Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator Announces Partner Awards to Support Diversity in the Cleantech Ecosystem
February 24 2021 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Funding will provide entrepreneurial opportunities for
historically underrepresented groups in the cleantech industry
The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), a $50 million
collaboration between the Wells Fargo Foundation and the U.S.
Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL), today announced the four newest winners of its Channel
Partner Awards. Channel Partner Awards are presented twice annually
to members of IN2’s network of cleantech accelerator and incubator
programs across the United States to address gaps in the cleantech
ecosystem and eliminate the barriers startups face on the road to
commercialization. For the current awards round, $350,000 in total
funding, IN2 called for proposals that would provide
entrepreneurial opportunities for historically underrepresented
individuals in the cleantech industry.
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Deepinder Singh, CEO of IN2 portfolio
company 75F, demonstrates his company's technology at an IN2
ecosystem event (Photo: Wells Fargo)
Cleantech consistently ranks as one of the fastest-growing
employment categories in the United States, but its workforce has
historically lacked diversity. According to a 2019 report from the
Solar Foundation, the nation’s solar workforce at the time was 73%
white, 17% Hispanic or Latino, 9% Asian and 8% Black. Minority
entrepreneurship in cleantech is even lower, as only 10% of
minority-owned businesses are in the Professional, Scientific and
Technology sectors. A recent IN2 whitepaper assessing the current
cleantech landscape found that 78% of the surveyed cleantech
startups maintain a predominantly white workforce, and 93% have a
majority of male employees, further emphasizing the need for
initiatives focused on diversifying the industry.
Following a call for submissions, nearly 50% of the IN2 Channel
Partners applied for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion-focused
awards. Winners were selected by a roundtable of IN2, NREL and
Wells Fargo representatives on a competitive basis by evaluating
their potential to support the trajectory of Black, African
American, Latino, Asian American, American Indian, Alaska Native
and women entrepreneurs in clean technology sectors.
Awardees are:
- Centrepolis Accelerator (Southfield, MI) -- The Centrepolis
Accelerator’s Evergreen Fund invests $15,000 in select
entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds through a flexible
non-equity loan. The award funds will allow Centrepolis Accelerator
to invest in and provide free and discounted research and
development services for entrepreneurs located in underinvested
neighborhoods of Detroit, Hamtramck, Pontiac, Southfield, Jackson,
and Flint, and expand its geographic reach.
- AgLaunch (Memphis, TN) -- AgLaunch will use the funds to
develop an accelerator program focused specifically on
underrepresented and under resourced founders and farmers. AgLaunch
will leverage its relationships with Historically Black Colleges
and Universities, including Tennessee State University, to increase
the diversity of founders in the AgLaunch pipeline. Additionally,
the funds will be used to continue 48-Hour Launch, a program that
encourages underrepresented high school students to develop
technology and entrepreneurship skills focused on solving problems
in food and agriculture.
- Elemental Excelerator (HI and CA) -- The funds will be put
towards Elemental Excelerator’s Equity IN-novation Initiative, a $4
million program which seeks to support Black, Indigenous and People
of Color (BIPOC)-led cleantech startups. The initiative includes
culturally specific executive coaching, introductions to Elemental
Excelerator’s network of investors and industry leaders, business
mentorship and communications support for BIPOC founders.
Elemental’s Equity and Access Field Guide aims to become a
unique-in-the-industry resource for scoping, understanding,
designing, and advocating for equity in the cleantech sector and
the startup community writ large.
- Innovation Corridor (Denver, CO) -- The Innovation Corridor
will use the funds to establish an accelerator program to support
underrepresented communities, promote a more equitable distribution
of capital resources and provide access to the larger cleantech
community. The program will be designed to help substantially
increase BIPOC cleantech business ownership and incentivize wealth
creation in diverse communities. It also aims to connect
underrepresented cleantech entrepreneurs with established
stakeholders, resources and capital.
“Diverse entrepreneur and business-owner participation in the
cleantech ecosystem is essential to achieving our vision of an
inclusive and sustainable economic recovery,” said Jenny Flores,
Head of Small Business Growth Philanthropy at Wells Fargo. “It is
our hope that advancing inclusion within the cleantech ecosystem
will help drive greater equity in the distribution of green jobs,
more appropriately address issues of Environmental Justice, and
ensure that diverse communities are included and considered in the
many trillions of dollars of near-future investment that will be
required to avert the most serious impacts of climate change. We
look forward to tracking the progress and impact of these four
important programs.”
“The IN2 Channel Partner Awards program aims to strengthen
sustainable technology initiatives and address common barriers for
startups and has long prioritized diversity as a part of its
selection process,” said Trish Cozart, IN2 Program Manager, NREL.
“Research indicates that the pandemic has had a disproportionately
negative impact on minority-owned businesses in all sectors. These
latest awards will focus on addressing the lack of minority
representation in the cleantech industry at a time when startups
and entrepreneurs are experiencing heightened challenges due to the
coronavirus pandemic.”
The nationwide network of IN2 Channel Partners includes 63
cleantech and agtech business incubators, accelerators,
universities and industry experts. Since the inception of the
awards program in 2016, $5 million in competitive and
non-competitive Channel Partner Awards have supported 48 Strategic
Awards, 160 ecosystem awards and engaged all Channel Partners.
To learn more about diversity and inclusion within the Channel
Partner network, see the program’s whitepaper, Perspectives from
the IN² Network: State of the Cleantech Landscape.
About the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2)
The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) is a $50 million
clean technology program funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and
co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). IN2 identifies and supports
promising cleantech startups, with the goal of commercializing
low-carbon solutions in order to achieve the associated social,
economic, and climate benefits that are so urgently required. The
program aligns creative entrepreneurial solutions with robust
resources in order to reduce emissions across the economy, with a
focus on minimizing the energy impact of commercial buildings,
affordable residential housing, and agriculture sectors. More
specifically, IN2 helps early- and mid-stage clean technology
startups overcome common market barriers by delivering up to
$250,000 in non-dilutive funding in the form of research and
development support from world-class scientists. Participants also
gain access to lab facilities at NREL and the Donald Danforth Plant
Science Center in St. Louis (Danforth Center), and connections to a
robust, cross-industry network of foundations, investors and other
stakeholders. For more information, visit www.in2ecosystem.com.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is a leading financial services
company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets and proudly
serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of all middle
market companies in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of
banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as
consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable
operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial
Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and
Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 30 on Fortune’s 2020
rankings of America’s largest corporations. In the communities we
serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a
sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing
affordability, small business growth, financial health and a
low-carbon economy. News, insights and perspectives from Wells
Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.
News Release Category: WF-PESG
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Wells Fargo Media E.J. Bernacki ejbernacki@wellsfargo.com
415-823-3523
IN2 Media Liz Crumpacker NREL@antennagroup.com
646-494-7482
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