Adaptation in Action!
Cities have always been humanity’s greatest engines of opportunity, invention, and community. Today, cities are also where the consequences of climate change are felt most acutely. Floods, heat waves, storms, and rising seas are reshaping how billions of people live, work, and thrive. As we confront these risks, cities are at the forefront of climate adaptation.
The economic stakes are immense - climate adaptation represents a multi-trillion dollar opportunity in technology, infrastructure, and finance. How we invest in resilient buildings, water systems, cooling infrastructure, insurance mechanisms, and community preparedness will determine the livability of our cities in the decades to come. To succeed, we must connect the dots between climate tech, policy, and finance to scale adaptation solutions quickly and equitably.
This session will bring together climate adaptation startups, investors, corporate buyers, and policymakers to discuss how adaptation is being implemented in cities across the globe. Topics for discussion will include:
How financing models like parametric insurance can accelerate adaptation at scale
The experience of startups piloting flood protection, heat mitigation, and water resilience solutions in urban environments
How New York City and other urban hubs are positioning themselves as test beds for climate adaptation technologies
A pecha-kucha style showcase of adaptation solutions will include startups across the following themes:
Flood & Water Resilience
Heat & Cooling
Insurance & Finance
Data & Infrastructure
Please also join us for great people, great food, and great conversation after the presentations in the heart of New York - with special thanks to our sponsors at Brown Rudnick!
Streetlife Ventures invests in the $5 trillion market opportunity at the intersection of cities and climate. We leverage our 30+ years of urban experience and 25,000+ member platform of climate founders, operators, policymakers, and emerging talent to build sustainable cities. We invest in pre-seed and seed startups across the buildings, energy, mobility and logistics, waste and water, and adaptive infrastructure sectors. We also partner with cities, real estate developers, and infrastructure groups to de-risk urban climate solutions and accelerate a startup's path to commercialization. We are dedicated to advancing cities, focusing on people and the places they call home.
Burnt Island Ventures is a venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to solving the world's water crisis. We believe climate change is fundamentally a water problem, and we back early-stage founders building technologies across the water value chain, from advanced treatment and filtration to water data, infrastructure resilience, and reuse innovation.
Tailwind Futures is the only pure-play strategic venture fund dedicated to B2B climate resilience. We invest in seed-stage companies building software, hardware, and infrastructure solutions that help organizations futureproof their buildings, infrastructure, supply chains, and workforce safety against a changing climate.
Stepchange Ventures backs ambitious founders building software and software-enabled hardware to accelerate energy abundance and upgrade critical infrastructure. We invest early across transportation, the built environment, energy transition, AI-driven grid resilience, and earth intelligence.
Brown Rudnick is a global law firm with offices across the U.S. and U.K. and a 75-year history. Its Emerging Growth Companies & Venture Capital group advises founders and investors from formation and seed financing through Series A, venture debt, M&A and IPO, with deep benches in technology, life sciences and cleantech. The firm is consistently ranked among the most active advisers on venture capital deals in PitchBook's global league tables.