September 12, 2022 — Foresight Canada is excited to announce its partnership with Social Innovation Canada (SI Canada) to integrate the Centre for Social Innovation’s Toronto-based Climate Ventures into a new collaboration, with Foresight as cleantech lead and SI Canada as social innovation lead. The two organizations will collaboratively run Accelerate from Anywhere programming at Foresight, and launch new initiatives together to fast-track the development and adoption of clean technologies.
As part of their joint Accelerate from Anywhere (AfA) initiative launched in 2021, Foresight has been working with Climate Ventures to provide support for entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey, from anywhere in Canada. In its first year, AfA supported a combined 212 ventures that earned and raised $35.9M and created 123 green jobs. We are immensely proud of the success of this program, and are excited to continue offering programming without barriers to more Canadian cleantech ventures.
As part of this deepened partnership, the Climate Ventures brand will be retired, while Foresight and SI Canada will continue to collaboratively run our flagship programs, launch new initiatives, and leverage the expertise and networks of both organizations to broaden our impact.
“Climate Ventures has been very successful supporting early-stage cleantech companies, and we’re excited to achieve even more together. Collaboration is key to accelerating Canada’s path to a net-zero economy. We’re excited to continue to work with SI Canada to propel Canadian cleantech innovation forward and help make Canada the first G7 country to reach net zero, ” says Jeanette Jackson, CEO of Foresight Canada.
Barnabe Geis, Executive Director of Climate Ventures, will become Senior Director of Market Transformation at Foresight Canada, Shea Sinnott, the Senior Manager of Climate Ventures, will become Director of Programs for Accelerate from Anywhere, and Sahar Shamsi, previously the Program Coordinator at Climate Ventures, will become Program Manager of Earth Tech and Accelerate from Anywhere.
"As we look to ramp up Canadian cleantech in response to the climate crisis and make Canada a leader in the net-zero economy, we want to ensure our structure and systems are set up for scale," says Barnabe Geis, now Senior Director of Market Transformation at Foresight Canada. "By deepening this partnership between our organizations, we're positioning ourselves to better serve entrepreneurs and the cleantech ecosystem more broadly. Our work is continuing and only growing in scope and importance."
About Foresight
Foresight is Canada’s cleantech accelerator. Foresight supports the identification and validation of cleantech opportunities and the successful commercialization of solutions. We bring together industry, government, academia, investors, and innovators to address today’s most urgent climate issues and support a global transition to a green economy. Find out more at www.foresightcac.com. Follow on Twitter @ForesightCAC.
About SI Canada
Social Innovation Canada is working to provide the collaborative infrastructure to strengthen Canada’s social innovation ecosystem, empowering people, organizations and systems with the tools, knowledge, skills and connections that they need to solve complex problems. SI Canada runs a national community of social innovation practitioners, provides social innovation education, and is running a housing affordability lab, among other programs. SI Canada seeks to change systems so they work for people and the planet, and with the climate crisis being one of the biggest challenges we face, it’s no surprise that climate is one of its core pillars. Learn more at www.sicanada.org.
History of Climate Ventures:
- Climate Ventures was opened by the Centre for Social Innovation in September 2018
- Climate Ventures’ accelerators have fast-tracked 133 early-stage ventures
- Ventures raised $44.7M and supported 554 jobs while participating in their programs
- Climate Ventures alumni have gone on to raise a total of $169.1M+
- In 2021, Foresight Canada and the Centre for Social Innovation entered into a partnership to collaborate on cleantech acceleration programs through Climate Ventures
- In 2022, as part of an agreement with CSI, Climate Ventures became an initiative led by SI Canada (which is focused on national programming and partnerships)
- Read the full Climate Ventures story and about its impact here.
