The ESG Edition | Q4 2021
The BGV Beat
KEY TRENDS
AI For Good
Using Satellite Imagery & AI to Fight Climate Change
Companies in a range of markets are using satellite imagery to improve efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and even make investment decisions. Driving the adoption is an explosion of data — at the start of 2019, an estimated 5,000 satellites revolved around the Earth’s orbit — but also advancements in AI that make analyses of the imagery more attainable than before.
Helping CPG Companies Achieve SDG Goals
The EverestLabs platform seamlessly connects the dots between CPG brands, packaging manufacturers and recycling plants. Thus, slowing climate change as carbon footprints drop sharply for using recycled cans, plastics and fibers.
DEEPER INSIGHTS
AI For
Do No Harm
Eliminating Bias
in Insuretech
Let’s now imagine thousands of such machine learning algorithms, deployed at scale, and running 100% of the processes of an entire company: invoicing, customer support, purchasing, emailing, hiring, … If you think about it, it raises major questions about ethics, fairness and trust in the usage of these AIs.
Expanding Digital Access to Users With Disabilities
Evinced, which is based in Los Altos, Calif., uses artificial intelligence to help detect aspects of a website that aren’t accessible to people with varying disabilities. Customers can license its products to help build new digital platforms, or check existing ones for accessibility compliance, said Navin Thadani, co-founder and chief executive.
CLOSED: BGV Closes Fourth Fund With $110M Aimed at Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Enterprise AI and Cross-Border Startups
The new fund is 60% larger than its third fund and will be invested similarly, in seed and Series A startups focused on what general partner Anik Bose said the firm calls the “Enterprise 4.0” domain. That means “AI-first B2B startups that apply deep tech to novel data sets coupled with workflow automation. Most importantly these startups do so without introducing unintended race, gender or age bias while addressing data privacy and security concerns and providing transparency.”
Perspectives: ESG in Venture Capital
Claudia Zeisberger
Bestselling author and INSEAD professor Claudia Zeisberger is Founder and Academic Director of the school’s private equity centre (GPEI), and is focused on ESG and responsible investing.
Cecile Blilious
As Head of Impact and Sustainability at Pitango, Cecile Blilious specializes in merging technology, profit and social impact, and is considered a pioneer of the impact industry worldwide.
Denise Xifara
Co-Founder of GMG Ventures, Denise Xifara has done pioneering work in Venture ESG, shaping the dialogue and public discussion in the VC industry.
3 Ways to Create a Diverse VC Firm
At BGV, our strategy as diverse immigrants to bet on fellow immigrants has proven itself in deals, IPOs and returns, earning our 2018 fund a top quartile performance spot.
SPOTLIGHT
Announcing the Ethical AI Governance Group (EAIGG)
On September 9, 2021, BGV and SVB hosted a roundtable discussion in Sonoma County that brought together industry thought leaders, entrepreneurs and technologists around the topic of artificial intelligence. They addressed the challenges AI practitioners face in developing and deploying intelligent automation solutions in an ethical manner, and decided to forge the Ethical AI Governance Group (EAIGG).