Sphere raises $2M to help employees lobby for green 401(k) plans
Summary
However, with legacy institutional investing, most of these have at least some level of fossil fuel involvement, and, lets face it, very few of us really know. Sphere says there are more than $35 trillion in assets in retirement savings in the U.S. as of Q1 2021.Its now raised a $2 million funding round led by climate tech-focused VC Pale Blue Dot. Sphere is also a registered Public Benefit Corporation, allowing it to campaign in public about climate change.Alex Wright-Gladstein, CEO and founder of Sphere said: We are proud to be partnering with Pale Blue Dot on our mission to reverse climate change by making our money talk. Heidi, Hampus, and Joel have the experience and drive to help us make big changes on the short seven-year time scale that we have to limit warming to 1.5\xb0C. Wright-Gladstein has also teamed up with sustainable investing veteran Jason Britton of Reflection Asset Management and BITA custom indexes.Wright-Gladstein said she learned the difficulty of offering fossil-free options in 401(k) plans when running her previous startup, Ayar Labs.