NEXUS Launches Impact Accelerator - Sponsored by Acru
Original articles from PR Newswire via NEXUS & LinkedIn
We’re elated to team up with NEXUS- a unique community representing over $700B in family assets with a deep dedication to social impact, who today announced the launch of its second annual NEXUS Impact Accelerator.
Below is a snippet from the recent article “NEXUS Launches Impact Accelerator” - an original article from PR Newswire via NEXUS and a teaser from their LinkedIn about our sponsorship.
Grounded in accounting and data, while valuing human development and prosperity, Acru Solutions knows how ensuring financing for projects that extend resources, opportunity and savings to often overlooked communities can shift the prosperity for entire local populations. As a 50% women-led leadership team, Acru also knows that creating better opportunities in the workspace for young female professionals and female-led startups often leads to outsized returns and impact.
That’s why Acru’s mission aligns perfectly with the incredible work of our fellows behind Solstice - Solar for every American, a female-founded community solar startup that is leading the clean energy revolution. Access to solar energy for every American should be a reality, not a luxury. For too long, however, solar energy has been a luxury too few Americans could afford. Fortunately, Solstice is on a mission to change that by connecting homeowners, renters, and businesses to community-shared solar gardens that cut their costs and support their community. Solstice’s innovative new model is making solar accessible, affordable, and an easy way for all Americans to participate in the solar revolution. Marrying innovative technology with community power, Solstice is making it possible for millions of Americans to save money while saving our planet!
We are proud to have Solstice - Solar for every American a part of our NEXUS Impact Accelerator program powered by H/L Ventures and support them in their efforts to usher in clean energy across the country.
NEXUS Impact Accelerator. Photo Credit: Teri Beardsley
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. and NEW YORK, Jan. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NEXUS, a unique community representing over $700B in family assets with a deep dedication to social impact, today announced the launch of its second annual NEXUS Impact Accelerator. To help manage this exciting program, NEXUS is partnering with H/L Ventures ("H/L"), one of the original venture studios and New York's most active firm focused on impact and diversity. Working together, the NEXUS Impact Accelerator team is primed to bring value to impact-driven start-ups by combining powerful networks, varied experience, diversity in all respects, and potential access to capital.
"NEXUS embodies the values of impact, sustainability, mentorship, and creating positive change through entrepreneurship," said Rachel Gerrol, Co-Founder and CEO of NEXUS. "Working with our partners at H/L and our excellent sponsors, we're honored to help bring these start-ups to their next stage of growth. We can't wait to see how each founder grows throughout the program."
The NEXUS community has traditionally united powerful philanthropic leaders to discuss solutions to some of the world's biggest problems. Combining its values of learning and evolution with the support of H/L, including the firm's dynamic ecosystem and philosophy of daily active engagement, the NEXUS Impact Accelerator is an institutionalized way for the organization to support socially-responsible startups that are solving critical global challenges.
Six start-ups were selected for this year's NEXUS Impact Accelerator cohort, including clean energy-, sustainability-, water safety-, and financial equity-focused start-ups:
BlocPower: BlocPower is a climate technology startup that is making American cities greener, smarter and healthier. Since its founding in 2014, the company has retrofitted more than 1,200 buildings in disadvantaged communities in New York City, with projects underway in 26 cities. BlocPower uses proprietary software for analysis, leasing, project management, and monitoring of clean energy projects that save customers between 20-70 percent on annual energy costs.
CNote: CNote is a women-led fintech platform helping individual and institutional investors align their fixed income and cash portfolios with their values. Hosting a nationwide network of community finance institutions, CNote helps investors reach their financial goals while driving greater economic justice in low-income communities and communities of color across the United States.
LOLIWARE Inc.: LOLIWARE Inc. is an award-winning materials tech company on a mission to advance the planet towards a plastic-free, decarbonized future with products that are Designed to Disappear. The company's innovative technology, SEA (Seaweed-derived, Emission-avoiding, Alternatives to plastic) represents a new category of scalable biopolymers derived from seaweed – a bio-renewable, regenerative, and carbon-sequestering input.
Resolute Marine: Resolute Marine is developing an innovative technology that harnesses ocean wave energy to produce fresh water and electricity in off-grid areas of the world and provide relief from the harmful economic and social effects of water scarcity.
Solstice: Solstice is dedicated to bringing affordable solar power to the 77% of Americans who cannot install a rooftop system. Their platform connects households and businesses to free community shared solar farms--giving them guaranteed electricity savings and access to local clean energy--and manages the customer experience for the life of the 20-year project.
Spry: Spry is an NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) solution that meets and streamlines the unique needs of both athletic departments and student-athletes in one comprehensive technology platform. Designed by a former professional athlete (once a collegiate student-athlete) Spry empowers student-athletes to manage NIL opportunities and compliance while earning a foundational education for a "richer" future.
"We are thrilled to work with NEXUS on this exciting initiative," said Oliver Libby, Co-Founding Managing Partner of H/L Ventures. "NEXUS and H/L, along with our extraordinary sponsors, share the belief that the nexus between growth, impact, and diversity is where truly exciting companies can be found and nurtured. The start-up economy can be a powerful engine of social change when supported by mission-driven partners like NEXUS."
BNP Paribas Wealth Management is the lead sponsor of the Accelerator, joined by DLA Piper, Acru Solutions, and H/L itself in support of this community of founders. These sponsors play a meaningful role in the development of these world-changing ideas by supporting the early-stage entrepreneurs and sharing their expertise through customized experiences.
