Introducing Poly Canyon Ventures’ Climate Changers Fund

The Climate Changer’s Fund furthers Poly Canyon Ventures’ mission of helping startups grow and thrive on the California central coast. This fund specifically targets promoting start-ups with female-identified founders that have positive environmental and social impacts. The Climate Changer’s Fund builds on PCV’s mission of promoting socially and environmentally responsible business and investing practices and creating unique hands-on learning opportunities for university students.

PCV has partnered with SLO Mayor Heidi Harmon and Cal Poly Engineering professor Lizabeth Schlemer to help develop and execute the vision of this fund.   As with all of our start-ups, PCV will help the selected team incorporate, connect them with other resources on campus and in the community that they can benefit from, and work closely with them to either get into an incubator or accelerator such as the SLO HotHouse, or raise a seed round of funding.

The Climate Changer’s Fund Criterion:

• Promotion of Female-Identified Entrepreneurs: The start-up that is selected for funding from The Climate Changer’s Fund will be required to have at least one female co-founder. The startup will also be required to produce a procedure for regularly evaluating workplace culture in order to maintain a positive environment for all.
• Positive Environmental Impact: The start-up will also be required to be developing a product or service that combats climate change by reducing fossil fuel emissions.

• Positive Social Impact: The start-up that is selected for funding from the Climate Changer’s Fund will be required to have a positive social impact. “Social impact” is defined as the effects of an organization’s actions on society. Whether or not a startup has a positive social impact can be evaluated according to the following factors:
• Projected or perceived effects that the product or service itself will have on society
• If the product is manufactured or marketed, the effects of that manufacturing on society
• Whether or not the startup intends to donate a percent of its revenues to non-profits that are known to create positive social impacts.