State Of CleanTech

State Of CleanTech

May 3, 2022

Since 2005 CleanStart has been working to build the Greater Sacramento region as a clean tech hub. Because of this work and the growing community Sacramento is well positioned to capitalize on the energy transition. Becoming a self sustaining beehive of activity cleantech hub with $5 billion in revenue and 10,000 jobs is just around the corner. With everyone from private industry to government to individuals our regional energy transition could mean an increased quality of life, equitable economic development and sustainable living for all.

Clean Tech has been hot. There have been high valuations and public successes. While the market may eb and flow, the demand for clean energy and innovative solutions will still grow with people seeking solutions to reduce the impact of climate change and demanding energy independence from authoritative regimes. With this demand, receptive policy makers, and innovation expect the growth and returns to continue. 

Recently our region has had some very positive trends with new companies launching regularly and investment coming to the region.  Regional investment in Clean Tech Companies that began as startups here hit a new record $1.95 Billion since 2019.  For the first time, 5 regional companies have attracted attention from national and international investors and corporate partners. This is a result of support provided to companies, getting their technologies investment ready.

Over the past year I’ve been documenting and cataloging and connecting with every company I could identify in the Sacramento region to find out what they are working on, how many are working on it, and how much revenue they are bringing to the region. This part of CleanStart’s progress report, we do these every couple years to gauge our progress towards turning the region into a clean tech hub. The result has been in over 9900 jobs in the Sacramento region and over 100 clean tech companies these clean tech companies are producing defendable IP in batteries, zero emissions fuels, home efficiency and more.

I previewed the Progress Report in my “State of Clean Tech” talk at the 2022 Clean Tech Showcase. We are nearly to our goal and the beehive of activity is activating the virtuous cycle supporting companies’ growth. Now we need to harvest the ecosystem to serve as a catalyst for the energy transition in the Greater Sacramento region.

Past Progress Reports
Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

Sponsors

SMUD
CMC
RiverCity Bank

Weintraub | Tobin, Revrnt, Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig

New Energy Nexus Expands Its Mission

New Energy Nexus Expands Its Mission

Apr 19, 2022

On March 7, we heard from Denise Rushing the newly appointed Managing Director for California within New Energy Nexus about the accomplishments and aggressive goals it has for the future.  By way of background, what is now New Energy Nexus began with $30 million of seed money in 2014 coming out of the settlement of the PG&E bankruptcy to create the California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF).  With the help of more established clean tech funds, CalCEF began investing in individual startups, hoping that the success of those companies would lead to gains that could be recycled into new investments.

In 2016, the CEC created a new program called CalSEED to inject about $25 million per year into new startups through non-dilutive grants rather than equity investments, accelerating the commercialization of innovations from startups far more than the original $30 million revolving investment fund had.  That same year, CalCEF reconstituted itself as New Energy Nexus with a greatly expanded vision to promote acceleration of clean energy ventures worldwide.  Since that time New Energy Nexus has funded, grown, and built innovation ecosystems around 15+ new accelerators in 9 countries, mostly in Asia.  Denise said now that their efforts have assisted in landing over $1.5 billion in new investments for participating startups.  With the global expansion, they have now assisted over 400 startups.  The network they have created and the resources they offer could be very valuable to any startup.  

Their approach has been to create extensive networks and ecosystems, and to support startups over six key activities as shown in this diagram.  They have many useful tools on their website and provide easy access to those provided by others.

“Our Therory of Change” – New Energy Nexus

 

They also manage the CalTestBed voucher program to subsidize testing and validation of prototypes startups create, generating critical data that investors need to demonstrate the technology does what is claimed.  

Of particular note, Denise mentioned that applications for Cohort 6 of the CalSEED program will open in January.  As you may recall, that Cohort was postponed from this spring, so it is good to know things will be getting back on track.  

Denise herself has quite an impressive background.  She is a registered mechanical engineer and served 8 years on the Lake County Board of Supervisors.  After spending several years with PG&E in marketing and then with 4 tech startups, she founded Tactical Partners in 2000.   There she offered strategic and marketing advice to climate tech companies.  After 20 years, she advanced to New Energy Nexus and then was elevated to her current position.

To get the full benefit of this conversation, a recording of this session is available below.

CleanStart Perspectives with XeroHome

CleanStart Perspectives with XeroHome

Apr 7, 2022

Join us as we chat with Mudit Saxena, co-founder & CEO of XeroHome, a startup that makes it easy for homeowners to decarbonize their homes.

Our guest, Mudit Saxena, is the co-founder and CEO of XeroHome, a startup that helps homeowners and utilities transition to a low carbon future by prioritizing cost-effective, clean energy upgrades. XeroHome™ is a web platform that uses predictive modeling and data science to deliver customized home energy insights at scale.

CleanStart Perspectives are short online conversations to connect the greater Sacramento clean tech entrepreneurship community and share insights, experiences, and outlooks. Join us as we welcome our featured guests to share their perspective on what entrepreneurs and innovators can do to thrive and grow.

Register and we’ll send you the Zoom login information prior to the meeting time.

CleanStart Perspectives are recorded through Zoom.

PEM Motion Has Big Plans for Base in Sacramento

PEM Motion Has Big Plans for Base in Sacramento

Apr 5, 2022

How many proposed battery manufacturing plants are operating, under construction or in late planning stages in the US and Europe?  Christoph Lienemann, Managing Director of PEM Motion North America, provided the answer with his first slide at our Perspectives podcast on March 24:  36 in Europe and 20 in North America.  Those are much larger numbers than most people realize.  Is it a sign of a coming overcapacity situation?  Christoph said it depends on how fast the sales in EVs grow.  He can foresee cases where in fact there are not enough battery manufacturing plants to meet demand. Right now there have been 3.2 million EVs sold in Europe compared to 2 million in the US.  The potential exists for the US to be the larger market over time and outpace Europe.  If that happened, overcapacity may not be the problem.  

Why is PEM here in Sacramento?  From its base in Aachen, Germany, PEM has established itself as a creative leader in Europe in engineering of unique mobility products and their production expanding to industrial scale, with an impressive slate of partners.  PEM sees similar opportunities in North America and has chosen Sacramento as its future base to locate its team to provide manufacturing engineering and setting up “ramp-up” factory pilots to work out the details on scaling mobility products to industrial levels. It intends as it has in Europe to focus on niche products in motor sports, personal mobility products like scooters, and delivery vehicles.  It has already signed a partnership agreement with CityFreighter in Irvine, CA, to advance its line of electric delivery vans based on a low skateboard-like chassis.  It also offers similar expertise in setting up industrial scale manufacturing plants for innovative battery systems. 

PEM sees Sacramento as well-situated between growing production centers in the Bay Area, LA and Arizona in area where they can attract talent from our local universities and take advantage of some low-cost space.  In July 2021, PEM entered into a partnership with the California Mobility Center (CMC) supported by Sac State and SMUD to take the first steps of its larger plan.  Mark Doerfer has moved from Germany to here to serve as the COO of PEM Motion USA and the Director of Technology for the CMC.  

According to its website, ”the California Mobility Center (CMC) orchestrates commercially meaningful interactions between future mobility early-stage companies and industry-leading members.”  It has already signed up an impressive list of partners and supporters to create these kinds of meaningful collaborations. 

We recently attended the first Open House showcase of the CMC and saw the products with which they were already involved.  You can find out more about that in our blog here. 

To learn more about PEM Motion and its California Initiative, Christoph’s entire presentation and the Q&A session which followed is below.

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStart’s Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, BlueTech Valley, Revrnt, 

Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig, Momentum,

College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State

CleanTech Meetup Returns to in Person

CleanTech Meetup Returns to in Person

Mar 30, 2022

After 757 days with 100 virtual events CleanStart returned to in person networking with the CleanTech Meetup at the Hacker Lab on March 24th. It was exciting to see new faces and old ones.  We were joined by Kriztina Palone, Workforce Development Manager at City of Sacramento’s Office of Innovation and Economic Development, who helped in bringing together an exciting new tool in our efforts to connect the community to the Clean Tech Transition, the Cleantech Connect trailer.  

CleanTech Connect Trailer

CleanStarts out reach trailer, Cleantech Connect

 

 

 

We started this trailer back in 2020 before, well, everything. Now, with help from the CMC, BlueTech Valley, and the City of Sacramento, we have a trailer to help connect the larger community to the energy transition and inspire new entrepreneurs building the region as a clean tech hub. The trailer is a mobile event station, with Solar, Batteries, PAs, and TVs to help educate people on clean tech and entrepreneurship. Attendees loved the trailer we describe as our own little Nano Grid.

After networking, Kriztina Palone joined CleanStart’s Executive Director Thomas Hall for a bar stool discussion about how the city is leveraging funds and community groups to prepare Sacramentens for future careers. Palone is leading a second round of “Clean + Green Workforce Pathways Discussions” with industry leaders, local companies, and stakeholders to get input on what priorities the city should support. Palone shared how they are bringing together businesses and communities in a shared goal in taking advantage of the energy transition to create jobs and support equitable economic development. It is not just a policy goal for Palone but a personal one, wanting to see the region she grew up in thrive and grow.

A big opportunity discussed was bringing groups together to create a community energy project. Palone highlighted being from Del Paso she would love to see local communities benefit and grow. A community Energy Project could coordinate resources to get larger community and economic returns.  We encourage companies to engage with Palone and the City so we can build these projects. 

If you want to hear more check out the video below, and make sure you subscribe to attend future meetups.

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

Sponsors

SMUD
CMC
RiverCity Bank

Weintraub | Tobin, Revrnt, Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig