Cash rules everything around me

Welcome to The Srawman, the newsletter that’s like the friend of yours that bought bitcoin back in 2015 - we told you so.

As the old saying goes, “money makes the world go round" - but now, it might also be what makes the world cool down.

At least, that’s what some venture capitalists are betting. What’s a venture capitalist? Someone that gives startups money, hoping the startup will make them more money - the easiest way to think of these folk is like the Dragons in Dragon’s Den, or the Sharks in Shark Tank. Ignoring the incredibly violent animals these TV shows use for a second, the premise is pretty clear. They buy a part of a business, the business grows, and as a result the part they bought is worth more. Sounds like a free money glitch if you ask me 🤷.

According to PwC, nearly 30% of all venture capital (VC) funding went towards the climate in 2022 - and all that money is hoping to solve a whole bunch of problems.

Why does this matter?

One of the more famous venture capitalists is this guy called Chris Sacca. He’s one of those guys that found the ultimate free money glitch - and then used it to print (almost) infinite money. With his venture fund (Lowercase Capital), he invested in:

• Uber

• Twitter

• Instagram

Investing in even one of these companies would make you a great investor - investing in all of them? Makes you one of the best. What makes him unique? He did all of this while wearing a cowboy hat. Yeehaw 🤠.

In August 2021, Chris Sacca announced the launch of Lowercarbon Capital, an $800m venture fund with the noble mission to ‘keep unf*cking the planet’. In the case of Sacca, they’re focused on one thing only. The climate. Just like the Strawman (why does everyone keep copying us?)

But why should you care about a venture fund raised 2 years ago? Glad you asked. This isn’t the first time Sacca’s made the money machine go brrr.

Lowercarbon capital’s been investing heavily over the past two years - looking into solutions that do any of:

• Reducing new CO2 Emissions

• Sucking out the CO2 already in the air

• Buying more time and reducing the impact that climate change is already having

We’ll spend tomorrow’s newsletter deepdiving into the above - for now, it seems like only time will tell if saving the planet is as lucrative as setting fire to it was.