Diego’s work at Dalus Capital and his insights into the growth of climate investing

Dalus Capital is a venture capital fund that seeks to make investments that have a positive financial return, while also positively impacting society and the planet. One of their investment areas, called climate innovation, seeks to support startups that use technology to mitigate climate change or adapt to its effects.

According to Diego, the growth of climate investing has been seen across industries and sectors. Driven by needs for adaptation, entrepreneurs are tackling a multitude of sustainability problems through different project from mobility to smart cities, energy, and food security. For example, Latin America and Mexico are important food production areas, but the industry has typically been artisanal. Now with climate change, farmers need technology that can allow them to react to changes in every season and entrepreneurs are stepping up to the challenge. The focus on making renewable energy more available at both large and small scales, such as at the home or a micro-business level, is also commonly being seen. People are also seeking to do things in a more efficient way to consume less resources and energy, further allowing an easier transition to renewable sources.

José’s work at Algramo and the problems he’s aiming to solve

I actually learned about Algramo about six years ago when my team at IDEO organized The Circular Design Challenge, a $1 million startup competition. Algramo was one of our winners, so I was thrilled to have an excuse to reach out to Jose and was also excited to learn that Dalus Capital invested in Algramo.

So first of all, Algramo means by the gram. It’s a tech platform that is helping the biggest consumer packaged goods brands, such as Unilever, Nestle, Coke, Walmart, etc., to offer their products through refillable solution machines alongside smart packaging that offers traceability for quality and impact. Jose started this company to try to solve three problems. The first one is what Jose calls the poverty tax, which is what happens when families don’t have enough resources to get “the largest spaghetti.” Instead, they’re forced to get the smallest one – similar in concept to getting one sleeve of a shirt or quarter liter of coconut oil. Compared with the families that have enough resources, they pay up to 40 to 50% more because the liquidity doesn’t allow them to get that discount. The second problem that Algramo’s trying to tackle is linked with the excessing packaging and bagging waste we produce. And the third one is how to make the solution scalable to solve these problems on a larger level.

Fernando’s work at VEU Auto and his strategy to address mobility issues

Fernando is working with the Government of Mexico City on the redesign of a “Tuk Tuk Fleet,” a lightweight, electric taxi fleet. Currently, between 30-50,000 vehicles are informally operating in the periphery of Mexico City as passenger taxis. They’re not legally recognized as taxis and can be understood as Tuk Tuks, globally. Fernando describes the different variants: there’s one that is a motorcycle pulling a homemade metallic cage, another that is an old American electric golf cart, and the Asian Tuk Tuk rickshaw. These vehicles are problematic in the sense that they are highly unsafe in the event of a collision and emit a high level of emissions, however they may be one of the smartest, last mile transportation systems in the world because these are very lightweight. While Fernando sees the future of transportation going electric, he proposes that the way the current market is looking at things is not really the answer. Electric cars are still heavy; we’re designing over two tons vehicles, resulting in a lot of plastic, metal, logistic processes, and emissions. We’re also designing cars that are privately owned and very expensive, thus excluding the majority of the world’s population. Ultimately, we’re also designing vehicles to be sold and haven’t yet achieved a circular business model through which we work on how many less vehicles we’re going to make next year.

Fernando shares that they have presented our first prototype. It’s a much safer vehicle because it has seatbelts and also a structure that protects its occupants in the event of a collision. It’s electric so it’s not emitting C02 from an exhaust pipe. This vehicle is already solving the two main issues that the Government of Mexico City wanted to solve before going into a standardization program. Jose was commissioned to do this project so he could set the bar on where the vehicles operating in this system should be.

Resources & People Mentioned

• Dalus Capital
• Algramo
• VEU Auto
• Latam Climate Innovation Summit

Connect with Diego Serebrisky, Jose Manuel Moller and Fernando Ocaña

• Connect with Diego
• Connect with Jose
• Connect with Fernando

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