Follow the money: Are your savings funding the climate crisis?

And why they may be the the key to a safe climate

March 01, 2023

✌️ G’DAY

Welcome to Startups Will Save Us, a newsletter for founders building solutions to the climate crisis and the investors who back them, powered by Raaise.

Each week, we’ll share insights from a climate startup on the ups and downs of capital raising in the climate era, including the inside scoop on the one thing they found most helpful on their fundraising journey.

Know anyone who’d find this useful? You know what to do. 👇

🚀 THE TREE OF MONEY:

As fossil fuels become more volatile (stranded assets, anyone?), retirement savings the world over are at risk unless our funds divest. We’re talking about a lot of money here—with more than $46 trillion in assets worldwide, pension funds are one of the largest institutional investors in fossil fuels (almost a third of all fossil fuel shares are held by those same funds). 🤯

Same goes for our banking deposits. Despite everything we know, most major banks are continuing to fund fossil fuel projects (some are, shamefully, accelerating their investments), and they’re using our savings (meagre as they may be) to do it. 😱

Enter MotherTree, a UK climate startup that’s fresh off a successful seed raise. 🌳

Founded by Dan Sherrard-Smith, MotherTree is on a mission to green our money by getting every last penny out of harmful industries, without compromising on the financial returns:

It takes 5 days to switch bank accounts and almost immediately, people are getting a greener bank, a better service, and quite often, a better interest rate. Every single consumer can pull this lever and double the carbon impact they’d be making by going vegan, quitting flying and choosing their bike over their car, combined. I find that empowering.

Dan is an optimist, a problem solver and a true believer who wants to make sure that our financial safety isn’t coming at the expense of our actual future:

The best part is, we’re building a world that we’ll actually want to retire into—one with a safe climate, clean cities, and an ocean full of beauty and biodiversity. That’s why I founded MotherTree—where the money goes now will determine what kind of future we’re going to get. 

When it comes to raising capital, Dan had been laying the groundwork for his seed raise for months (and possibly years), turning those investor dots into lines and allowing him to close his round in record time. But, in case that makes it sound too easy, Dan is open about what a humbling experience it is dealing with all those rejections, and the importance of getting support on your fundraising journey:

The biggest challenge for me was the belief that I could actually do it! Finding someone who can instil that confidence and belief in you, and guide you through the challenging process of capital raising, is essential.

🛠 KNOW YOUR IMPACT:

It’s becoming increasingly important to communicate (and track) your impact when raising capital (MotherTree have it beautifully hardcoded into their product). That’s why we’re building a tool that will help founders articulate their theory of change and define, calculate and track their climate KPIs over time. Stay tuned. 👀

And if you haven’t signed up for our beta waitlist yet, get on it. 👇

🚨 WHAT’S CAUGHT OUR ATTENTION:

Recycleye, an AI-driven waste company on a mission to revolutionise waste management through machine learning, computer vision and robotics, raised $17m in Series A financing. In the words of Charlie McGee, “There’s no such thing as waste, only stuff in the wrong place”. 😊

🤩 ICYMI

We can’t stop thinking about this slow mo convo between Mo Gawdat and Clover Hogan, two master communicators, on How to Deal With Eco-Anxiety and Fight to Save our Planet. Well worth a listen. 🎧

🌱 JOIN US

If you're a founder building a startup for the climate era and you want to try out our fundraising tools before anyone else, sign up for our beta now. 👇

Investors, want early 👀 on quality dealflow and some snazzy tools to help streamline your dealmaking? Hit the button. 👇