown into an online community with tens of thousands of members on Slack. The organization produces the Climate Careers newsletter and hosts dozens of online and in-person events each year to help develop a green workforce. Brewer is chair of the Climate Working Committee, and Levack-Levy is vice chair.
Brewer said the organization sees an influx of new members whenever there are large-scale layoffs, especially in the technology and automotive industries. With recent layoffs at Tesla and Google, Starshot partners expect it will be easier for climate tech startups to find talent and new companies will be launched soon.
“People increasingly want their work to align with their values, and at the same time, people are increasingly aware of the challenges we face with the climate crisis,” Brewer said.
Levac-Levey told CNBC that Starshot is particularly interested in companies working to reduce negative environmental impacts in food and agriculture, industry, and the “built environment” such as hospitals, homes, offices, airports and other facilities.
The company supports entrepreneurs in green hydrogen production, such as Ecolectro. The company has also invested in Mojave, a company focused on air conditioning efficiency, and Harvest, a startup that makes heat pumps more efficient and useful in homes by adding thermal energy storage.
Brewer and Levac-Levey are headquartered in the Bay Area. The company also hired Zoe Samuel, co-founder of the Alphabet Employee Climate Community, and Nicholas Gould, a chemical engineering Ph.D. who worked at Air Products on decarbonizing industrial processes.
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