The week that was ... January 13

Happy Friday 13th!

First off, happy 1st birthday to Choir ! Congrats Sonya B. Dreizler and Liv Gagnon on the fabulous journey on bringing more diverse voices to our ecosystem. My wonderful readers, if you are looking for new and diverse voices for your financial events or publications, or if you want to publicize your commitment to DEI and get your event certified, reach out to the team for more details.

I can't think of a better way to kick off the new year!

Now, onto some good reads.

State of Venture 2023 - by CB Insights

Global venture funding reached $415.1B in 2022, marking a 35% drop from a record 2021. The funding slowdown was especially severe in the second half of the year, with Q4’22 funding clocking in at $65.9B — down 64% YoY to return to pre-Covid levels.

But it's not all doom and gloom.

• Outside of Silicon Valley and New York, funding remained strong in Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, Chicago, Austin, and Philadelphia. Could this signal the rise of local economies ... finally?
• Africa-based companies raised $991M in Q4’22 — a 164% jump QoQ. On an annual basis, Africa drew $3.1B in funding in 2022. That set a new annual record for the continent.

State of Green Finance?- by WhiteSight | Sanjeev Kumar

The sustainable finance space is constantly evolving and 2022 was an eventful year.

How will 2023 hold?

Perhaps more good news?

A South Korean manufacturer plans to spend $2.5bn to expand solar power equipment production in the US state of Georgia, a sign that billions of dollars of green subsidies passed by Democrats are sparking new clean energy investment.

With $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund established to mobilize investment in emissions reductions and support disadvantaged communities, I am hopeful that we will see more efforts to innovate for good in the next few years.

Speaking of thoughtful innovation, this is the best news to kick off the year: Monique Woodard Unveils Cake Ventures, New $17 Million Fund Focused On ‘Demographic Change’

With so much attention in the venture space being fixated on AI and buzzword tech of the day, it is refreshing to see something different: a focus on humans and what matters.

Onward and upward!

While we are on the topic of equity, here is another interesting program, from our friend at The Aspen Institute . The 2023 Digital Equity Accelerator is a multi-year effort that fuels innovation and invests in organizations that are actively addressing social and economic inequalities that exist in their communities due to injustices in technology access and use.

Spread the news!

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By the way, did you hear that books are cool again?

If you were to look back at all the books that you've read, do you have one (or two) that you'd consider life-changing? Drop me a comment and let us know why.

My first pick would be "The Last Lecture by Professor Randy Pausch". If you haven't read it, do spend a few moments to read more about it from the Carnegie Mellon University website.

And the second pick is (obviously) Beyond Good, the first book that I co-authored and published in 2021. If you have read it and enjoyed it, please do leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Thank you!!

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Meanwhile, on One Vision ...

In 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” How far we have come; and how far we have yet to go.

In a recent IBM Institute for Business Value study , almost half of CEOs indicate that increasing sustainability is one of the highest priorities for their organization in the next 2 to 3 years. However, despite the enthusiasm, they are encountering significant obstacles, with 57% of CEOs identifying difficulty clearly defining and measuring ROI and economic benefits as one of the greatest challenges to achieving sustainability objectives.

In this episode of One Vision, I chat with Andy Barnes , Executive IT Architect and Member of the IBM Academy of Technology, on IBM’s efforts in championing sustainability and responsible computing. Green computing (or Green IT) is an essential enabler in helping organizations meet their sustainability goals. The time to act is now.

Give this episode a listen and let us know what you think.

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Before I let you go ...

I will be hosting a LinkedIn Audio session on January 24th at 10 AM ET with Jessica Scott , Susan Shumway , and Tom Raftery on sustainability and innovating for the future. Would love to see you all there. Be sure to mark the calendar! Details here .

Happy Friday 13th!

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