INSIGHTS
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WE HAVEN’T BEEN THIS EXCITED ABOUT A NEW YEAR SINCE LAST YEAR
January 5, 2023
Happy New Year! By almost all measures, 2023 was a tough year for the climate and for venture capital. Venture funding dropped significantly along with deal count and average deal size. We focused our company support (particularly at the beginning of the year) on healthy revenue pipelines, extending …
PREVIOUS YEARS
Hot off the heels of our Fund III inital close (more details below), we posted an open call to add another person to our investment team. The position is purposefully general—open to candidates across career stages. One might wonder why a VC that prides itself on its (unconventional) rockstar team, …
GETTING THE RIGHT PEOPLE ON THE (ELECTRIC) BUS
December 5, 2023
We announced in June that we were going to raise our third fund targeting $120M. Shhh ... there will be a formal announcement in the coming weeks but we want our newsletter subscribers to be the first to hear. For now we can share that we exceeded our goal of 50% toward the final amount and have welcomed …
IN CLIMATE, DEADLINES MATTER
November 2, 2023
We are fully in the Climate Tech 2.0 era and things are vastly different from the first Clean Tech boom of the early 2000’s. We, like many investors raising funds to deploy into climate companies, spend considerable energy distinguishing the confluence of tailwinds in the current climate tech moment …
DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK, I’VE BEEN HERE FOR YEARS
October 4, 2023
The venture capital ‘power law’ describes how a small number of successful companies in a venture portfolio deliver the majority of the fund’s returns. ‘Eight die and two fly’ is the same concept—that most venture investments won’t survive, but very big wins can make up for the losses and generate outside …
LEARNING FROM THE VC PAST, BETTING ON OUR CLIMATE FUTURE
September 6, 2023
DIRTY TALK
August 3, 2023
If it seems like the recent issues of this newsletter have all relayed some heavy climate news … they have and unfortunately this month is no exception. But, we hope that amidst the alarm, you also glean optimism from the solutions and positive progress being made in climate tech.
EVERYBODY’S SHUFFLIN’ … NORTH
July 4, 2023
This past weekend marks celebrations of both Canadian Confederation and American Independence, and while we share good times with family and friends we’re also reflective of the climate forces that don’t give a hoot about flags or national borders. Right now, 80M people in the Midwest are under severe …
Climate change is at once the most urgent existential threat and the largest opportunity humanity has ever faced. Whether viewed from an economic, geopolitical or scientific perspective, the conditions are present for climate technologies focused on reducing GHG emissions to outperform. There are policy, …
50B PROBLEM, 50B OPPORTUNITY
June 2, 2023
GEOTHERMAL … SO HOT RIGHT NOW
May 3, 2023
In the world of climate, there are a lot of giant, hairy problems and a lot of “wtf!” moments—but there are also moments when ancient methods meet modern advancement to create opportunities with huge, important potential to mitigate climate change. So let us tell you a little about geothermal energy.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released their sixth assessment report in March with a shockingly stark visualization of how different levels of warming will affect those who were born in 1950, 1980 and (importantly) 2020. Mayday! This is not a drill!
WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT THAN A HABITABLE PLANET?
April 4, 2023
We are climate tech venture capitalists—we invest where technology can transition the world’s resources from finite to infinite. We see opportunity in the decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation. We believe in markets — in capitalism. So we have to question whether it is fundamentally …
TRILLION WITH A “T”
March 2, 2023
When we think about corporate carbon emissions, we probably envision a factory, a polluted river or maybe even waste in a landfill. So it may be a surprise to learn that the world’s largest company’s cash and investments generate significantly more emissions than their operations and supply chains ...
THE WORLD’S CASH HAS A CARBON PROBLEM
February 2, 2023
Happy new year! We always enjoy the experience of taking time to look back at what happened last year — it's amazing what you can pack into just 12 months. Following a year of building our team and growing our assets under management by 7X, in 2022 we hit the accelerator with nine new portfolio companies …
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION: DROP 1M TONNES
January 4, 2023
This month marked the close of COP27 in Egypt, the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference. The close of COP is always a bit of a high/low in the climate world — high because we have to be optimistic about the progress delivered by the global gatherings, low because there’s usually some …
ALL WE WANT FOR OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE IS …
December 2, 2022
OUR FIRST SOCAP IN 3 YEARS
November 2, 2022
Tom and Mike just got back from the annual SOCAP conference in San Francisco after a three year COVID hiatus. SOCAP is one of the largest conferences in the impact investing/"social capital" world, with over 2000 attending in person and another 2000-ish online. A couple key takeaways from their experience …
WHAT DO EV BATTERIES HAVE TO DO WITH TRUTH & RECONCILIATION?
October 4, 2022
From electric cars (EVs) to solar panels — there is a particular cocktail of minerals required by the clean energy economy of the future. Production of lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt, and other key minerals will have to quadruple over the next two decades to meet the Paris target of 2°C warming. The transition …
WHAT’S A MEAT LOVER TO DO?
September 6, 2022
Buckle up because we’re about to ruminate on a pretty contentious topic: meat and climate change. The impact of eating meat as it pertains to climate is clear: there are more greenhouse gas emissions associated with meat calories than plant calories. It’s a huge source of optimism to see the rapid …
TAKING IT ON THE (MAN)CHIN
August 3, 2022
We were all set to lead this newsletter with a cranky roundup of the climate policy backtracking that happened in the US and Europe in July … but then the news got a lot rosier! Just when it looked like the coal-industry funded senator from West Virginia was about to sewer any hopes for meaningful …
FIGHTING THROUGH A RIP CURRENT
July 5, 2022
It’s immeasurably frustrating that the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled in three cases against the will of the vast majority of citizens, against progress and against reason. Women’s rights and bodily autonomy, and the ability to restrict guns have been under attack for years. We definitely have thoughts …
MY GROCERIES ARE HOW MUCH?!
June 2, 2022
Like the rest of the world, exclusive of industry, the hot topic around here is inflation and market downturn. Canada's consumer price index rose 6.8% last month compared to 2021 and groceries jumped 9.7% — the largest increase since September 1981. Oh, and gas prices are up 36.3% year over year! And …
THE INJUSTICE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
May 3, 2022
When people think of the "why" behind working to mitigate climate change, the livability of the planet for future generations is often front and centre. But this planet right now is inhabited by a single human species, members of which are affected by climate change in vastly different ways. This raises the …
CANADA’S EMISSION REDUCTION PLAN HAS A LOT TO DO WITH CARBON CAPTURE
April 4, 2022
Last week the Canadian federal government released their 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan with Justin Trudeau making the announcement at the GLOBE conference here in Vancouver. The plan details a reduction in emissions across the whole economy by 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030, and net zero …
HORRORS IN UKRAINE HIGHLIGHT ANOTHER REASON TO DITCH FOSSIL FUELS
March 4, 2022
Our hearts are with all those affected by the invasion of Ukraine. Every week we close our team huddle with a “Why” leader and this week we focused on the devastating events in Europe. The human toll is top of mind for all of us but for the purpose of this newsletter we are going to stay in our lane and focus on …
SUPERSTAR TEAM VS. TEAM OF SUPERSTARS
February 2, 2022
We believe the most important thing businesses can do to succeed is to create the right culture. And, it’s better to hire early in anticipation of future bottlenecks rather than reacting when the bottlenecks occur. This is the conundrum that has dominated our last nine months as we’ve doubled our team to ten …
THAT WAS A BIG ONE!
January 6, 2022
2021 was the biggest year ever for this humble fund that started in the basement of the Winterfield house. It hardly seems real that in one year we doubled our team to nine people and upgraded our office, invested in eight new portfolio companies (which is five more than we made in 2020), had our first exit …
RAIN OR SHINE, THE RACE TO NET ZERO IS ON
December 2, 2021
The effects of our climate crisis are being felt globally, and it is especially alarming when the impact hits so close to home. Yes, we’re talking about the devastating BC floods that are wreaking havoc on homes, livelihoods and supply chains. The June heat dome, summer forest fires and now atmospheric rivers …
THE GREAT ATTRACTION
November 3, 2021
We’ve mentioned it plenty of times before but it bears repeating; for our companies to compete and succeed, they must attract and retain exceptional talent. Filling sales, tech and operations roles with high-quality candidates is fundamental to the growth of our portfolio companies, and their ability to reduce …
OCEAN OBSESSED
October 5, 2021
It’s important for us to keep our minds on the natural systems that regulate the climate while we are searching for technological solutions to mitigate climate change. Last month, our own Sophie Endl led a ‘Lunch & Learn’ session on the key role the ocean plays in the context of climate change and how we …
CLIMATE REALISTS, OPTIMISTS AND CANADA’S NEXT RULE MAKERS
September 2, 2021
What kind of climate investor would we be if we didn’t talk about the latest IPCC Report that dropped on August 9? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the first of three instalments of the Sixth Assessment Report earlier this month. The big takeaway is the certainty in the link between …
OVERSHOOTS AND SCORES
August 4, 2021
If you’re like us, it can be depressing reading headline after headline about how dire the climate crisis is. Fires, floods, feedback loops … ffffff. Well, there are also some big things going in the right direction and we want to share some optimism. Last month the US and Europe put forward bold policy plans with …
WEARING ORANGE AND FEELING RED
July 5, 2021
We are privileged and grateful to work from the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people, the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Nations. A short walk from our North Vancouver office is the Squamish village of Ustlawn where there is a heartbreaking collection of children’s shoes on the steps …
OVER $50M FOR CLIMATE TECH
June 2, 2021
After several months, a lot of hard work and incredible support from our community, we’re thrilled to announce (before any official press release) that the close of Fund II is imminent. While the first close of $41M consisted of family offices, corporations, foundations and individual investors — this second and …
STAYING ACTIVE
May 4, 2021
For us, investing in startups is so much more than just writing cheques. It comes down to providing practical support for our founders, making fruitful introductions, getting hands-on with our sales and talent expertise – whatever it takes to help our portfolio companies succeed. Active Impact began as …
NO FAILED STARTUPS
April 5, 2021
What kind of fund manager would say that or even worse propose that as a goal for their team? Um... me. I was inspired by Jim Collins' famous concept of Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) and by an example used in a book called Switch where an oil and gas company set a goal of "no dry wells" when the norm …
CELEBRATING MAJOR MILESTONES
March 3, 2021
At Active Impact we have three overarching jobs: Bring capital into the impact ecosystem, deploy capital to world changing companies that meaningfully support the sustainability of our planet, realize exceptional returns on invested capital. We are grateful to share that in February, we were able to …
LONG TERM THINKING
February 3, 2021
The new year has gotten off to a quick start for Active Impact. We’re thrilled to share the imminent launch of our next fund, Active Impact Fund II. We’ve been blown away by the demand from new and existing LPs and as a result, we plan to complete our first close at the end of this month. We already have over …
A YEAR IN REVIEW
January 4, 2021
The New Year often brings an opportunity for a fresh start: new goals, fresh ambitions and renewed hope for the year ahead. However, the memories of 2020 will last far beyond the turn of the calendar. The pandemic has disrupted our routines, taken away the livelihoods of so many, claimed the lives of ones …
A WIN FOR CLIMATE POLICY AND DIVERSITY
December 2, 2020
The U.S. presidential election was historically significant in a number of aspects, with notable wins for climate policy and diversity. Climate change mitigation policies have been a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris campaign. The Biden Plan sets out detailed goals for climate action and commits to investing …
BEHAVIOUR CHANGE AT SCALE
November 2, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a significant shift for so many of us. Our workplaces shifted from offices to our living rooms. Our interactions shifted from personal to digital. Our travels have shifted to staycations. All of this collective behavior change has yielded an 8.8% drop in global CO2 emissions …
GREEN THRONE
October 2, 2020
In our last newsletter, we highlighted some of the big sustainability commitments large corporations have been making. Over the course of the past weeks, governments around the globe have followed suit. Most strikingly, China has announced that it aims to become carbon neutral by 2060, potentially mitigating …
BUILD BACK BETTER
September 2, 2020
We’re living in a world of exceptional uncertainty. An increasing divide between the fundamentals of the economy and the performance of the market, legitimate fear and evidence of a second wave of Covid-19 cases, and a pivotal election on the horizon have made the months ahead feel as unclear as any in …
RIDING THE GREEN RECOVERY WAVE
August 4, 2020
As nations design their stimulus packages for a post-pandemic world, calls for a resilient “green recovery” persist. Yet of the G20’s $330B public money commitment to the energy sector, almost half is going to the dying fossil fuel industry. #Buildbackbetter is flooding the internet while oil and gas continues its …
NEW CAST OF CHARACTERS
July 3, 2020
Last week the Collision Conference, one of the largest tech community gatherings in the world with 32,000 attendees, went virtual. Sustainability and climate were front and center: Kate Brandt, the Chief Sustainability Officer at Google, shared that in the 90 days leading up to Earth Day searches for ..
LEANING IN
June 3, 2020
The global pandemic has caused meaningful shifts in early-stage venture capital. Fund managers that relied on traditional sourcing channels for deals and on-site diligence are struggling to adjust their funnel. Some have pulled back on cheque writing completely and switched to triage mode for their existing …
A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE
May 4, 2020
Remember all the people that used to complain all the time about being too busy? Are they the same ones that are now complaining about being stuck at home? I have come to appreciate the people that are looking for the silver lining during this COVID lockdown. For many of us, our busy lives have slowed …
A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATS
April 2, 2020
Despite everyone getting sick of hearing about COVID-19 and all the people that suddenly became part-time epidemiologists and economists, we felt it was important to share some of our thoughts. First and foremost, we hope you and your families have managed to stay healthy. Second, we have a huge …
POSITIVE MOMENTUM IN A FRACTURED SYSTEM?
March 3, 2020
Last month KKR announced the launch of a new $1.3B VC fund to invest in for-profits tackling climate change and Jeff Bezos committed $10B to a philanthropic fund to reduce climate change. That's a lot of money going to the right place! Our first reaction was excitement that the momentum continues to …
A YEAR IN REVIEW
January 3, 2020
Happy New Year! With 2019 coming to an end, we immediately set our sights on 2020 but first we wanted to take a moment to reflect on a number of significant milestones over the last year. The following list contains a number of items that would be non-events for many funds but for us they were firsts and …
BIG BANKS COMMIT BIG MONEY TO CLIMATE
November 4, 2019
At Active Impact, our mission is to help facilitate the flow of capital to environmental and social good. We are encouraged to see signs that big financial institutions may be looking to also become more aligned with that mission. A recent article by Bill McKibben of 360.org published in the New Yorker highlighted …