About episode
Jason Scott has been recruiting his coworkers at Google to directly support climate startups as both mentors and investors. Jason is also a partner at ANIM, an early-stage venture fund. He’s built funds and accelerator programs for Google including accelerators for black-led, women-led, and climate-focused companies.
He’s also launched the Black Angel Group as a way to take advantage of investing in climate tech companies and have a tangible impact on climate change. It’s also a great opportunity to learn from and collaborate with others. He shares numerous practical insights in this episode of Invested in Climate.
In Today’s Episode, we cover:
- [4:12] Learn all about Google’s climate accelerator
- [8:17] How Google helps startups get to the next level
- [11:40] How to be considered for future accelerators
- [12:47] Jason’s experience recruiting volunteers from within Google
- [16:36] How Jason supports climate tech startups through angel groups
- [21:16] What it’s like to be a member of Jason’s collective
- [23:02] The intersection between climate and underrepresented founders
- [25:41] Why now is the time to invest in a climate-focused startup
- [29:04] Learn about Jason’s global digital-first entrepreneurship fund
- [31:43] How to get involved in Jason’s endeavors
- [33:18] Ways to create positive change around issues you care about
Bringing data and machine learning to the climate tech space
The accelerators that Jason runs leverage Google’s superpower—data—to solve issues that their mission centers around. With the support of Google, climate tech startups can use data and machine learning to solve and scale their impact. Google offers the best of the best in AI, machine learning, and infrastructure.
Jason’s goal is to help apply advanced technologies in ecosystems that don’t have access to high-bandwidth internet. He strives to work with underrepresented races, genders, ethnicities, and geographies. Many founders are working to build solutions for their communities and have been unable to get into the climate tech space in the past.
Google’s accelerator runs annual cohorts of 12 or so startups. But Jason doesn’t stop there. He runs numerous other accelerators, many including climate tech-focused companies. He’s worked with over 100 startups in the last few years.
How Google helps startups get to the next level
Jason has been working with BlocPower™, a company that retrofits buildings to make them more energy-efficient, which is no small task in NYC. They work with large skyscrapers across the Northeast to retrofit them. They also leverage some of Google’s platforms to create climate-focused jobs in tech.
Jason also works within the AgTech sector in the food value chain to help them become more efficient (anything from livestock to crops). They help them apply machine learning models in areas that don’t have a broadband internet connection. They build models to run on small android devices or low-bandwidth internet to use high-tech solutions to diagnose crops, support livestock, etc. It takes innovative approaches to take technology into those areas where most people don’t have access to a laptop.
How Jason supports climate tech startups through Black Angel Group
Jason was doing some scout investing and was fortunate to build enough capital to begin angel investing. He realized that there was an exciting opportunity to create generational wealth and help support companies financially. Jason wanted to share an alternative path for capital. So he started an angel investing school at Google. Then he created a collective of new angel investors.
There’s power in coming together as a community to bring talents to founders. The Black Angel Group is the largest of his collectives, investing alongside major VC funds and helping them discover companies they’ve never seen before. He’s supporting founders that may not have previously had access to capital. Investment opportunities can be a game-changer for people’s lives and generations to come.
What does it look like to be a member of Jason’s collective? Listen to learn more!
Why now is the time to invest in a climate-focused startup
Because of the current political climate, micro-funds and support from corporate entities are ramping up. People are rolling up their sleeves and creating partnerships. Now is a great time to get involved in a climate-focused startup. There are many new accelerators, funds, angel collectives, and startup hubs. If you’re thinking about starting a climate-focused startup, do it now— while companies have the funding and interest to back you.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about Jason’s fund and what you can do to add value to the climate-tech ecosystem through your investments.
Resources & People Mentioned
Connect with Jason Scott
- Connect on LinkedIn
- Black Angel Group
- ANIM
Connect With Jason Rissman
Subscribe to Invested In Climate
