NYC is a leader in supporting diverse climate tech founders
New York City is supporting underrepresented climate tech founders by improving access to capital and networks. Read More

This article is sponsored by NYCEDC.
The climate tech sector is having a moment. Globally, climate tech startups raised $8.1 billion in Q1 2024, a 400 percent quarter-over-quarter increase, according to TechCrunch. Investors are seizing the chance to capitalize on the emerging opportunities in the space and support the creation and commercialization of new technologies to achieve renewable energy and decarbonization goals.
But the headline numbers don’t paint the full picture. The sector as a whole may be an emerging favorite of investors, but climate tech startups founded by entrepreneurs from historically disadvantaged groups are still getting a disproportionately small slice of the pie.
A funding disparity for diverse climate tech founders
While funding to underrepresented founders has increased in recent years, nationally in the United States, startups led solely by women founders receive only about 2 percent of funding, and startups led by Black and Latinx founders generally receive about 3 percent of total venture capital raised.
This lack of funding for underrepresented founders isn’t just inequitable — it’s bad business. One study from McKinsey showed that being in the top 25 percent for racial/ethnic and gender diversity was likely to boost a company’s bottom line, highlighting the value of equity and inclusion for the bottom line.
So how do diverse founders find and seize the opportunities available to them? New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), the city of New York’s mission-driven economic development arm, is tackling the disparity head-on.
Improving access to capital and networks
Through its Founder Fellowship program, NYCEDC is working to eliminate barriers to entry into the venture-backed community and to build a more inclusive tech ecosystem in NYC.
The program does this by improving access to capital and networks for underrepresented founders across all tech-enabled sectors — including climate tech.
“The Founder Fellowship program helps underrepresented communities to realize their full potential — to have access to the resources that traditionally have been really difficult for them to access, and to really make an impact on the next generation of tech innovators and of entrepreneurs who are here in New York City,” said NYCEDC Assistant Vice President Fernando Montejo.
Each year, the Founder Fellowship supports a diverse community of New York City tech startup founder teams with much-needed access to resources and networks to help them grow their companies.
Teams are placed in cohorts and work with Fellowship operators to develop individualized work plans that identify key needs and interests. Teams also make valuable connections to capital providers and potential collaborators, and gain access to mentors and adviser networks, among other resources.
Founder Fellow Sophia Xu, for instance, is a cofounder and chief scientific officer at CarbonBridge, a startup that aims to replace fossil fuel with low-carbon microbial methanol. Xu knows well the challenges women- and minority-owned climate tech startups face in securing funding and tapping into mentor networks.
“There seems to be a feedback loop where female and minority founders face difficulty in raising VC funds, which in turn affects their self-perception, and subsequently affects their performance and relationship with investors,” Xu said. “I’ve fallen victim to this, where my confidence was affected by the many investors that would not take me seriously — or would communicate solely to male leadership.”
“But as part of the Founder Fellowship, I’ve been given direct access to a growing network of investors and of peer entrepreneurs,” Xu said. “Community is so critical in a difficult space like climate tech, and the Founder Fellowship really enables this through networking and connections.”
Centering diversity in tackling the climate crisis
The need for diversity in the climate tech ecosystem speaks to the broader need for diverse voices and perspectives in addressing the climate crisis.
In New York City and elsewhere, historically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities are at the greatest risk from climate hazards, including heat, flooding and air pollution, as well as acute events such as coastal storm surge, extreme rainfall and power outages.
In addition to operating the Founder Fellowship program, NYCEDC is leading the charge on the city’s Green Economy Action Plan, which aims to both reduce the unjust environmental burden on the city’s disadvantaged communities and ensure that members of these neighborhoods contribute to and benefit from the wealth and jobs created through this effort.
“This first-of-its-kind plan lays out a series of commitments and strategies that will bolster economic growth, create thousands of jobs, encourage public-private partnerships, and ensure a just transition to a green economy that all New Yorkers can contribute to and benefit from,” said NYCEDC President & CEO Andrew Kimball upon the plan’s release in February.
One component of the plan is the upcoming $100 million, 112,000-square-foot Climate Innovation Hub (CIH) at Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT), where NYCEDC plans to grow NYC’s climate tech ecosystem, support underrepresented climate tech founders, and accelerate the commercialization of climate technologies.
Leading up to the hub’s operation, NYCEDC has already activated Brooklyn Army Terminal for the Pilots at BAT program, allowing companies to test and scale their technologies in live environments. The program kicked off with a cohort of three companies in fall 2023.
Once it’s operational, the Climate Innovation Hub will be a home for climate tech companies such as Xu’s CarbonBridge — offering a space to develop, pilot and deploy new solutions to combat the effects of climate change.
Through programs such as the Founder Fellowship and citywide efforts such as the Green Economy Action Plan, NYCEDC and the city of New York are removing barriers and paving the way for diverse founders in climate tech.
Learn more at edc.nyc.
