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A hot week means it’s time for some hot takes– which, for those who may not know, is an expression for quickly produced, deliberately provocative opinions. I was built for this!
Hot Take # 1: I know we’re putting the “warm” in global warning this week, but branding climate change as global warming rather than global weirding was a BIG miss. The slow march to a warmer planet doesn’t excite our short attention spans. But the weirding of the weather – the extremes creating storms, fires, floods, and wild temperature swings – is something we all experience and abhor. There’s plenty of room on the global weirding bandwagon, folks.
Global weirding (you’re warming up to it, aren’t you?) will have incredible impacts on our infrastructure, and it’s one of the reasons why utilities have been in the news a lot lately. But there’s one utility that – in our humble opinion – isn’t getting the attention it deserves.
Picture this: we all expect this life-powering resource to be there when we turn it on. We want it to be clean. We want it to be affordable. We want it to be interconnected and distributed. We want it to power economic growth. And we want it to be the cornerstone of a healthy, prosperous planet.
You know the utility I’m talking about. It’s the electric water utility.
Hot Take # 2: Water is arguably the biggest missed opportunity in climate tech over the past decade. While other sectors (namely mobility and energy) received the lion’s share of the innovation capital over the last decade, water lagged beyond. As electrification accelerates and water-intensive industries like semiconductors and data centers scale, global freshwater demand is set to outpace supply by 40% within the next decade. Yet innovation lags behind, water tech startups face disproportionate barriers to reaching market.
These gaps – in funding, in innovation, in the market – are why we launched the Water Innovation Hub at ClimateHaven. Through pilot opportunities, research, and investment, we aim to build world-class expertise that accelerates compelling water technologies from lab to market.
We’re proud to have an incredible partner in this effort – the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, whose leadership catalyzed the launch of the Hub. Read more about the launch of the Hub here.
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LET'S TALK WATER TECH PILOTS
The best part of the Water Innovation Hub: paid pilot opportunities await right here in Connecticut with the Regional Water Authority.
In conjunction with the launch of the Hub, we announced the first 2025 Innovation Challenge, which provides startups with water technologies in three key areas the opportunity to secure a $30k paid pilot:
1. Lead Pipe Detection
2. Inspection Drones
3. Rapid Water Quality Testing
Interested startups can learn more about the pilot opportunities by joining us for an upcoming informational webinar on July 23rd. Or, they can apply here!
A BIG WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS
Hot Take # 3: It is a really good time to start a climatetech company. Seriously. If you’re at the earliest stages, you have access to incredible talent and affordable space and – most importantly – you have the chance to build a market-based solution from Day 1.
A big welcome to our newest members:
Banofi Leather is creating sustainable next-gen, plant-based leather from discarded banana crop waste. Founded by Yale alum Jinali Mody, Banofi leather looks, feels and smells like animal leather but is vegan, sustainable and cruelty-free. Banofi achieves a 95% reduction in water use, 90%+ reduction of carbon emissions, and completely eliminates toxic waste compared to animal leather.
Harness is an AI-powered finance platform that connects renewable energy developers in West Africa with global investors by streamlining project evaluation, de-risking investment, and accelerating access to capital for climate-positive infrastructure. Harness is co-founded by Yale MBA student Marlo Eltaib and Yale College senior Jesse Okoche.
STARTUP PLAYBOOK
Hot Take # 4: It is a painfully hard time to scale a climatetech company. My takes may be getting cooler, as this one is becoming quite apparent as companies navigate regulatory uncertainty, disappearing green premiums, and corporate caution. I wouldn’t want to be raising Series B/C stage capital right now.
Our goal: make it less hard from the start. We’re laser-focused on building resources that make the company-building process more intuitive from the moment of company conception.
Welcome to the Startup Playbook, a member-only resource, which could best be described as the mother of all climatetech company building encyclopedias. From business and management fundamentals to story telling and capital raising, we’ve pulled together a treasure trove of resources, wisdom and perspective on how you can build a market-based, problem-solving climatetech company.
Interested in becoming a member and gaining Startup Playbook access? Apply here!
Want a window into the Startup Playbook? Check out the Startup Playbook Blog! A favorite post from 2023 which feels relevant today: Skate to where the Puck is Going.
3 QUICK HITS
CLOSING THOUGHT
Hot Take # 5: Watching ClimateHaven members win pitch competitions never gets old.
Okay, I admit it, that’s not a very hot take. But it’s still true!
A big congratulations to Oxylus Energy and their brilliant founding team for taking home the first prize in the Climate Pitch Competition at the Yale Innovation Summit. The Oxylus team has grown dramatically over the past year and is poised for continued growth.
In addition, congratulations to Nick Callegari and Verustruct for taking second place in the pitch competition and to Nick Holland and Virv for winning the e-poster competition.
There’s no truth to the rumor that all ClimateHaven founders named Nick win a prize. But here’s what is true: the founders in ClimateHaven make it a GREAT place to be, no matter the temperature!
Until next time,
Ryan
P.S., follow ClimateHaven on LinkedIn and if you are a member, follow the Weekly Digest newsletters to keep up with our progress.
