GoodCompany to launch climate change-focused accelerator in 2015

GoodCompany Ventures will launch an accelerator in summer 2015 for companies focused on climate change, according to an announcement. The initiative, called Climate Ventures 2.0, is one of many under President Obama’s Climate Data Initiative, which challenges the public and private sectors to take on climate change with the help of government data.

Climate Ventures 2.0 looks and feels a lot like FastFWD, the public-private accelerator focused on public safety that GoodCompany helps run. Companies focused on a specific issue (this time, climate change) will go through a nine-month bootcamp and get mentoring and access to capital. There’s also an emphasis on government data, which FastFWD also advertised. The “2.0” in the name is meant to reflect “a next gen approach to both our programming and to climate change,” said GoodCompany head Garrett Melby.

It’s not clear yet where the accelerator will be located, Melby said. It’s between Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C., and will depend on where the program’s most engaged partners are, he said.

GoodCompany is again working with its FastFWD partners, the Wharton Social Impact Initiative and Kensington coworking space Impact Hub. NASA and the MIT Climate Co-Lab are also partners, Melby said.

It’s not clear if there is any government funding behind the project. We’re working to get more details. Climate Ventures, like the other Climate Data Initiative projects, will not be government-funded, Melby wrote in an email.

“GoodCompany Ventures has funded the development of this commitment internally and hopes to engage external sponsors to provide fellowships for participating entrepreneurs and to expand the scope of the services that can be delivered through Climate Ventures 2.0,” he said.

See all the Climate Data Initiative projects here, from companies including PepsiCo, Amazon Web Services and Monsanto.