What stopped us in our tracks

👒 Etsy bought Depop, a second-hand clothing marketplace popular with Gen Z, for $1.6b. It’s a very solid valuation for an impact startup, which turned over $70 million in revenue last year during COVID-19. The deal falls in line with Etsy’s anti-Amazon ethos of empowering creators and environmental sustainability, which customers and investors have rewarded over the years. Etsy’s revenue (and share price) more than doubled last year.

🌎 Acceptance of the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance metrics) movement has been largely driven by a “win-win” narrative, in which companies that act more responsibly are rewarded by investors and customers. Duncan Austin, however, makes an excellent argument that “win-win” isn’t getting us to sustainability fast enough to avoid crossing our planetary boundaries, and negative impact industries must incur cost. For us, this reaffirms the critical role of impact startups in accelerating decarbonisation and ensuring social wellbeing — where ESG is not a business decision, it’s embedded.

🛢️ Oil giants are reckoning with revolt. A court in the Netherlands (where Shell is based) ruled that Shell needed to reduce its emission in line with the Paris agreement, cutting emissions down by 45 percent of its 2019 levels by the end of the decade, which could set a precedent for governments forcing involuntary targets on emissions-heavy companies. Meanwhile, over at Exxon, climate activist investors scored a major win, winning a vote to install two pro-climate change board members to the company’s board at their last annual meeting.

Giant Leaps

💡 Huge congrats to Amber Electric, who secured a $20 million round with CBA as the cornerstone investor (they’re also hiring!)

💃 GlamCorner in Vogue for its work in sustainable fashion.

🚀 Full Cycle Bioplastics took home the top gong at NASA’s 2021 Cycle Forum for its work in creating bioplastics that can be used to store food in space.

Career pathways

⚡ Amber is hiring senior marketing roles in brand and growth.

🐜 Goterra is on the lookout for a Graduate Mechanical Engineer

💊 Perx is hiring software, legal, and ops roles

📦 Sendle is searching for a Head of Sales

🥚 The Paul Ramsay Foundation is hunting for a Incubation Program Manager

🔥 As always, there’s 50+ more jobs on the Giant Leap Fund jobs board and more jobs at ethical companies on the global B-Work job board.

For the road

🚜 Tenacious Ventures announced final close of its $35 million agtech fund, which is making a point on investing in impact.

💵 Meanwhile, in the US, impact investor Collaborative announced a $200 million round for two funds investing across climate, health, and food.

🐸 Leapfrog published their impact metrics, reporting they have benefited the lives of over 221.4 million people, equivalent to the world’s 4th most populous country.

📊 2/3 of investors check their ESG metrics .

💳 Victorian startups can access discounts on business technology services like Zoom and Zendesk here check it out.

🌾 Plant-based company Oatley debuted on the NASDAQ with a $US13 billion valuation. Wow.

🌲 Stripe and Shopify have been leading the charge in funding carbon removal projects. If you knew the carbon footprint of your purchase, would it change your mind?

🙋 Applications for SheEO Ventures, offering female founders expert coaching and a 0% interest loan to kick start their business, has opened its next intake round for Australia and New Zealand.

🏎️ A record shipment of EVs just landed in Australia.

❤️ And finally, don’t fight the feeling.

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