Launch Alaska Partners With Earthshot Ventures

Increasing Venture Capital Investment in Clean Energy Technologies in Alaska and Beyond

Anchorage, Alaska – Launch Alaska is excited to announce a partnership with Earthshot Ventures, a new $60 million climate tech  venture capital fund.

The new fund is spun out of Elemental Excelerator, a global climate tech organization that started the use of the accelerator model for climate technologies. Elemental Excelerator is based in Honolulu, Hawaii and Palo Alto, California, and is a longtime partner of Launch Alaska. The two organizations bring real-world experience and insight deploying technologies in communities on the front lines of climate change.

Launch Alaska will provide access to customer networks and deal flow to Earthshot Ventures, and the organization’s CEO Isaac Vanderburg will sit on the fund’s board. Launch Alaska COO Frances Ball will be a venture fellow with the fund.

“Partnering with this fund is an important milestone for our organization and for Alaska,” said Launch Alaska CEO Isaac Vanderburg. “Deploying and scaling the technologies to combat climate change is the biggest economic opportunity of our generation, and this fund is yet another sign that Alaska has an important role to play.”

Earthshot Ventures connects innovation hubs in Alaska, Hawaii, California, and beyond, and combines the best parts of the accelerator model and the fund model to create a supportive environment for scaling companies to fight climate change.

Anchorage-based McKinley Alaska Private Investment, LLC (McKinley Alaska) an investor (limited partner) in the fund, is joined by an impressive list of other limited partners, including Emerson Collective, John Doerr (Chairman, Kleiner Perkins), Tom Steyer (Founder, NextGen America), Microsoft, Employees’ Retirement System of Hawaii, Stafford Capital Partners, Chris Cox (Chief Product Officer, Facebook), David Crane (Co-Founder & CEO, Climate Real Impact Solutions), and Impact Engine. These partners share a commitment to investing in bold climate solutions and working together to help companies succeed.

About Launch Alaska 
Developing and deploying solutions to climate change has the potential to radically improve our world, moving us away from pollution and extraction, and towards equity, access, and abundance. Launch Alaska views startups as the key to a needed industrial re-revolution—driving the rapid modernization and decarbonization of our critical systems to mitigate the causes and effects of climate change, while unlocking incredible economic opportunity.

The challenges are massive. But the solutions are exciting, and we’re proud to partner with game-changing startups from all over the globe to amplify their efforts to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. launchalaska.com

About McKinley Alaska Private Investment, LLC
McKinley Alaska Private Investment, LLC offers private equity investment opportunities, makes private investments in selected projects, and provides direct lending for qualified businesses. McKinley Alaska Private Investment, LLC began in 2019 as an initiative of McKinley Capital Management, LLC. In 2021, the firm was created to formalize McKinley’s private investment business and its specific products and services. The team is supported by McKinley Capital’s robust and experienced public investment methodology, and McKinley Research’s multidisciplinary team of professionals with expertise in economics, market research, feasibility studies, survey research, and program evaluations.  mckinleycapital.com  

About Earthshot Ventures
Earthshot Ventures is a $60 million venture fund investing in entrepreneurs solving the toughest climate challenges. The fund invests in both hardware and software companies from Seed through Series B, and helps companies scale by plugging them into our global network of customers, investors, and policymakers. In 2021, Earthshot was spun out of Elemental Excelerator, a global climate tech organization that pioneered the use of the accelerator model for climate technologies. The fund is led by Dawn Lippert, Elemental founder and CEO; Mike Jackson, who served as Elemental’s investor-in-residence since 2017; Ramsay Siegal, former head of Elemental’s portfolio; and Matt Logan, who previously evaluated startups and led corporate partnerships for Elemental.  earthshot.vc

About Elemental Excelerator
Elemental Excelerator is on a mission to redesign the systems at the root of climate change. In 2009, the non-profit launched a new model for funding climate tech deployment. Breaking down barriers to innovation alongside entrepreneurs provides Elemental unique insight into the policy, market, and technology innovation needed to build systems to uplift people and communities around the world. Elemental has invested in over 115 growth-stage companies and celebrated more than 20 exits, funded more than 70 technology projects, and built a platform for scaling equitable, market-driven solutions to climate change. elementalexcelerator.com