Kaya Thomas

Updated with correct link: Grateful to Jasmin Malik Chua for the thoughtful coverage of our Cost of Inaction report in Sourcing Journal. The headline is tough and it should be. Climate impacts may begin in the supplier base, but they arrive on balance sheets. Margin erosion, energy volatility, and regulatory exposure. These are financial realities, not sustainability talking points. Tier 2 facilities drive the majority of apparel’s emissions. Many of the technologies exist. What’s missing isn’t innovation; it’s aligned capital to pilot where needed, scale what works, and long-term commitments that de-risk investment for suppliers. Grants alone won’t solve this. Pure commercial finance won’t either. The gap is in the middle. And unless we fill it, climate inaction remains a liability on the books. Strategic climate investment, done well, becomes a true competitive advantage. https://lnkd.in/g-iJsBVh

24

1 Comment

With just 5 years to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, we need to shift into Action modus. Especially also in Germany and the EU! A decade (since 2015) into the 2030 Agenda, progress shows what's possible: 👥 Social: 110M more children in school & HIV infections down 39% since 2010 👥 Digital: Internet access up from 40% (2015) to 68% (2024) 👥 Energy: Electricity now reaches 92% of the global population But hard truths remain: ⚡ Only 35% of SDGs are on track, 18% have regressed below 2015 levels ⚡ 800M+ people still face extreme poverty ⚡ 2024 was the hottest year ever recorded, climate change is accelerating The latest UN 2025 SDG report calls for urgent acceleration across 6 key transitions: Climate & Biodiversity, Energy, Digital, Food, Education, Jobs & Social Protection. This is not a development agenda — it's business. With quickly shifting market circumstances and new customer needs, companies adapting quickly open smart opportunities, reduce risk and create impact. Let's get active! Thanks a lot Deutscher Mittelstands-Bund (DMB) e.V. for getting key stakeholders together - to accelerate the transformation and get especially also SMEs in Germany successfully on board.

9

2 Comments

New partnership alert!! Excited to announce that Black Flag is partnering with xAI to give founders free credits and direct access to Grok - xAI’s family of powerful, multi-modal, real-time models. Across essentially any end product you're applying to Black Flag with, Grok will deliver: - Deep reasoning across text, code, and context - Faster inference and improved function calling - CUI: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth just announced that Grok is being adopted for handling Controlled Unclassified Information If you're building in critical technology areas important to the West - space, energy, autonomy, cyber - the next generation of secure software will be built with Grok and you can now get a head start through Black Flag. Only 18 days left to apply to Black Flag’s January batch - apply at the link in the comments!

74

10 Comments

The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK Foundation) funds early-stage social enterprises worldwide — including those in Africa — offering up to US $300,000 in grant or investment capital, combined with capacity-building, mentoring, and community support. DRK’s goal is to help high-impact ventures scale sustainably and transform lives in underserved communities. ⏳ Urgency / Timeline Applications accepted on a rolling, year-round basis — apply anytime. 💡 Why It Matters Many impactful social ventures struggle to scale after pilot success because they lack long-term funding, mentorship, or business support. DRK closes that gap — offering not just money, but also hands-on support, governance, financial strategy, and network access so these ventures can grow, sustain, and maximize social impact in vulnerable communities. 🎯 Grant Snapshot Funding Amount: Up to US $300,000 over up to 3 years Focus: Social enterprises tackling urgent social or environmental challenges using scalable, impact-first approaches Geography: Africa, Europe, India, USA (with some flexibility for select other regions) Stage: Post-pilot, early stage (pre-scale or seed to early growth) ✅ Who Should Apply Nonprofits, mission-driven for-profit ventures, or fiscally-sponsored social enterprises Organizations with a viable product/service and early evidence of impact Founders or leadership teams committed full-time, with clear vision for scale Ventures with a plan for financial sustainability (earned income or other models) 🧰 What Awardees Will Receive Up to US $300,000 in flexible capital (grant or investment) Hands-on operational support: board-level mentoring, organizational development, fundraising strategy, leadership & governance support Access to a global network of social impact funders, peer entrepreneurs, and alumni community Strategic support to scale and sustain impact over 3-year partnership period 📝 How to Apply Visit the DRK Foundation portal and submit an online application (executive summary or pitch deck/business plan + basic organizational info). Applications can be saved and resumed later. ✅ For Support… Comment “SUPPORT” if you’d like help preparing your application. 📌 If you want to stay months ahead of other organizations in 2026… Join the Impact Funding Insider 2026 waitlist and get first access to hidden and early-release grant calls. Waitlist → https://lnkd.in/dFn9Eev3 You’ll also get: The Grant Discovery Playbook (waitlist-only bonus) #FundingSpotlight #SocialEntrepreneurship #ImpactInvesting #DRKFoundation #NonDilutiveFunding #ScaleForImpact #drgozie #drgozieezeh #GlobalHealth #ClimateAction #AfricanEntrepreneurs

257

102 Comments

The Climatebase Fellowship is more than a career accelerator — it’s a global community and launchpad for climate action. 🚨Applications for our next cohort are closing soon & our next Info Session is this Thursday (link at bottom of post)! When we started Climatebase, our mission was simple: make it easier for more people to work on solving climate change. Over time, that mission has grown into a community — one that now spans over 3,000 Fellows, alumni, industry leaders and instructors, working together to build a more sustainable future. We created the Fellowship to solve a problem we saw firsthand: that far too many talented people want to work on climate, but don’t know where to begin. The Fellowship exists to fill that gap — and to connect those people with the tools, knowledge, support, and network they need to work in climate. Over the course of the program, Fellows gain: ✅ Deep climate expertise through an intersectional curriculum and dozens of guest lectures from industry leaders. ✅ Practical career support, job-search guidance, as well as exclusive perks (like boosted jobseeker profiles) on Climatebase's jobs platform. ✅ Hands-on experience through working on a capstone project - or even a startup. ✅ Active, supportive community of 3,000+ Climatebase Fellows, alumni, and industry leaders. ✅ In-person meetups that take place in major cities around the world every week. We’re currently accepting applications for our next cohort — but applications are closing soon. Want to learn more before applying? Join our Live Info Session this Thursday, July 24 at 9am PT. During the session, you’ll: 🔍 Get an inside look at the program structure and experience 🤝 Meet the team and some of our instructors ❓ Ask questions about the application process, pricing, or curriculum 💻 Sign up for the info session and apply to the Fellowship here: https://lnkd.in/ekTWMjys

93

17 Comments

Here’s what gets lost in the noise about entrepreneurship: Going it alone is a myth: especially for Black and Brown founders facing unparalleled challenges in 2025. Wealth gaps, systemic biases, funding obstacles: they’re real. But so is the power of community-led entrepreneurship to punch above its weight. Community isn’t just a support network. It’s a business accelerator. At CMET, we’ve seen that Black- and Brown-owned businesses thrive when rooted in peer connection, trusted networks, and shared resources. Growth doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s driven by: - Real-time collaboration: solving not just business problems, but life challenges with people who understand your WHY. - Knowledge transfer: learning the shortcuts, negotiating power, and tested playbooks others have already proven inside our cohorts. - Access to relationships: mentors, investors, strategic partners who are invested not only in your numbers, but in your long-term impact. We’ve witnessed it: Entrepreneurs in our workshops didn’t just gain skills; they raised capital, hired locally, launched joint ventures, and built legacies. Not despite their community, but because of it. 2025 isn’t about the lone founder( It)

7

I often get asked how to build a career in climate—what qualifications are needed, where the sector is heading, and how to get started. This excellent resource from Nicole Kelner is a treasure trove of information: job boards, communities, newsletters, and more—all in one place. Thanks, Nicole, for pulling it all together.

43

4 Comments

You can feel it, something’s shifting in hard tech. From materials to manufacturing to energy, we’re seeing founders take on harder problems, and raising from investors who finally understand what it takes to build in these sectors. When Harpoon Ventures started Black Flag, our goal was simple: help critical-tech founders close the distance between great ideas and the right capital. Over the past few months, we asked hundreds of founders which investors they trust and recommend most. Their answers became something worth sharing: a public list of the most active deep-tech funds today. It’s meant to save founders time, connect them to the right partners, and make this ecosystem a little easier to navigate. 🏴‍☠️ Introducing The Black Flag Investor List → https://lnkd.in/dYsCnpnd

62

7 Comments