Founder of Public Ventures Zoey Dash McKenzie recently announced that she’ll begin a $100 million impact fund that will work on supporting cleantech startups.
According to a report by news outlet TechCrunch, the entrepreneur and investor’s new impact fund will invest in early-stage life science and cleantech startups in locations such as Canada to help with the effects of climate change. Along with fighting against the effects of climate change on the planet, the investment fund will go towards ensuring health equity and battling its effect on women and BIPOC communities.
“We will be very thoughtful in terms of the types of investments that we make as opposed to sprinkling it across various verticals,” said Dash McKenzie per TechCrunch. “We aim to kind of stack our investments so that they have an amplified impact in the real world.”
“We’re going to come up with a few strategies on how we can pull together a consortium of startups from all over the world to have a meaningful output,” she added.
Previous research has found that climate change has contributed to a variety of illnesses. Along with diseases such as Lyme disease and the West Nile virus, the unhealthy changes to the planet have contributed to increased rates of asthma, malnutrition and anemia, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. While climate change affects nearly everyone, women are considered to be among those that are the most vulnerable. According to the United Nations, women make up 70% of the 1.3 million people that are living in places most affected by climate change.
BIPOC communities, particularly Black Americans, are also among those that are most affected by climate change. According to a 2021 report by the EPA, Black Americans were the most affected by six types of climate change impacts, including poor air quality, flooding and heat waves. The EPA found that, with each 3.6°F increase in temperature, there’s a 34% increase in the likelihood of Black Americans living in places with increased cases of childhood asthma. Black Americans were also found to be 40% more likely to live in places that are prone to extreme temperature-related deaths.
To fight against these effects, cleantech approaches include all types of renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and geothermal energy. Amongst the most common cleantech solutions are electric vehicles, bio-based plastics and alternative fuels.
As she looks to add to these cleantech solutions with support for newer cleantech startups, Dash McKenzie highlighted the importance of supporting scientists and researchers from these communities that are most affected by climate change.
“In some ways, that breaks down the barriers in terms of accessing capital, accelerating their innovation and then also broadening their networks,” said Dash McKenzie per TechCrunch. “We’re aiming to do an open call for the fund in the fall so we will be ready to not only identify some really good startups outside of our current pipelines, but to invest before the end of the year.”
