Despite the many shifts of 2020, urbanization remains a characteristic trend of this century. The challenges for urban life and communities have compounded through the realities of the Covid-19 pandemic, racial injustice, and environmental consequences on already stressed and straining communities. Our team has found both sorrow and hope in witnessing cities move through chapters of response, slowdown, protest, adaptation, and reopening throughout this year. While there is much uncertainty in what is to come, we remain adamant that sustainable urban systems are urgent and critical to the actions we need to take to reverse global climate change.
For the last 5 months we have been working with our eighth cohort of companies: Adiona, Aquagenuity, Climate Robotics, Mobilyze, Resonant Link, and Xtelligent. The teams have worked with Urban Us partners and our Experts-in-Residence to tackle their most pressing development needs: industrial designs, functional mechanical systems, user-researched interfaces, and validated business models. We have hosted sessions on customer development, pipeline quantification, culture building, and fundraising. Now, the founders are gearing up for Demo Day on Oct. …
Amidst the chaos of a global pandemic, I joined the investment team at Urban Us. Urban Us supports startups at the intersection of cities and climate change. COVID-19 has raised many relevant questions for us: Will people flee high-density urban environments? Could recovery plans push back climate action? How will commutes change?
In line with much of the global public, over the last decade I have developed an urgency around environmental collapse, especially as it relates to the need for significant shifts in our industrial landscape and its interdependencies with a just and equitable society. I believe the way we live in cities and the resilience of urban infrastructure is an increasingly important lever for these changes. …
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