Exciting news from Climatize, one of Santa Cruz Works’ up and coming startups from the 4th Accelerator cohort. Over the past week, Alba Forns, the co-founder & Director of Growth at Climatize, won 1st place in the Energy Insights Challenge by McKinsey & Company at Enlit Europe, one of the preeminent energy conferences in Europe. She was tasked with investing & implementing EUR 10 Billion worth of clean energy and the implications this would have on the Fit for 55 package. Using market insights from her experience at Climatize, her portfolio & investment strategies were selected as the most innovative based on both micro- and macro- effects on the energy sector over the next 10 years. Alba’s technical & international experience combined with her expertise in project finance gives her a unique understanding of the renewable energy industry.

Alba holds two Masters degrees, in both Energy Engineering & Sustainable Energy Technologies from KTH The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. It was during these studies that she met Santa Cruz local, Will Wiseman, and together they founded Climatize.

The Climatize app enables you to take climate action while earning money and avoiding your personal carbon footprint by simply investing the spare change from your everyday purchases into crowdfunding clean energy projects. Climatize’s innovative model gives you a return on investment all while protecting our planet!

Their app tracks your impact in a simple and actionable dashboard - giving you a complete picture of your financial and climate impact. As your investments grow you can earn achievements and incentives at your favorite sustainable brands. 

Meanwhile, as Alba was competing in Milan, Climatize CEO Will Wiseman was setting up their new headquarters in Nextspace in downtown Santa Cruz. Climatize was selected to receive one of the first three coworking subsidies awarded by Santa Cruz Works. Moving into Nextspace will enable them to build their team and accelerate their product development while targeting an April 2022 product launch. When asked how their new workspace will contribute to the company’s growth, Will commented,

“The Climatize team and I are deeply grateful to Doug Erickson and the Santa Cruz Accelerates Program for supporting our team and mission with this opportunity. We are excited to emerge from a digital workplace and to reconnect at Nextspace. There is nothing more exciting than brainstorming sessions around a whiteboard and rapidly iterating on our product in ways that just weren’t possible over the past year and a half. Thank you Santa Cruz Works for backing Climatize and the next generation of entrepreneurs.” - Will Wiseman, Co-founder, Climatize