At Zuora, we've been especially busy working on our environmental and societal impact this year. We reduced our carbon footprint and achieved carbon neutral status for this fiscal year, and launched our first annual ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Impact Report.
But we wanted to think bigger. Every day, we bear witness to the power of subscription businesses to reinvent entire industries. What if we could harness that power into tackling some of the world's biggest challenges?
This was the idea behind the first ever Sustainability Subscribed Accelerator program, a collaborative effort between Village Capital and Zuora to help identify and support amazing entrepreneurs looking to have a positive impact on society and the planet. An accelerator program for good, if you will. Village Capital has a strong history of impact investing; including alumni, Arable, who recently went on to raise a Series C of $40M, to continue their mission to find new solutions to reduce emissions, increase agricultural resilience, and create a more sustainable food supply.
Nine companies were selected from a pool of over 50 applicants for this four month program. The participating startups and founders went through rounds of in-person mentorship provided by ZEOs, were able to speak to one another in workshop sessions, presented at a "Venture Forum", and after a vote from their peers on the most "investment ready" startup, two winners walked away with a $50K grant from Zuora to help them continue to scale. As an added bonus, winners don't have to give up equity in their company, unlike other accelerators. Click here for a program overview.
This week, we spoke to two of the brilliant leaders who worked on the Sustainability Subscribed Accelerator: Allie Burns, the CEO of Village Capital, Valerie Jackson, Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer at Zuora.
We talked about how the program came to fruition, why it's important for Zuora and Village Capital, and how an event like this can have a positive effect for the Subscription Economy and the world.
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