GreenBiz is hosting VERGE 19 from October 22nd-24th in Oakland, California. They have a special Carbon track of the conference, featuring quite a lot on carbon removal. There is a special exhibition that entrepreneurs can apply for called the Carbon Removal Startup Showcase. The deadline is August 30th, 2019.
Full Transcript
Ross Kenyon: Hello and welcome to Carbon Removal Newsroom. I’m Ross Kenyon. I’m lead strategist with the Nori Carbon Removal Marketplace. We have a Carbon Removal Newsroom veteran who’s back on the show now, Jim Giles, Conference Chair for Verge Carbon. Verge Carbon is a track within Verge 19. We’re really excited. Thanks for having us Jim and we’re so pleased to be a part of Verge.
Jim Giles: Hey Ross, thanks for having me on again.
Ross Kenyon: Yeah, our pleasure. Well, I guess I did a nice little summation of what Verge 19 and Verge Carbon is about but is there anything I left out? I’m sure there’s a lot to it.
Jim Giles: No, I mean, you captured it really well. So Verge 19, Verge is an established conference, happens every year in Oakland, California. It’s dedicated to accelerating the clean economy. And like you said, we have this new track this year, which is dedicated to the carbon economy. So we’re looking at really sort of taking that term very broadly. So we’re interested in everything from regenerative agriculture to carbon tech to carbon capture from power plants and industrial facilities. And we’re going to be bringing together startups, entrepreneurs, business leaders, people from think tank, people from government to really talk about the business opportunities in this area.
Ross Kenyon: That’s great. We are all looking forward to it. If you’d like to come hang out with Nori, it’s October 22nd through 24th in Oakland, California. There’s a referral code that I can put in the show notes if you would like to attend. And I want them to have a chance to show off what they’re working and put themselves in front of people who are investors or potential purchasers of their products and services. And that’s when we saw that there was the Carbon Removal Startup Showcase, which is happening at Verge 19.
So what exactly is the motivation there, Jim? What is happening? How can people become involved in it?
Jim Giles: How companies have opportunities to invest in, say, carbon offsets and regenerative agriculture programs and things like that. And so that kind of work by definition really involves relatively mature companies, companies that have products. And of course, not all of them are quite ready to go to market, but they’re working on stuff that’s super exciting and we think very relevant to a lot of the people who will be at Verge. So what we’ve done is carve out a space in the expo hall at Verge for 20 startups working in the carbon economy to come and have a presence, have a table there across the three days of the conference.
There’ll be an opportunity for them to meet all of the Virgin attendees, which we think is going to include potential clients for these startups, strategic partners, investors, and just folks that they may want to network with and form partnerships. And we made this announcement a few weeks ago and really excited to see applications coming in right now. It is a selective process, but if you go to the Verge website, you can get more details there and follow a link. There’s a short form that we ask prospective startups to fill in and we would love to have applications.
The deadline is August 30th.
Ross Kenyon: That’s terrific. And I’m happy to hear that it sounds like maybe you have had applications already rolling in because sometimes carbon removal seems like a small space where you kind of know everyone. Then again, I think not a week or two goes by that I don’t hear of some new engineering effort, some new product that is trying to be built, some prototype. I sort of can’t keep up with it anymore. And I’ve only been in carbon removal seriously for... About two years. And it’s already changed and grown so much. So I’m happy to hear it.
And I’m sure you know a lot of the players in this space. But have you been surprised by some of the applications you’ve received so far?
Jim Giles: Yeah, we have been surprised. And, you know, I feel the same as you. I’ve been working in carbon removal for about the same time, about two years. And there’s definitely been moments where I’ve been feeling a little bit nervous or maybe even a bit depressed, you know, and kind of thinking, oh, I’m familiar with all the startups in this space, you know, and there’s so much that we need to achieve. The scale of the problem around removal is so great. We really need an order of magnitude more startups than we have right now.
And I think that’s true. But I found that, you know, anytime I start to worry and think there’s not enough, then the next week I’ll stumble across a new batch of folks who are doing something really interesting, who I’ve never heard of, you know, often work coming out of a university or coming out of, you know, Europe or Asia or some area of the carbon economy that I’m not so familiar with. And I started to get excited again. And I think there is much more of an awareness now about the need to address removal and that we’re seeing that start to translate into a new wave of startups, basically.
So yes, we are getting in applications and We have another program that we can talk about in a minute, Verge Accelerate. But that’s a great example of we now have finalists for Verge Accelerate. And there’s a couple of people in there, a couple of startups in there that I’ve never come across before who are based in the US. So yeah, it’s really exciting. I think things are blossoming.
Ross Kenyon: Yes, I’m very excited and I’m excited to be overwhelmed by all the things I can no longer keep up with. It means that it’s growing quite quickly. So yeah, what is Verge Accelerate? Which is a leading question because I know because Nori is a part of it right now. But why don’t you explain, Jim, what is happening with that?
Jim Giles: Yeah, I will do. And we’re really excited to have you involved. It can get complicated. So there’s actually multiple opportunities for startups within the Verge event. And they’re not mutually exclusive. So, you know, you can definitely startups can be involved in more than one. Verge Accelerator, I should say. So the applications are closed now. We’re at the voting stage. And what happens with Accelerate is that is a pitch competition on the main stage at Verge. So there are four tracks within Verge, but we also have plenary sessions on the main stage as a chance to present to a We’re expecting 3,000 people in total.
So you’re looking at least 1,000 people there. So it’s a great opportunity. And yeah, it’s an opportunity for startups to pitch to the audience and also to influence. We have an initial shortlist that we have culled to, I believe we have six finalists in the conference. Thank you.
Ross Kenyon: Indeed, there are some very cool companies in here. I’ll put the link in the show notes as well if you’d like to go and vote for Nori or otherwise. I would feel besmirching my journalistic integrity here for whatever that’s worth to say. Just go vote for us. We’ve got some very cool companies happening there. Check the show notes if you’d like to take a look at them and vote for whichever you’d like to see pitch on the main stage. That’s cool. This event has so many things going on. We’re very excited to be there.
Well, is there anything else that you would like to tell the audience about what’s happening at Verge 19 and Verge Carbon?
Jim Giles: And not really. I mean, I’ll just say a bit more about the carbon removal startup showcase for any companies that are interested. Like I said, we’re really looking at early stage companies. So the criteria are we’re looking for startups that have a product that has moved out of the research phase. So it’s either getting close to market or on the market already. And we’re also looking for companies that have less than $5 million in total revenue and investment to date. And as I said, we’re looking for companies from right across the carbon removal, carbon economy area.
And yeah, we’re trying to keep the application process super simple. There is a very short Google form that we ask you to fill out and successful applicants is completely free to participate. So successful applicants will be given a presence in the expo hall and they’ll also receive two all access passes to the whole of Verge.
Ross Kenyon: Which is a big deal. Conference attendance is oftentimes quite expensive. So getting into that and the type of people that will be in there that are so relevant to growing your business, I think it’s quite a valuable opportunity. So I would encourage if there’s anyone out there who’s listening, who has an inkling of a carbon removal company in them that they’re trying to bring out, that they’re working on right now, would highly recommend applying. The link is in the show notes. And I’m looking forward to meeting all the people that will be there.
I want to be surprised by what I see.
Jim Giles: I think it’s going to be really interesting. Yeah. And the chance to bring together 20 carbon removal startups in one space, I think is going to be really interesting conversations. And it’ll be a great chance to kind of assess where we are with this whole field.
Ross Kenyon: Absolutely. Well, thanks so much for being here with us, Jim. I’m happy you came back on. If you announce some other cool program in the interim before this event takes place, let’s have you back on again. I’m sure our paths will continue crossing.
Jim Giles: Absolutely. Well, okay, that’s a challenge. I’ll see if I can get on a third time.
Ross Kenyon: Yeah, I’m sure you’re not busy enough. So just design something new that you can come back on again to feed your vanity. Is that okay with you?
Jim Giles: All right. Great. Thanks so much, Ross.
Ross Kenyon: All right. Thanks, Jim. If you like the show, please rate and review it in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher. Tell your friends. If you know friends who are working on direct air capture or ag tech, carbon tech, anything that might be relevant to a carbon removal startup showcase, please let them know. Thank you so much for listening.
