May 26th, 2009
From Green Right Now Reports
Nine companies were named today as semi-finalists for the SB’09 New Venture Exchange pitch contest at the upcoming Sustainable Brands 09 conference. The companies will pitch their business concept to an audience that includes green and social investors and executives from leading companies.
Sustainable Brands 09 begins May 31 and runs through June 4 in Monterey, Calif.
Each semi-finalist will have an opportunity to win a custom-developed mobile application that extends their brand and to present to the 500-plus conference attendees. Applications were reviewed by a panel of judges, who then selected the nine semi-finalists based on the companies’ commitment to sustainability, team quality, and potential for scalability and positive stakeholder impact, SB officials said.
The SB New Venture Exchange, sponsored by Renewal2 Investment Fund, 3rdWhale Media and Sustainable Life Media, is focused on identifying and promoting innovative new consumer brands and ventures that support existing corporations in achieving their sustainable branding goals.
The nine SB’09 New Venture Exchange semi-finalists companies are:
Build2Sustain (New York) develops and distributes best practices and real-world business cases for retrofitting small-medium sized commercial office spaces to make them more cost-effective, more energy-efficient and more sustainable. Build2Sustain partners with leading architects, designers, contractors and vendors to custom retrofit commercial spaces with more efficient, more sustainable design and materials. Each project is entirely documented and broadcast via the Build2Sustain website and social networking outlets to create transparency into this usually closed process, to invite scrutiny and collaboration, and to create an evolving set of best practices and ROI data that will serve as the platform for sustainable business now and tomorrow.
Climate Earth (San Francisco) provides a turnkey solution for carbon accounting. It provides a comprehensive, detailed statement and analytics to help companies better manage their business. The service accounts for all greenhouse gas emissions–direct, indirect and across the supply chain. Regular updates track progress and report to stakeholders.
ClimatePath (Moraga, Calif.) provides a turnkey set of services to calculate, reduce, and offset the carbon footprint of their clients’ products and services, independent third party verification, tools to let the public view and comment on both offset projects and footprint methodology, and the means to create larger impact by advocating further reduction and offsetting action by concerned consumers. ClimatePath’s vision is to bring transparency and trust to voluntary offsetting, while promoting mission-based carbon offset projects which provide additional social and ecological benefits.
Earth Aid (Washington, D.C.) offers a free platform to consumers that allows households to automatically link and view their electric, gas, and water utility accounts in one place. Earth Aid is able to assemble custom aggregate credits from its member households’ reductions, making it possible for businesses of any scale to turn their carbon offsetting purchases into micro-targeted direct marketing opportunities.
Localicious (Oakland) provides local and delicious food to busy people on the go. Born out of the shared passion and values of its founders, Localicious seeks to educate and connect people to the source of their food, infuse money into the local economy and build vibrant regional food systems by sourcing solely from local, sustainable, independent farms. The venture model employs central hub kitchens and a fleet of ‘taco trucks’ to make healthy, sustainable meals accessible on the go.
Mod Green Pod (Austin) creates and manufactures organic cotton textiles that appeal to the fashionable and the environmentally responsible alike. The company’s organic cotton home textiles and nonvinyl wallpaper, all completely sourced and manufactured in the United States, are competitively priced and sold through e-commerce and an international network of retailers and distributors.
Moxy Efficiency (San Francisco) provides residential customers with artfully designed, energy saving products that are fun to use and aesthetically pleasing. Moxy Efficiency reduces power bills, makes homes more comfortable, life more convenient and builds positive behavior by making energy use visible and intuitive. The company’s business model is to sell home efficiency through an online store.
PineeIR (Harrisonburg, Va.) – PineeIR will be an all natural insect repellent that works better than DEET with none of the side effects. Unlike DEET, PineeIR will be safe and effective for all users and can be used together with sun block. We will license a patent to produce the active ingredient which is derived from pine oil. PineeIR will be positioned as a premium product available through natural products retailers and drugstore chains. A value version of PineeIR will be added later for distribution via grocery stores and mass merchants.
Pura Vita (Seattle) – After nearly a year of product design, prototypes and testing, Pura Vita has developed a patent pending eco-sustainable yoga mat that reclaims used bicycle inner tubes and weaves them together with polyester thread (PET in the future) to create a high-end mat with features desired by most yoga students and instructors. Pura Vita is committed to Triple Bottom Line operations by creating a product that will conservatively generate 50 percent contribution margin enabling creation of local jobs and contribution to the tax base, upcycling bicycle inner tubes into a product with a long life span and potential for continued recycling, and creating jobs and a fair wage for U.S. based artisan weavers while promoting the longevity of their craft.
