Mach49 Catalyzes Growth in Sustainability-Focused Venture Building and Investing for Global 1000 Partners

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Mach49, the growth incubator for global businesses, highlights its clients' expanding commitment to investments across sustainable energy, climate tech, EV and sustainable mobility, circular economy, and intelligent infrastructure. Mach49 partners with leading multinationals to build their own internal incubators and accelerators to drive organic growth. The team also helps global businesses design and launch their internal corporate venture capital (CVC) activities — investing, partnering, and M&A. All of Mach49's clients regard sustainability as an important part of their agenda. Clients focused on groundbreaking sustainability ventures and investments include Halliburton Labs of Halliburton Company; TDK Ventures of TDK Corporation; SE Ventures from Schneider Electric; Hitachi; LIXIL Corporation; and RWE Energy; among others.

"Mach49 was founded on the belief that through venture building and venture investing, global businesses can solve the world's most pressing problems, including climate change, water, poverty, health, and education," said Linda Yates, Founder and CEO of Mach49. "Embracing a Silicon Valley mindset is the first step. With a nimble, startup and VC mindset, large global corporations are leveraging their talent, assets, and innovation to create a growth engine fueled by a pipeline and portfolio of new ventures."

U.S. Sustainability Investing Reaches $17 Trillion

With the global push for a clean energy economy, including the U.S. government's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, sustainability investment continues to climb. Last year, sustainable investments in the U.S. alone jumped to $17.1 trillion, up 42% from 2018. 

The influx of activity in the Global 1000's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)-focused investments continues to drive Mach49's business, and the growth incubator anticipates more multinationals will dedicate ever-increasing resources towards climate solutions, from incubations to corporate venture funds, as climate technology goes mainstream.

"Whether our clients are coming to us to ideate, incubate, accelerate, or scale new ventures, or to set up a corporate venture capital fund, sustainability- and ESG-focused corporate venturing is the fastest growing sector of Mach49's business. With a focus on execution, we partner with our clients to bring their sustainability initiatives to market — enabling their commitment to clean energy and a circular economy focused on waste elimination and continual re-use of resources," said Paul Holland, Managing Director of Mach49's Corporate Investing Practice and former cleantech investor at Foundation Capital. 

Clean Energy Technology at Scale

As part of their commitment to sustainability, Halliburton Labs this month announced the second cohort of startups selected into the program's collaborative environment to advance cleaner, affordable energy. Since 2020, Mach49 has supported the launch and growth of the Halliburton Labs' program, which gives early-stage clean energy companies access to Halliburton's lab facilities, technical expertise, and business network to help advance their products, secure funding, and prepare to commercialize and scale their technology. 

Another Global 1000 client committed to solving real-world problems around climate and energy transformation is TDK. The company's global corporate venture arm, TDK Ventures, which Mach49 helped to establish over the last two years, is dedicated to investing in early-stage, clean technology, and advanced materials companies that contribute to society and sustainability efforts. 

Earlier this year, TDK Ventures launched its second fund, which brings their total assets under management to $200 million. Their growing portfolio includes standouts like Battery Resourcers and Fabric8Labs. Battery Resourcers enables a circular economy through lithium-ion battery recycling, which will help power the predicted 800%+ increase in the number of EVs expected to hit the road by 2030. Fabric8Labs, an additive manufacturing company, prints high-precision metal parts using a proprietary process that eliminates the expensive metal powders and power-hungry thermal processes typical in current market offerings, and is focused on initial applications that include semiconductors, antennas (5G), electronics, medical devices, and thermal management.

Schneider Electric, a Mach49 partner focused on sustainability and the circular economy, is driving innovation in resource management. The multinational energy management company has been incubating new companies with Mach49 since 2018. In that same year, Mach49 advised Schneider Electric on establishing their CVC arm, SE Ventures. SE Ventures launched with a $600 million fund dedicated to investing in energy transition, smart structures, and industry 4.0, as well as advising and acting as strategic accelerants for high-potential startups. 

"As part of our ongoing commitment to invest in people and the planet, Schneider Electric is focused on sustainability. As good corporate citizens, we all need to learn to do more with less. Not only is it a good business practice, it's also the right thing to do. With Schneider Electric's domain expertise, R&D, and external investments in technologies for a sustainable, electrified future, we can lead the energy revolution," said Heriberto Diarte, Founder and Managing Partner of SE Ventures. 

While historic incubator design has a 90% failure rate, SE Ventures has a 100% success rate. Mach49 has helped incubate all of those successful ventures, including eIQ Mobility, EV fleet as a service; Clipsal Solar, a top Australian residential solar energy provider combining solar and data; and Dash Energy, an online tool to optimize energy spend, use and the percentage of energy coming from renewable sources. 

Mach49 has a history of helping energy companies address climate change with corporate venturing and innovation. Mach49 partnered with RWE Energy, the energy division of German multinational energy company RWE, to incubate a digital analytical solution for large energy users. Within 36 months, Pear.ai was acquired by the nation's leading competitive energy supplier, Constellation (parent company Exelon Generation). Constellation leverages Pear.ai's energy intelligence platform to provide business customers with utility expense management and centralized, streamlined access to all of their utility data as well as meaningful analytics.

Corporate Stewards for Climate Innovation

Mach49 also has a history of working with global businesses to drive meaningful growth. One example is Hitachi Global Social Innovation Business (GSIB), which has accelerated their new business incubation process to grow Hitachi organically from within. Through co-creating new businesses and business models, Hitachi is providing innovative solutions that address social challenges, with a focus on the environment, resiliency, security and safety. Hitachi continues to leverage its people, assets, and channels to focus on decarbonization as a whole across the energy, manufacturing and mobility sectors.

As climate change continues to impact natural resources, like water, Mach49's clients continue to find new ways to act as corporate stewards for additional climate innovation. For example, LIXIL, a maker of pioneering water and housing products, is working towards becoming a leader in sustainable water solutions. LIXIL is exploring water usage and sustainability in homes and commercial buildings throughout water-stressed regions across the globe. 

"At Mach49, we help companies move from ideas to execution, and the time to take action in favor of sustainability-focused venture building and investing is now. We have entered into a new era of cleantech investment, with startups and large corporations both doubling-down on green solutions," concluded Yates. 

About Mach49

Mach49 partners with global businesses to disrupt markets and create new growth opportunities. Mach49 focuses on execution, with a unique approach to venture building and investing fueled by decades of Silicon Valley operating experience and success. Mach49 was founded in 2014 by Linda Yates and is based in Redwood City, California, with offices in Boston, London, Amsterdam and Singapore. Learn more about Mach49 at www.mach49.com.

SOURCE Mach49

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