CleanStart has a new face supporting the region’s Entrepreneurs.  Renonedo Williams is a CSU Sacramento Mechanical Engineering Student who is the newest intern at CleanStart.   He is entering his final semester at Sac State and is looking forward to connecting with as many clean tech startups as possible and understanding each of their value propositions, to connect his enthusiasm of building things to his goal of being his own boss. Renonedo has a background in design and material selection along with motor efficiency.

Some of Renonedo’s first goals are confirming the information from companies on the CleanStart Clean Tech Map, meeting the Startup Community, visiting clean tech businesses, and immersing himself in the region’s entrepreneurship culture.

We are able to bring Renonedo on as part of our partnership with the College of Engineering and Computer Science and BlueTech Valley.

CleanStart would like to welcome Qidong Jia and Kate Newton as our newest Associates.  They will be working on blogs, company profiles and CleanStart Events!

Kate is a recent graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and has a strong background in entrepreneurship and global politics. After helping launch an AgTech startup on the central coast, Kate is back in her hometown looking to take her experience into the world of Cleantech and help grow the Sacramento region.

Qidong recently graduated from UC San Diego and has a B.S. in Managerial Economics. His multicultural background helps companies approach problems from new perspective. He is also a fellow at Impact Venture Capital where his passion of understanding new technologies that could change the world helps both Impact and CleanStart make a difference. Check out his blog on Integrated Comfort.

We are excited that they both are working with us to make a difference in the region for CleanStart!

We would also like to thank Cameron Law, our last Associate, who has become the new Executive Director at Social Venture Partners in Sacramento. We look forward to continuing working with him as his career develops.

You can reach Qidong at <qidong@cleanstart.org> and Kate at <krnewton@cleanstart.org>.

CleanStart Progress Report Launch Party was a Success!

Last week’s CleanStart Progress Report Launch was a success.  Companies from all over the area attend.  

John Bissell talked about Micromidas becoming Origin Materials. We learned more about the sustainable Origins 100% bio-based water bottle and how they can save the world from 50 million tons of non-renewable PET. Origin Materials is now creating an 80% bio-based bottle with Nestle and Danone and received $40 million in investment.

Mike Hart introduced all the things going on at Sierra Energy’s campus. From their FastOX Gasifier being built to bringing the makers space Area 52 to life.  Mike gave us a peek at some of the obstacles and intricate systems Sierra Energy has had to fit FastOX into as Sierra Energy completes its commercial scale plant in Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County.

Arya Rashid and Joe Nguyen from Tenkiv answered questions on how they leveraged crowdfunding to raise money and increase Tenkiv’s visibility around the world. Not only did Tenkiv raise $50,000, they brought their solution to the attention of people around the world. They shared their key to a successful crowdfunding event –planning, planning, and planning!

The 2017 CleanStart Progress Report was also in the SacBee and Sacramento Business Journal.

Look to learn more about crowdfunding at our upcoming workshop on June 20!!