HPE launches three climate tech impact accelerators

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time, in no small part due to how interconnected we are as a society. Our individual actions – or lack of action – accumulate and multiply in impact. The ability to change the destructive trajectory we are on, in which 5 million excess deaths are anticipated between 2030 and 2050, requires a collective effort.

Technology has the potential to play a major role in decarbonization, but the lack of investment in climate technology startups, particularly those led by diverse founders, is leaving innovation on the table. In the spirit of partnership, inclusion, and innovation that is part of HPE’s DNA, we are launching three new Climate Technology Impact Accelerators with the goal of helping foster the next wave of innovation to combat climate change and with support from partners in finance, industry, and government.

Each accelerator has its own specific focus on supporting various aspects of the climate tech ecosystem, and all are focused on startups with leaders from diverse communities:

Sustainability Subscribed: HPE has partnered with Village Capital, an organization that supports impact-focused early-stage startups, and Zuora, a software company that supports businesses with recurring revenue models, to provide financial support and mentorship to entrepreneurs developing sustainability and climate solutions deployed as-a-service that are focused on underserved communities. Sustainability Subscribed is geared toward readying founders to attract capital by increasing the investment readiness of their solutions and business models.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Channel Partner Award: NREL and Wells Fargo are working with HPE and a number of electric utilities from around the country to increase the capacity of two Ecosystem Support Organizations which, in turn, will eliminate traditional obstacles that are frequently confronted by founders from underrepresented communities, such as underinvestment, high rates of failure, and lack of access to financial and social capital. Climate tech often lacks corporate and investor engagement as it is deemed too risky. This accelerator will help ensure equal opportunities and de-risk the climate tech innovation ecosystem.

LabStart: Drawing on HPE’s longstanding work with the U.S. Department of Energy, LabStart will extend access to the Department’s state-of-the-art national labs to diverse entrepreneurs to accelerate the development of their climate tech innovations into market-ready solutions. This program will help develop a larger pipeline of talented, diverse entrepreneurs, including those from non-traditional backgrounds. LabStart also aims to reduce friction to commercializing lab technology by helping entrepreneurs overcome structural, policy, and financial barriers.

In designing the Climate Tech Impact Accelerator program, HPE is drawing on its long history as a company dedicated to innovation. We know that innovation requires not just support for individual initiatives, but support for a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurs united in common purpose. And, as our CEO, Antonio Neri, often says, diversity drives innovation. The ecosystem – for climate technology or any other – benefits from the diverse perspectives that can only come when everyone around you doesn’t look and think the same. By lending HPE’s expertise, technology, and partnerships to communities that are too often underserved by venture capital and philanthropy, the Climate Tech Impact Accelerator program is working to ensure that less innovation goes wasted, overlooked, or undeveloped. 

This week is Climate Week, and we’re reminded that the planet is at an inflection point in the fight against climate change. We can’t afford to leave any stone unturned in working toward solutions.