While rumors were circulating That the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates again – and when it went ahead earlier this week – another round of layoffs hit the tech sector. Stripe, Opendoor, Chime, Zillow, Cerebral, Brex, and of course Twitter, among others, have already or are about to cut thousands of jobs.
That’s bad news for workers today, but might be good news for the climate in the near future.
Before we go too far, let me say up front that getting fired is terrible and not something I want to happen to anyone. Not knowing where your salary will come from or what benefits you will receive is difficult at the best of times, and it is much worse when the economic signs are mixed or big changes in life lurk. I don’t try to minimize what people go through when they’re fired. It happened to me, and it sucks.
But layoffs also offer a chance for a new beginning. Even before the recent waves of layoffs flooded the tech industry, people were leaving their old jobs for new opportunities in climate technology.
While this is a londonbusinessblog.com+ story, we’ve made sure the paywall is below the main links in case you’re looking for a job. Hugs — The TC+ Team
“One thing we’re seeing is really, really strong talent leaving bigger companies,” said Erin Price-Wright, a partner at Index Ventures, at londonbusinessblog.com Disrupt, “because some of the financial benefit for public tech companies or maybe even late- stage tech companies have kind of evaporated in the last few months and people are saying, “Well, I had those golden handcuffs, and that kept me from working on what I really care about. And I don’t have that anymore. So I’m going to take a risk and I’m going to do something.’”
Climate technology has boomed compared to the rest of the market, with industry startups raising $5.6 billion in the first half of this year, less than the crazy lashes of 2021, but still well ahead of 2020 , the next previous record, according to PitchBook. In five years, PitchBook expects the climate technology market to be worth $1.4 trillion, a compound annual growth rate of 8.8%.
All those companies urgently need talent. Nearly every budding founder in the climate technology space I’ve spoken to in recent months has gone out of their way to mention that they are hiring. Jobboard Climatebase has hundreds of jobs now listed, and that’s just some of the climate tech companies with active listings.
Shaun Abrahamson, co-founder of climate-focused Third Sphere, pointed out that his company’s portfolio companies currently renting for more than 400 positions. Breakthrough Energy Ventures’ portfolio companies look for: almost 1,200 positions.
Elsewhere, about 100 companies are using the climate career platform Terra.do to connect directly with job applicants, chief business officer Nishant Mani told londonbusinessblog.com. The startup regularly hosts virtual job fairs to match employees and employers, and business is thriving. The platform’s user base is growing 50% monthly and Mani aims to have 1,000 companies actively using the platform in the next six months.