Latest News & Blogs
Sacramento Region Selected for $44 million Green City Investment
There’s a new source of opportunities for regional clean tech companies if they have something to offer on EVs. VW has agreed to a nearly $2 Billion settlement for cheating on its emissions testing, and $44 million of that looks like it will be...
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Entrepreneurs Dive into Crowdfunding Workshop
The number one need for a startup is almost always money. Now there is a new path to raising capital to launch a tech business. CleanStart is helping entrepreneurs get into the crowdfunding business! It requires some new skills and new techniques, most of which are...
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Profile: carbonBLU
carbonBLU is a cleantech software company, working to accelerate the adoption of alternative fuels and advanced vehicles. Based in Roseville, they started operations in 2014 with the mission to establish clear positive correlations between sustainable...
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Chris Russell Supports Entrepreneurs in Crowdfunding Workshop
Chris Russell brought his experience to help entrepreneurs understand rules around Equity Crowdfunding. Attendees learned and got to ask questions about Reg A+. Listen to his entire presentation courtesy of StartUp Sac.
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Brookings – “Cleantech venture capital: Continued declines and narrow geography limit prospects”
The Brookings Institution has published a review of VC investment into clean tech with some interesting conclusions. As we have said before, venture capital may not be a very good source of start up money in the clean tech sector. This report shows in detail how...
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Don’t Discount Equity Crowdfunding
by Thomas Hall If you have been in any startup community long enough, you have talked to the entrenched stakeholders, venture capitalist, law firms, accelerators, incubators, and the like. All seem to have similar tools to bring a business to success. However, there...
read moreAbout CleanStart
CleanStart was founded in 2005 as a nonprofit organization designed to accelerate the development of clean technology ventures within the Northern California region. Our mission is to empower entrepreneurs with the knowledge, capital, and connections that are critical to creating a successful new business. We do this by:
CONNECTING the Northern California region’s clean tech community through CleanStart PowerUP! networking events.
PROMOTING the region’s clean tech economy in the annual CleanStart Progress Report, on social media & news outlets and at statewide and national events.
EDUCATING Clean Tech business leaders through classes and the Entrepreneurs Showcase sponsored by Velocity Venture Capital.
Our Team
Gary Simon, Chairman
A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.
Mark Henwood, Board Member
CEO of Henwood Associates, Inc., an owner and operator of hydroelectric facilities in California. Mark also leads Powersoft, LLC, a SaaS provider and was a co-founder of CleanStart with Gary Simon.
Ken Bossung, Board Member
A proven sales executive and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in building high-performance sales teams and business development strategy.
Benjamin Finkelor, Board Member
Thomas Hall, Executive Director
Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.
Madeleine Jones, Intern
Madeleine is is a second-year Environmental Policy student at UC Davis. She is excited to be working with CleanStart to help Sacramento become a clean tech hub.
Terry Chen, Intern
Terry is a senior year Economics student at UC Davis. He is enthusiastic to help promote clean tech in the Sacramento region.
Sydney Cooper, Intern
Sydney is a fourth year applied statistics major at UC Davis and expects to graduate this spring. Sydney is eager to help Northern California be more sustainable.
CleanStart Accomplishments & Updates
CleanStart has been busy working to build the clean tech hub in the Sacramento region. We have been supporting local growth through education, networking, and promotion. Some of our recent successes include:
- CleanStart Restart, our successful crowdfunding campaign that exceeded its goal, brought stakeholders back and promoted several regional companies.
- 2017 CleanStart Networking Kickoff at The Urban Hive in Midtown Sacramento. With over 60 people from regional companies, Tenkiv live blogging their Kickstarter from it, and California Sunlight showing their solar power solutions.
- Our Legal Essentials Class nearly sold out and was highly recommended by attendees. Douglas Bosley of BTNT Law presented to a full room at Impact Venture Capital.
- The 2017 Progress Report was completed and released on April 26th.
- The 2017 Progress Report shows the 93 companies in the core clean tech sector is generating $3.2 billion in revenue and 5,300 jobs, up 26% from $2.54 billion and 4,150 jobs from the last survey released in 2015–five times faster than the overall economy grew.
- CleanStart will be hosting a class for companies interested in Crowdfunding. Leveraging CleanStart’s own experience and connections into the local crowdfunding community, CleanStart is proud to present “Is Crowdfunding Right for Your Tech Startup?” on June 20th.
CleanStart Companies
Upcoming Events
Contact Us
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801 K Street, 28th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
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