We dive deep into our sectors. Our research drives our insights and thesis-driven approach.

We are in unprecedented times with the markets experiencing some of their deepest declines on record and, more importantly, the world is experiencing the most severe pandemic crisis it has seen in the last century. I am not qualified to judge the extent, severity or duration of this crisis, but as someone on the front lines of the two previous market failures (the “Cleantech Bubble” and the “Credit Crisis”) and a perpetual student of markets, I wanted to share some of my lessons learned from prior crises to help others who haven’t experienced times like these before. Our hope is that these learnings help you and your company navigate the crisis ahead.

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and several MBA internship programs being cancelled, we’ve decided to bring on a few additional interns to our team for the summer of 2020. Although we’re hopeful to make it back to the office sometime this summer, given current circumstances we expect the internships will be remote and we’ll be considering applications from across the U.S. The internships are paid and will be focused on assisting the firm’s research dives to support thesis development. More on the role and application below.

Last week, we announced the launch of our new fund. We are excited for the future of the firm and at the forefront of our success will be the team members that comprise Equal. We can only go as far as the people on our team, which is why we are looking to bring on a Pre-MBA Associate to support us in adding to our knowledge of our focus areas and help us to better support our portfolio and founders. This will be an exciting role that will not only focus on venture and tech ecosystems but also come with a focus on your career development.

We are living in perplexing times. At the dawn of a new decade, we’re witnessing political, societal and economic polarity, unlike anything that we’ve seen in recent years. Technology, once heralded as a force to “make the world a better place”, is now being vilified across circles of politicians and the populous. A contentious divide has developed between technology hubs and the rest of society as we increasingly lay witness to a world of technology “have” and “have-nots”, what some refer to as the “digital divide”. With that, we are seeing virtually every category (and the incumbents entrenched within those categories) attacked by an onslaught of digital upstarts, creating unprecedented amounts of both transformation and displacement.

Last year, we discussed the fact that climate funding was more material in 2020 than it had ever been before. Little did we know what 2021 had in store for us. PWC recently found that $56.6B of climate funding was raised in the US between the second half of 2020 and first half of 2021. While 2021 was the biggest year for climate tech from a funding perspective, it also saw renewed focus on the policy side, with Joe Biden’s plan for climate change.