Category: LACI News

Climate change is heating up Los Angeles.

Xtelligent, SomEV, Zeal, and Maxwellian were given an unprecedented opportunity to network with the mobility’s top investors and other innovative companies and creators.

LA is one of the most traffic-choked cities in America, and suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the nation. This has been exacerbated by a recent threefold rise in e-commerce deliveries, with diesel-powered delivery trucks exacerbating both congestion and pollution.  However, change is coming for the better on both fronts, thanks to the vision of both the Mayor of Los Angeles and the many public and private stakeholders across the region. Many voices are calling for a zero emissions delivery zone—and LACI believes a pilot project zero emissions delivery zone is a key milestone for LA.

California needs more than a boost in electric vehicles and a 100% clean energy sector by 2045 to meet its climate goals.

Welcome to the 14 small businesses accepted into Cohort 2 of the Founders Business Accelerator! Selected from over 100 impressive applicants, the second cohort is comprised of some of the most dynamic and innovative companies from Los Angeles across variety of sectors—from transportation technologies to evocative artwork and community services. 

In California, 99.8 percent of all businesses are small businesses*, so by helping them succeed we spur economic growth and job creation. When our neighborhood entrepreneurs make positive environmental, social and economic impact, they can hire employees from their communities, promote sustainable supply chains and direct money towards neighborhood development. 

 “Small businesses are the beating heart of our economy—job creators that share Los Angeles’ innovative spirit with the world,” said Mayor Garcetti regarding the FBA program. “Working together with LACI, we’re ensuring small business owners have the tools they need to reach new markets, grow their bottom-line and thrive.” 

Getting to know the companies in Cohort 1 and 2 of FBA showed us that new kinds of businesses are flourishing as neighborhoods across Los Angeles evolve. These founders are tackling social issues and bringing services such as healthy food shops and restaurants, exercise spaces and new mobility options.   

The number of new businesses offering lifestyle services like markets, cafes and fitness studios in traditionally underserved communities is growing, including Cohort 1 business Hank’s Minimart in Crenshaw and Cohort 2 businesses Truman House Tavern, the first gastropub in San Fernando, and South LA Cafe in South Central LA, as well as exercise studios FitCulture Studios and Crenshaw Yoga and Dance of Cohort 2. 

The businesses focused on tackling Los Angeles’s traffic problems are solving for wider mobility issues, with Cohort 1 Ride On! Bike Shop/Co-Op and Cohort 2 FarmHub cafe and bike rental promote biking. There are also a number of services to expand EV adoption, including Cohort 2 companies ChargerHelp! and ZROCar. 

“I am looking forward to getting to know the founders in Cohort 2 over the next four weeks as they work with coaches to increase their financial savvy and perfect their business models,” said Matt Petersen, LACI CEO. “Seeing the drive and creativity of the founders in FBA makes me so excited about the social, economic and environmental impact that these small businesses are making in LA.”

Learn more about Cohort 2!  

The Founders Business Accelerator is one of the many ways LACI is unlocking innovation—we have a suite of programs to help startups grow, access capital and build networks.

Prompted by the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and the strong support of Council Members Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Monica Rodriguez, the FBA program is part of a city-wide initiative for cultivating a more equitable economy for all Angelenos. FBA Cohort 2 businesses are spread across 11 City Council districts, several of which are among the most economically disadvantaged in the region.

*Defined as businesses with less than 100 employees.

Just as the lowly bicycle is poised to take make share away from passenger cars in cities, the e-cargo bike is poised to displace zero-emissions vans in urban cores.

Many states, cities and the infamously car-centric Los Angeles are doing their part to work toward a clean transportation future. Now it’s time for Congress to put its foot on the accelerator of an EV.

On a bright Thursday morning in February, students gathered around the slim EV charger as Jesse Montras gently opened the case, ran his hands over the cool metal and named off the parts—computer board, transformer, import block, GCF block. As the instructor and the other 29 students hung on his words, Jesse felt the people around him on edge, anticipating each word as he named part after part. 

As he completed the quiz and the instructor moved on, Jesse thought back to how far he had come to be in the machine shop that day. In Jesse’s words, he “deviated from a young age”, and ended up incarcerated. He never thought he would graduate from high school, but while in prison he earned his GED and started working towards university credits in business at Palos Verdes college. After graduating from the APC Fellowship, Jesse plans to work to install EV charging stations and pursue his dream of building his own EVSE installation firm and grow with his own employees as the industry grows.

“My mentality has shifted,” said Jesse. “Once I got my GED I thought I would be satisfied to just get any job, but when this opportunity came up I realized that there was more for me—to better myself, leave a legacy, leave my past behind and move forward.” 

Jesse is part of the Advanced Prototyping Center Fellowship Technical Boot Camp, a three-week training program where 30 students learn EVSE Light Repair and Troubleshoot Training—EV charging station repair and maintenance. When he graduates, Jesse will have earned industry-recognised skills including NFPA 70E Certification, EVSE Technical Knowledge and EVSE Industry On-Site Visits, plus benefitting from career coaching, teambuilding, effective communication courses and project-based learning. 

Once he completes the three-week course, Jesse could be selected to join just 15 students who spend a further three months in the program and receive technical support from professional trainers. Cohort 1, which graduated in September 2019, 86% of participants were successfully placed at the end of the three-month Career Technical Support program. 

The APC Fellowship Program is a multi-tiered workforce training pipeline program to provide promising candidates with technical training, interpersonal skills, and industry-recognized certifications to help them succeed. The program brings un- or under-employeed people from underrepresented groups an entree into the green economy with practical hands on training on EVSE Light Repair and Troubleshoot Training to support our Zero Emissions Mobility Pilot Program, which is part of the Transportation Electrification Partnership.

Through the APC Fellowship Program, students like Jesse can reach their potential and together we can ensure that everyone in Los Angeles can participate in and benefit from the green economy. Special thanks to our corporate partners the Bently Foundation, GoBiz, California Workforce Development Board and Wells Fargo, who support the APC Fellowship program.

The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and our Transportation Electrification Partnership members recently released the Zero Emissions 2028 Roadmap 2.0, an ambitious plan detailing the pathway we are working toward to create the zero emissions transportation future we want and need for the greater Los Angeles region. It’s a future that will result in cleaner air for residents and dramatically reduce the region’s transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions, reducing emissions an additional 25% beyond existing commitments tied to California state law. It’s a future that will take the integrated work of all the Partnership members and many other public and private sector allies, and we invite you to join us.

Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Announces Creation of $5 Million Early-Stage Impact Investment Fund, Opens Call for Startups to Apply for New Cohort-Based Incubation Program

Impact Fund announces first two investments into LACI portfolio companies Seatrec and Freewire; Renewed startup incubation program offers $20,000 for pilot deployment, focuses on transportation electrification, clean energy, and circular economy

Los Angeles, January 15, 2020—The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) has launched a LACI Impact Fund for early-stage cleantech startups. As the Los Angeles-area continues to strengthen its position as a global leader in cleantech innovation and sustainability, the Fund will invest in a diverse slate of entrepreneurs ready to bring innovative and scalable cleantech technologies to market.

“The urgency of the climate crisis demands accelerated action – that’s why we are thrilled to announce the LACI Impact Fund, which will help scale innovation from startup entrepreneurs to help meet our region’s bold zero emissions transportation goals as well as solutions for clean energy and the circular economy,” said LACI President and CEO Matt Petersen. “As we relaunch our first cohort based startup program, the Fund provides a new tool to give our portfolio companies the opportunity for investment that aligns with their commitment to environmental, diversity and social impact.”

LACI’s first two investments in LACI portfolio companies Seatrec and FreeWire Technologies represent the organization’s commitment to accelerating the transportation electrification and 100 percent clean energy revolutions.

“Monitoring deep ocean areas with a device that uses no fuel is a key step in the fight against climate change,” said Seatrec Cofounder and CEO Dr. Yi Chao. “The LACI Impact Fund enabled Seatrec to scale and accelerate product development.” 

“We’re enabling the rapid transition to zero emissions transportation revolution with ultrafast EV charging technology that also minimizes impacts on the grid,” said FreeWire Founder and CEO Arcady Sosinov. “The LACI Impact Fund is crucial because it will help us focus our social and environmental commitments as we scale.”

The $5 million LACI Impact Fund invests in LACI portfolio companies as a follow-on investor in active seed, Series A, and Series B rounds. LACI President and CEO Matt Petersen, California State Senate emeriti President pro Tempore Kevin de León (as a volunteer), and representatives from Emerson Collective, a social change organization, will lead the Fund’s Investment Committee. 

The Fund considers a range of criteria when making investments, including: 

• Economic Impact – Including the number of employees from traditionally underrepresented communities and participation in workforce development initiatives;
• Environmental Impact – Including the current and potential for GHG emissions avoided, water savings, and waste diverted;
• Diversity Impact – Including founder, leadership team and board makeup; and
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & Community Impact – Including supply chain sustainability, volunteerism, & giving.

Led by Emily Bjorkland Drake, SVP of Unlocking Innovation, LACI’s renewed, cohort based Incubation Program is now recruiting for Cohort 1. In addition to eligibility for the Fund, LACI startups also benefit from the partnership with City of LA and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power through access to the world-class, 61,000 square foot La Kretz Innovation Campus (LKIC).

Participating startups will also benefit from:

• Advanced startup curriculum and hands-on advisory services from executive coaches;
• Eligibility for up to $20,000 for small-scale pilot deployment, and financing opportunities from the LACI Debt Fund; and
• Access to $160,000 in business services and perks, and other program benefits.

The launch of the Fund comes as part of a breakthrough year for LACI which released of the Zero Emissions 2028 Roadmap in November 2019 with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and others.  The Roadmap is a result of the unprecedented Transportation Electrification Partnership led by LACI, City of Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti, County of Los Angeles, LADWP, SCE, CARB, & LA Metro, and includes private partners like Audi, BMW, Proterra, Amply (a LACI portfolio company). The Roadmap sets the nation’s most ambitious transportation electrification targets—to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution while addressing equity and growing the regional economy—by the time the world arrives in Greater Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

In December 2019, LACI also announced the publication of the Cleantech Cities: Accelerating Climate Action Through Startups and Corporate Innovation report at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25). The report, issued by LACI in partnership with C40 and with in-kind research and analysis from PwC, outlines the critical role collaboration between cities and cleantech entrepreneurs will play in accelerating climate action and securing a 1.5°C future for our planet. The reports recommendations shows that if followed, there is an opportunity to create a $5 trillion market while further reducing GHG emissions by another 35 percent.

About LACI

The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), a private nonprofit organization, is creating an inclusive green economy by unlocking innovation (through working with startups to accelerate the commercialization of clean technologies), transforming markets (through partnerships in transportation, energy and sustainable cities) and enhancing communities (through workforce development, pilots and other programs). Founded as an economic development initiative by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water & Power (LADWP), LACI is recognized as one of the most innovative business incubators in the world by UBI. In the past seven years, LACI has helped 108 portfolio companies raise $221M in funding, $220M in revenue, create 1,750 jobs, and deliver more than $393M in long term economic value. Learn more at laci.org

Media Contact:

Sunshine Sachs
424.362.9462
LACI@SuneshineSachs.com