How It’s Going — Week 364 (7 Years)
How it started
In 2014, cleantech was a dirty word. Finding founders and investors to upgrade cities to prepare for climate change felt like the Regina King weed gummy skit on SNL.
How it’s going
After seven years, our first fund’s performance is ranked in the top quartile of funds and our second is in the top decile (per angel.co fund data). But what about impact?
We asked our founders.
Less driving. More riding.
How it started
In 2014, 450 Kickstarter backers dreamed of owning a hoverboard.
How it’s going
Each month we sell more EVs than most EV manufacturers.
Even smarter thermostats
How it started
We posted a hacked-together solution on Hacker News to compete with Nest.
How it’s going
Sales have quadrupled in multiple countries across all types of HVAC, from minisplits to central air, with great consumer reviews on Amazon and overwhelming demand from utilities.
The OS for EV charging
How it started
Explaining to anyone who would take my calls what “EV” means.
How it’s going
Just closed a heavily oversubscribed round while watching half a dozen Super Bowl ads for EVs.
Virtual power plants
How it started
We believed it would be possible to coordinate home energy storage with the grid.
How it’s going
We’ve been commissioned to aggregate about 14,000 solar and battery systems across three states. Utilities get a virtual power plant and consumers get lower cost, reliable backup to pair with their rooftop solar.
Automagically design out GHG emissions and costs
How it started
We automated the hours of work our consulting company was putting into helping clients design high performance, sustainable buildings.
How it’s going
We run every new design or renovation project through thousands of options to find the lowest cost way to reach energy and carbon targets. With over 10,000 users in 22 different countries, cove.tool has helped save an estimated 5.2 million tons in GHG emissions so far.
Resilient telecommunications for everyone
How it started
We started by building the most rugged internet connection hardware available.
How it’s going
Millions are connected in Africa due to our software and business model.
Climate risk scores
How it started
We created a predictive model to understand potential damage resulting from future earthquakes. We wondered if we could apply this approach to emerging climate risks.
How it’s going
We’re building a planetary-scale resilience software platform working with leading insurers like SOMPO to create risk scores for floods, fires, and earthquakes.
Resilient food supply
How it started
Agriculture consumes more resources than any other industry globally, by a wide margin, and we knew there had to be a way to avoid trading quality for quantity or sustainability for scale. But many were skeptical.
How it’s going
Today we are the largest indoor vertical farming company in the world, with four farms built and our fifth on the way, and our produce is available in 680+ grocery stores and via e-commerce platforms serving the tristate and mid-Atlantic region.
Protect first responders
How it started
We were concerned that manufacturers would weary of making digital alerting the standard for sending emergency alerts to vehicles.
How it’s going
We have six manufacturers that make us standard and have now processed nearly 1,000,000,000 emergency alerts through our SafetyCloud.
Design carbon out of city infrastructure
How it started
Realized dashboards and simulation tools won’t get us to carbon-neutrality fast enough, we built the first generative design software for utilities and energy consultants.
How it’s going
Our SaaS platform is delivering 10x time-reduction in design tasks and 15% more efficient proposals so we can help flatten the curve of carbon emissions.
Fast zero emissions logistics
How it started
We looked at cars and trucks stuck in traffic in Seoul and thought, can we skip the traffic jams and have less pollution and more time for everyone?
How it’s going
Today we orchestrate robots and drones through our stations to deliver medicine: no traffic, no pollution, more time!
Cheap, zero emissions last mile logistics
How it started
Our first delivery robots in Berkeley were an instant hit. People took selfies with them and dressed up as kiwibots on Halloween.
How it’s going
After 100,000 orders, we are one of the leading robotic platforms offering the most affordable deliveries (on track to under $1/delivery) in partnership with leading restaurant chains, delivery apps, and local governments.
Zero emissions transit
How it started
Circuit (formerly The Free Ride) started as an ad-supported beach shuttle in the Hamptons.
How it’s going
Since its inception, the business has rebranded, won several last-mile shuttle contracts with cities, generated over $20M in revenue, and provided over 4M rides without charging our riders a dollar or burning an ounce of fuel.
Soil is the solution
How it started
Did some math to show we could make 10x improvement on carbon sequestration costs using Biochar
How it’s going
Struggling to manage overwhelming investor demand after great initial results (would love to quantify a bit).
Better sharing of public spaces
How it started
We thought dynamic pricing could be used to better allocate increasingly scarce street space.
How it’s going
We’re busy deploying smart loading zones along city curbs across America.
Human capital for infrastructure
How it started
We first focused on how we could better use machines to speed climate-related construction projects.
How it’s going
We discovered that skilled people are more critical than machines. Today we’re raising our round on Republic to help energy and infrastructure projects source critical talent to complete quality inspections.
The OS for shared micro mobility
How it started
We built a predictive API for empty and full stations in a bike share system.
How it’s going
An AI that manages real time field operations of bike share operators in 20 major cities in 5 countries. Currently in pilots for 3 of the top 10 largest systems in the world.
Re-imaging city water and green spaces
How it started
3 years of drought and Denver Water’s “Use Only What You Need” campaign that focused on outdoor water use. 2 product founders took it from there and created the category leading smart irrigation controller for homeowners.
How it’s going
600k households later we’ve saved billions of gallons of water, partnered with utilities across the U.S to help shape water demand. Now we’re transitioning urban landscapes from synthetic monoculture to a biodivers permaculture.
Shared EVs
How it started
We thought we were crazy to build a fractional car leasing service at Upshift.
How it’s going
More than 3,000 people just invested $715,000 in our equity crowdfinancing campaign.
Rapidly expand the circular economy
How it started
The fashion industry is one of the biggest drivers of climate change, and the secondhand retail industry is 99 percent offline.
How it’s going
Thrilling has 250 secondhand stores across 34 states online, and receives 1,000 new store applications monthly. Consumers have responded positively to shopping vintage online as well; Thrilling’s revenue has grown 30 percent every month for the last 14 months.
Analytics for physical infrastructure
How it started
At ETH Zurich we were trying to automate analysis of hours of video from 2.4 million miles of sewer pipes that run under nearly all roads in every city and are often approaching the end of their useful life.
How it’s going
We help cities around Switzerland and the EU to quickly understand the condition of current infrastructure, which is under more pressure from increased runoff resulting from climate change.
Reward better mobility choices
How it started
We thought we might be able to change how people move around by offering rewards for all kinds of transportation, from walking to using public transit.
How it’s going
Depending on your favorite metric, we grew between four and eight times larger last year. We gave rewards worth $29M for changes in transportation, including staying at home and riding bikes, and this year we’re looking beyond North America, to launch in Japan, starting with JRE, JAL, and MS&AD.
Down-to-earth pricing for remote sensing
How it started
We had taken the first steps to build a prototype for a high frequency, high quality but low cost remote sensing platform.
How it’s going
We recently had a 20x month for multiple metrics from flights to imagery.
The new heat pump
How it started
A plastic heat exchanger burst and sprayed water on an unwitting officemate.
How it’s going:
We’ve burst more plastic heat exchangers, compressors, and heat pumps than any other startup that we know of and are working on catching up to the big guys. Also we’re unveiling our first product later this year.
Virtual power plants from building portfolios
How it started
Three years ago, Blueprint Power launched in NYC with the aspiration of turning cities into clean, virtual power plants.
How it’s going
Today, Blueprint has partnered with the owners of over 100M square feet in commercial real estate across NYC to deploy more distributed energy resources across their portfolios to generate and sell flexible capacity to multiple marketplaces.
Getting more from public spaces
How it started
We wondered how we could reconnect locals around play to make our cities more livable and inclusive.
How it’s going
We won the Paris 2024 Olympics special mention for sports innovations, and the demand for Hubbster is bigger than ever due to C19. Stay tuned!
Smart electrical wiring
How it started
We thought, hey, maybe we can clean up the messy technology situation with smart buildings. (a.k.a the Internet of Shit)
How it’s going
We’ve built a solution that disrupts the way we power most of a building’s infrastructure, yielding a smarter, more efficient, healthier building. $300k in revenue last year, over $2MM on the books, and a pipeline over $100MM over the next couple of years.
Low emissions building heating
How it started
Living in a crappy apartment with open windows all winter long.
How it’s going
Fully technically certified as the biggest energy savings technology for this building stock, honing in on ~$7mm in revenues in 2021.
More productive construction
How it started
We believed we could change sequences of events after witnessing a construction site accident, so we made a napkin sketch of our solution, and built it.
How it’s going
Our Craneview® platform has observed more than 300,000 crane picks to provide unmatched visibility into our customers’ own production rates with zero disruption to existing processes. The result? Increased productivity, efficiency, and safety with the insights needed to manage and bid future projects more competitively.
We’ve been sharing updates about Urban Us for 364 weeks now. You can see all our updates on climate, cities, and startups since 2014 or join us on Slack or email.
See all of the companies we work with or consider upgrading cities for climate change and join one of them.
About Urban Us
Urban Us is the leading early stage investor for startups re-imagining cities. Cities will soon be home to 70 percent of the global population, who now face unprecedented risk from climate change. We believe that cities are central to climate actions focused on GHG reduction and resilience and that in the process of taking action to improve the climate we can also make cities more affordable and equitable.
Urban Us is frequently the first institutional startup investor in both debt and equity. Beyond investment funds, the Urban Us platform includes the Urban Us community, a resource for urbantech-focused founders, investors, partners, and customers. URBAN-X, in partnership with MINI, supports early stage teams with company building and fundraising. Affiliates include Perl Street, which helps teams finance hardware, and Urban Gateway, which supports startups developing businesses in Asia.
