If you thought funding five new startups to benefit ocean health was a big deal, check this out: The Sustainable Ocean Alliance, the same global nonprofit behind a handful of startups highlighted last year, has received $1.5 million as part of plans to fund 100 new startups by the end of 2021.
The $1.5 million comes from Marc and Lynne Benioff; Marc is the CEO of Salesforce and Lynne serves on the boards of several organizations.
The announcement came earlier this month at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The Sustainable Ocean Alliance bills itself as the world's largest coalition of young leaders (under 35) that focuses on developing solutions to protect and rehabilitate the ocean. Founder Daniela V. Fernandez says the Benioff's $1.5 million gift "will help further our goal of transforming brilliant ideas into revenue-generating ventures that can scale and have a positive impact on the health and sustainability of our planet."
The money will triple the number of startups selected to participate in the alliance's second-annual Ocean Solutions Accelerator Program this summer in San Francisco. The first five were selected in 2018. Three times that amount, or 15 startups, will receive $25,000 each in 2019, Fernandez says.
The alliance still needs additional funding to get to 100 by 2021, with money for 40 startups in 2020 and another 40 in 2021, the CEO says.
Fernandez acknowledges that the goal is ambitious. "We are looking for corporate partners that share our values and foundations that understand our vision of protecting our ocean by investing in ocean technologies and in the development of young ocean leaders," she said.
The startup received a $1 million worth of Bitcoin last year from the anonymous Pineapple Fund.
What help do the oceans need, specifically? See the first State of Our Ocean Annual Report, released at the Davos meeting. The report was crafted by talking to young leaders and ocean experts.
"The ocean is facing a multitude of threats due to warming temperatures, ocean acidification from increased carbon emissions, overfishing, and other detrimental human activities," the alliance said in a news release. "Since life on earth cannot be sustained without the critical role the ocean plays in our climate system, the need to preserve and rehabilitate the ocean is dire."
Fernandez says there are many areas of focus the alliance would like to see from startups, including using technology to reduce harmful emissions from ships, improving commercial fishing practices and combatting low-oxygen dead zones.
During the 2019 accelerator program, selected startups will be mentored by leading Silicon Valley experts, present to investors and philanthropists, and have the opportunity to be featured at a series of major international ocean summits.
New for 2019 is a finale that includes the Ocean Solutions Accelerator At Sea, an eight-day expedition aboard the National Geographic Quest exploration vessel, setting sail to Alaska on Aug. 24. It'll be done in partnership with Lindblad Expeditions and feature keynote speeches, demonstrations of ocean solutions and workshops.
"This voyage will give us the opportunity to turn students into active and engaged ocean leaders by exposing them to the wonders of the pristine Alaskan ocean," Fernandez said.
"Additionally, our ocean entrepreneurs from 2018 and 2019 will attend lessons aboard designed to help them scale their solutions (and) build meaningful connections to life-long mentors who can support the journey of bringing these innovations to market for the benefit of the ocean."
Interested? Applications are open at soalliance.org/ocean-solutions-accelerator. The deadline is March 31 to apply for the so-called Second Wave Cohort.
