Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)

🤝 This week, we launched our How to Do Business (HTDB) Event Series with Wells Fargo!    This series is a collaboration with our financial partners to give our startup founders exclusive access to financial experts and investors across different industries.   For our first event of the series, Wells Fargo hosted a panel that discussed Wells Fargo's investment priorities and startup/small business support services. Special thanks to our the Wells Fargo panelists: Gregory Lopez, Senior Assistant Vice President, Sustainability; Richard Oesterheld, Lead Treasury Management Consultant, Technology Banking Group; Brandon Holm, Vice President | Senior Relationship Manager, Technology & Sustainability; James Grossman Vice President, Energy Transition, Corporate & Investment Banking; and John Crum, Managing Director, Wells Fargo Equipment Finance.   After the panel, attendees heard from 4 of our startup founders including, Galen W. from WHISPER Energy, Hilary Taylor from WattsUp, Stephan Luna Ng from Moon Five Technologies, and Joey Pham from Eorte Brand. After their pitches, founders and Wells Fargo representatives enjoyed a networking happy hour.   We look forward to continuing to help our founders form relationships with investors through events like this!

🚨🗳️ Vote for our session at SOCAP25! 🚨🗳️ 🔗https://lnkd.in/g54Qd9y6 LACI will host a fireside chat titled "Scaling Climate Impact from Pilots to Profitability: The Role of Debt, Venture, and Philanthropy." We'll be featuring Surinder Singh, CEO and founder of Relyion who has taken advantage of both of LACI's funds and successfully implemented a pilot with LACI funding. Your vote will shape the agenda for this year's conference, and we're excited to elevate the conversation of the impact investing work we've been doing at LACI.

📱🌎 We believe that real impact often happens at the community level. LACI portfolio company, Dashboard.Earth helps empower individuals to take simple, measurable climate actions that build toward long-term resilience and sustainability across Los Angeles and beyond. Through their app, users complete real-world actions — like conserving water, composting, or using public transit — and 💸 earn rewards 💸 while seeing the impact of their efforts. Check out Dashboard.Earth's app today: https://lnkd.in/gbVFKj32

📖 Every startup has a story. Jordan Justus and Harris Lummis first conceptualized a vision for Automotus while working on a college project at Loyola Marymount University, "We decided to start this business as a class project to really see if we could build it and more importantly see if cities would want to deploy automated curb management to help tackle traffic. The more that we had conversations with cities the more that we understood that this is a far more complicated problem," said Jordan. Years later, the LACI portfolio company has been a part of numerous initiatives in our City Climate Innovation Challenge. They have also installed their tech in multiple airports and cities, and are currently automating curbside enforcement. Automotus is a first-of-its-kind computer vision technology for smarter curb operations. "With 30% of cars on the road, the vehicle is already at the destination--they're just trying to park and creating more traffic by circling." Working directly with cities and airports, Automotus' technology tackles congestion, emissions, and safety hazards at curbs through data collection and analysis. Automotus is one of many portfolio companies that LACI has proudly helped scale. "One of the myths of innovation is that it happens in a vacuum and a couple of people working hard at something--but it's a team sport and that includes all stakeholders," said Jordan.

🎉ThermoShade won the FBomb Angels Big Deal Energy pitch competition! We are so honored and excited to have this incredible group of women as investors. Thank you to my diligence team Katrina Sather, Catherine Dovey, and Laurence Melloul and to Megan McNally! This was an empowering and uplifting experience engaging with such supportive investors and meeting so many wonderful female founders.

Startup founder Joshua Aviv from LACI portfolio company, SparkCharge, is leading the charge to advance access to mobile charging! 🎉 Congratulations on making the Forbes BLK 50 list! We look forward to championing SparkCharge's continued growth.

Do you have a game changing transportation electrification or clean energy solution looking to pilot in Los Angeles? We want your solution to potentially pilot--and if it works, help scale--at LACI's newest innovation sandbox at the Warner Center in LA's San Fernando Valley! Respond to our RFI today. As part of the merger of Urban Movement Labs into Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), we were excited to take on the Transportation Technology Innovation Zone at the Warner Center. The Zone came together thanks to the leadership and support of Councilman Bob Blumenfield, Senator Henry Stern, Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, LADOT, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, and many others. Now, we are getting to work in partnership with the team at the WARNER CENTER ASSOCIATION INC. #Please #share, and if you have a game changing technology, respond to the RFI. https://lnkd.in/gfPrngCW

🚀 We are still buzzing from our TEP delegation's field trip to Rivian's historic South Coast Theater in Laguna Beach! During the trip, TEP members discussed future zero-emission vehicle policies, explored industry updates, and received an up-close look at Rivian's newest delivery truck models. The visit sparked new conversations with potential TEP partners, generated fresh policy ideas, and laid the groundwork for future field trips. We look forward to our continued work with Rivian and our TEP partners to push progress toward a region powered by electric transportation! California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission, City of Dana Point, City of Los Angeles, City of Redondo Beach, City of Seal Beach, Clean Power Alliance, GO-Biz, County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metropolitian Water District, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Association of Governments, Scale Microgrids, San Diego Gas & Electric, Sole Technology, Voltera Adam Mohabbat, Marcel Johnson, Kaia R.

Beyond Hollywood 🎬, LA has an active climate tech ecosystem. 🌳 ♻️ Last week I visited the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), and it's clear to see why they're a launchpad for climate and energy 🌎 startups. LACI is more than just a workspace – it offers entrepreneurs a unique blend of resources, including expert mentorship, partnerships, access to funding, and community, all in an effort to deploy climate and energy tech 🔋, fuel job creation ⚡, and create a sustainable future. 🌱 Here's LACI by the numbers: ▶️ 506 portfolio companies   ▶️ >$1 billion in funding raised (from 422 portfolio companies) ▶️ $344 million in revenue generated ▶️ >2,600 jobs created throughout Los Angeles  ▶️ >400 individuals received technical and certification training (so far) to operate in the energy sector ▶️ $587 million, projected long-term economic impact LACI is cultivating a promising network of climate tech startups in the heart of the LA Arts District. If you haven't already dropped by LACI, make sure to visit soon! They lead tours of LACI and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (right next door) every Wednesday. 🔗 in the comments. #venture #entrepreneurship #cleantech #energy #climate

🔋🚗 Today LACI and 16 other clean air champions took out a full-page Sacramento Bee advertisement to remind California's leaders that the Advanced Clean Cars rule is succeeding and building a more prosperous California. While getting more affordable EV options into dealership showrooms, California has become the fifth largest economy in the world, increasing gross domestic product and even making EVs one of its biggest exports worth $15 billion. Help us defend California's EV economic victories and learn more about how clean car standards drive EV manufacturing, investments, good paying jobs, and consumer savings: https://lnkd.in/dy-Z786f