At Best Startup California we track over 300,000 Californian startups and over 1,500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and organisations we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
We’ve ranked the top 74 Sustainability companies in San Francisco, California. The companies, startups and institutions listed in this article are all exceptional companies, well worth a follow. We have included links to their websites, socials and CrunchBase (if you’re interested in their financials).
We selected the organisations listed in this article based on:
- Track record
- Executive leadership
- Market share
- Innovation
- ESG rating
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Top Sustainability Companies & Startups (San Francisco, California)
Copia
Copia is the next-generation technology platform for food waste management.
Founder(s): Copia Copia, Komal Ahmad
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Analytics, Communities, Enterprise, Enterprise Software, SaaS, Sharing Economy, Sustainability, Waste Management
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Spinn
Spinn makes wifi connected coffee machines that brew coffee using patented centrifugal technology.
Founder(s): Roderick de Rode, Serge de Warrimont
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Coffee, Food Processing, Hardware, Internet of Things, Sustainability
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Flyp
Powering the resale circular economy by enabling online power seller businesses. Resale & Circular Economy.
Founder(s): Dani Arnaout, James Kawas
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: E-Commerce, E-Commerce Platforms, Fashion, Internet, Marketplace, Mobile Apps, Retail, SaaS, Sharing Economy, Sustainability
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Dispatch Goods
Dispatch Goods excludes disposable foodware from food delivery by coordinating into food delivery apps.
Founder(s): Jessica Heiges, Lindsey Hoell
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Delivery, Food and Beverage, Sustainability
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Epic Cleantec
Epic Cleantec is a full-service water reuse firm that provides turnkey wastewater treatment and reuse systems for customers.
Founder(s): Aaron Tartakovsky, Igor Tartakovsky, Ilan Levy, Oded Halperin
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: CleanTech, Natural Resources, Sustainability, Waste Management, Water
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Geli
Geli provides software and business solutions to design, automate, and manage energy storage systems.
Founder(s): Cris Wagner, Ryan Wartena
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy Storage, Software, Sustainability
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Ecomedes
Ecomedes is a SaaS platform that helps manufacturers, designers, builders, and building owners save time and money.
Founder(s): Brian Rowe, Hung Vo, Kathleen Egan, Michael Shahriari, Paul Shahriari
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Construction, Energy Efficiency, Property Management, SaaS, Software, Sustainability
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GlampingHub
Glamping is a developer of an online booking platform designed to offer camping and alternative accommodations for travelers.
Founder(s): David Troya, Jacob Gelfand, Ruben Martinez, Talal Benjelloun
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Hospitality, Sustainability, Tourism, Travel
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Rubi Laboratories
Rubi Laboratories develops technology that manufactures carbon-negative textile.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, CleanTech, Manufacturing, Sustainability, Textiles
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Plenty
Plenty is a vertical farming company that brings fresh, pesticide-free produce to customers.
Founder(s): Jack Oslan, Matt Barnard, Nate Mazonson, Nate Storey
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: AgTech, Farming, Food and Beverage, Sustainability
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Melixir
Melixir is a cult beauty brand rooted in Korean skincare rituals backed by science.
Founder(s): Hana Lee
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Beauty, Consumer, Consumer Goods, Lifestyle, Retail, Sustainability
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CoInspect
CoInspect is building SaaS tools to ensure food safety & sustainability from farm to fork.
Founder(s): Aaron Cohen, Manik Suri, Ranjeet Sidhu
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: CleanTech, GovTech, GreenTech, Mobile, Quality Assurance, Risk Management, SaaS, Software, Supply Chain Management, Sustainability
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Full Harvest
Full Harvest is the first B2B marketplace for ugly and surplus produce.
Founder(s): Christine Moseley
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Agriculture, B2B, E-Commerce, Farming, Food and Beverage, Marketplace, Retail, Sustainability
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Turn
1/3 most innovative companies in reuse – Partners of Nestle, AbInBev, WM & more Returnable is the new reusable.
Founder(s): Ryan Everton
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: GreenTech, Packaging Services, Recycling, Sharing Economy, Sustainability
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DBL Partners
DBL Partners is an investment venture focused on companies that deliver high venture capital returns and economic benefits.
Founder(s): Ira Ehrenpreis, Nancy Pfund
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: CleanTech, Financial Services, Health Care, Impact Investing, Information Technology, Sustainability, Venture Capital
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BluumBio
BluumBio provides bio-based technologies that rapidly clean soil, air, and water.
Founder(s): Katherine French
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Industrial, Sustainability
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NCX
NCX enables corporations to support landowners and their forests through its forest carbon marketplace.
Founder(s): Max Nova, Zack Parisa
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biometrics, Forestry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability
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HarvestPort
HarvestPort is an innovation hub and marketplace for agricultural resources.
Founder(s): Brian Dawson, Carson Britz, Chad Hokama, Ian DeWeerdt, Timothy Koide
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Agriculture, AgTech, Farming, Marketplace, Sustainability
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Arnie
Make your 401k work for you and the world
Founder(s): Eliza Arnold
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Financial Services, FinTech, Impact Investing, Sustainability
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SunToWater Technologies
SunToWater Technologies develops the SunToWater Atmospheric Water Generator that can create pure drinking water in various climates.
Founder(s): Amy Brandt, Benjamin Blumenthal, Jeanine Johnson
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: CleanTech, GreenTech, Sustainability, Water, Water Purification
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OpenInvest
OpenInvest is a Public Benefit Corporation and asset manager that uses technology to mainstream customized ethical investing.
Founder(s): Conor Murray, Joshua Levin, Phillip Wei
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Financial Services, FinTech, Sustainability
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Carbon Lighthouse
Delivering easy building decarbonization for commercial real estate owners
Founder(s): Brenden Millstein, Raphael Rosen
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Commercial Real Estate, Energy Efficiency, Hospitality, Software, Solar, Sustainability
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Better Place Forests
Better Place Forests provides memorial spreading forests for families who choose cremation.
Founder(s): Brad Milne, Jamie Knowlton, Sandy Gibson
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Family, Forestry, Sustainability
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99Bridges
99Bridges is an IT company that provides IoT-based data and connectivity platforms for businesses.
Founder(s): Derek Mak
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Information Technology, Internet of Things, Software, Sustainability
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Wholeshare
Online Marketplace for Sustainable Food / Whole Foods for the 99%
Founder(s): Peter Woo
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: E-Commerce, Internet, Marketplace, Organic Food, Sustainability
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Remoov
Unlocking the value of the secondary goods market. Reduce waste by increasing reuse.
Founder(s): Austin Rachlin, Luis Perez
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: E-Commerce, Furniture, Home Services, Logistics, Real Estate, Service Industry, Sustainability
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EcoCart
EcoCart is a climate and sustainability-focused eCommerce enablement startup pitching consumers on ways to offset their carbon emissions.
Founder(s): Dane Baker, Peter Twomey
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: E-Commerce, Software, Sustainability
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oroeco
It’s a confusing time to be an idealist.
Founder(s): Ian Monroe, Kirstin Cummings
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Communities, Environmental Consulting, Renewable Energy, Sustainability
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REV
REV provides education and tools that integrates sustainability with behavior and culture change to accelerate business impact.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Education, Innovation Management, Sustainability
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SoPact
Impact Measurement and Management Done Better
Founder(s): Unmesh Sheth
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Impact Investing, SaaS, Social Impact, Software, Sustainability
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Ecosystem Integrity Fund
Ecosystem Integrity Fund is a venture capital fund that targets its investments on industries of renewable energy and green chemistry.
Founder(s): James Everett
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Finance, Sustainability, Venture Capital
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12 Tides
Tasty, better-for-you, and ocean-friendly snacks made with kelp from regenerative ocean farms.
Founder(s): Lindsey Palmer, Patrick Schnettler
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Food and Beverage, Organic, Organic Food, Sustainability
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Yarden
Yarden designs, installs, and maintains vegetable gardens
Founder(s): Isaac Grey, Jason Coleman
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Agriculture, AgTech, Home and Garden, Horticulture, Software, Sustainability
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Sourse
Sourse is a food tech company that aims to set high standards for efficacy and sustainability in the category.
Founder(s): Andrew Remlinger, Jenne Moore
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Food and Beverage, Health Care, Sustainability
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Flora
Sustainable e-commerce company
Founder(s): Mithat Ulubay, Ugur Kaya
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: E-Commerce, Internet, Sustainability
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Manta Solar
Manta Solar develops and provides solar energy generation systems.
Founder(s): Carlos Kronen, Jonah Crawford
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Renewable Energy, Solar, Sustainability
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Climate Neutral
Climate Neutral is a nonprofit company that focuses on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions also provides advice to companies.
Founder(s): Peter Dering
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Non Profit, Renewable Energy, Sustainability
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Blue Lake Packaging
Blue Lake Packaging provides fiber-based sustainable packaging solutions.
Founder(s): Bing Cao, Ying Liu
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Manufacturing, Packaging Services, Sustainability
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Northshore
Northshore is a data center service providers that maximize the profitability of infrastructure by enhancing energy efficiency.
Founder(s): Aryn Bergman, Matt Renner
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Energy Efficiency, Information Technology, Renewable Energy, Sustainability
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Rubbish
Rubbish is a mobile platform that brings people together to create litter-free, happy and healthy communities.
Founder(s): Elena Guberman, Emin Israfil
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Apps, CleanTech, GreenTech, Hardware, iOS, Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainability
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New Mindfulness
New Mindfulness is a futurist foundry that designs, funds, and launches iconic, paradigm-shifting consumer ventures.
Founder(s): Irene Atkins
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biometrics, Incubators, Mobile Apps, Neuroscience, Personal Health, Smart Cities, Sustainability, Venture Capital, Wearables
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WorkForYourWorld.com
We guide talent to innovative aerospace companies around the world to help accelerate the future of aerospace.
Founder(s): Robert Drblik
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Aerospace, Communities, Content Discovery, Content Marketing, Recruiting, Software, Sustainability, Video
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Ends+Stems
Ends+Stems provides meal plans to reduce food waste in the household.
Founder(s): Alison Mountford
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Content, Cooking, Information Services, Sustainability, Waste Management
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GoodList
Marketplace
Founder(s): Divya Demato, Richard Demato
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Fashion, Group Buying, Home Decor, Procurement, Shoes, Sustainability, Trading Platform
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CPM Associates
CPM is a construction management and project management company with expertise in aviation, transportation, and infrastructure projects.
Founder(s): Ismael Pugeda, Jeffrey Cooper
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Construction, Management Consulting, Project Management, Sustainability
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MealBox
MealBox invites its app users to rescue food for collection from participating restaurants, cafés and stores, for massively reduced prices.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Apps, Communities, Food and Beverage, Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, Waste Management
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Verdafero
Verdafero offers a range of cloud-based software solutions that enable companies to manage their utility data and analytics.
Founder(s): Alastair Hood
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Analytics, Energy Management, Risk Management, SaaS, Software, Sustainability
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SOKTI Group
SOKTI Group specializes in “sustainability, supply chain, business support, supply plant based and insect based protein”.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Organic Food, Supply Chain Management, Sustainability
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Gaia Human Capital Consultants
Retained Executive Search Consultants – Cleantech and Sustainability Industry
Founder(s): Dawn Dzurilla
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Management Consulting, Non Profit, Solar, Sustainability, Waste Management
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CleanTechies
CleanTechies is an online platform that enables businesses concerned with sustainable and green initiatives share information.
Founder(s): Ceylan Oney, Ian Thomson, Marco Schmoecker
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Blogging Platforms, Clean Energy, Green Building, GreenTech, Recruiting, Sustainability
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Blue Forest Conservation
Blue Forest Conservation is a financial institution that offers sustainable investment solutions.
Founder(s): Zach Knight
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Environmental Consulting, Financial Services, Sustainability
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Vrenergy
Sustainably harvesting energy from earth and infrastructure vibrations and movements.
Founder(s): Ana Luz Acevedo Cabrera, Rendell Camacho
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Infrastructure, Renewable Energy, Sustainability
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AR Green Consulting
AR Green Consulting is a sustainability consulting firm that specializes in green building design and construction.
Founder(s): Adhamina Rodriguez
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Construction, Consulting, Environmental Consulting, Green Building, Sustainability
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Eternity Archive Inc.
We Immortalize Everyone
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Innovation Management, Social Media, Sustainability
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Sustainably Fresh Foods
Sustainably Fresh Foods provides the refrigerated transportation and merchandising of preservative-free, fresh foods.
Founder(s): Bell Larry
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food and Beverage, Food Processing, Retail, Sustainability
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DomoGeo
Modular live and work spaces using green construction technologies.
Founder(s): Hasan Alemdar
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Green Building, Micro Lending, Real Estate, Sustainability
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M4N
Bringing mindfulness to shopping
Founder(s): Mary Fox
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: E-Commerce, Retail Technology, Social Network, Sustainability
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BrazilInnovators
BrazilInnovators develops innovations through programs and events that generate empowerment, connection, and development of new solutions.
Founder(s): Bedy Yang
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Events, Sustainability, Training
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Project Waste Not
Project Waste Not is focused on reducing farm-level food waste, making the food system more efficient, and helping our environment.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Supply Chain Management, Sustainability, Waste Management
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GreenStar Hub
GreenStar Hub is a green B2B marketplace and technology provider company for the sustainability sector.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: B2B, Marketplace, Service Industry, Sustainability
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i love blue sea
Ecommerce and logistics for seafood
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: E-Commerce, Logistics, Sustainability
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EDesignC
EDesignC provides engineering solutions for the built environment.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Commercial, Energy, Energy Management, Infrastructure, Sustainability
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Architectural Development
Architectural Development offers architectural design, project management, budget review, project analysis, and consulting services.
Founder(s): Gary Jerabeck
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Architecture, Consulting, Interior Design, Project Management, Sustainability
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Matter Network
Matter Network is an online media content and advertising syndication company.
Founder(s): Curt Dowdy, John Gartner, Michael Penwarden
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, Information Technology, Journalism, News, Sustainability, Video
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iLetYou
iLetYou is a rental search engine that enables its users to search for stores and products in their local area.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: E-Commerce, File Sharing, Real Estate, Retail, Sustainability
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Global Cleantech Impact Expo
Global Cleantech Impact Expo specializes in cleantech innovation to combat climate change.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: CleanTech, Sustainability
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Grove Collaborative
Grove creates and curates high-performing, planet-first home and personal care products and is the leader in zero-plastic CPG.
Founder(s): Chris Clark, Jordan Savage, Stuart Landesberg
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Consumer Goods, E-Commerce, Internet, Manufacturing, Retail, Sustainability
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AtoB
AtoB is a technology company building payments infrastructure for the transportation industry.
Founder(s): Harshita Arora, Ravi Chandra Bandlamudi, Vignan Velivela
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: FinTech, Payments, Sustainability, Transportation
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Sonders World
Sonders World is a travel company that specializes in the tourism industry promotes social and economic sustainability.
Founder(s): Alessio Virgili, Andrea Cosimi, Elvira Agate
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Facility Management, Hotel, Sustainability, Tourism, Travel
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Carrotmob
Carrotmob is a crowdfunding platform that operates campaigns to generate revenue for small business endeavors.
Founder(s): Brent Schulkin
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Crowdfunding, Small and Medium Businesses, Sustainability
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The Gardenista
The Gardenista creates plantscapes for homes and businesses.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: E-Commerce, Home and Garden, Organic, Sustainability
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The EVERY Company
The EVERY Company makes real animal protein without the use of a single animal, starting with chicken-less egg proteins.
Founder(s): Arturo Elizondo, David Anchel
Location: South San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Biotechnology, Food Processing, Nutrition, Sustainability
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Watershed
Watershed is a software platform for running a world-class climate program. Start reducing your carbon footprint in weeks, not years.
Founder(s): Avi Itskovich, Christian Anderson, Taylor Francis
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Information Technology, Software, Sustainability
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Generate Capital
Generate Capital builds, owns, and operates sustainable infrastructure to deliver affordable and reliable resource solutions.
Founder(s): Jigar Shah, Matan Friedman, Scott Jacobs
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Renewable Energy, Solar, Sustainability
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