PollyLabs

🦃 As we enjoy the abundance of Thanksgiving, let’s remember the importance of preserving our food systems. It’s about more than feeding ourselves—it’s about nourishing communities and ensuring a better future.🤝 And to spice up your dinner, we've got some fun facts for table conversations! 🇺🇸 Ever wondered where The Turkey Pardon tradition came from? Contrary to the myth,Truman isn’t the one who started it! JFK let a turkey “grow” in 1963, Reagan joked about pardoning one in 1987, but it was George H.W. Bush who officially turned it into a Thanksgiving tradition in 1989. Gobble on, turkeys! (NPR) 🏛️ Jefferson canceled thanksgiving during his presidency Thomas Jefferson refused to declare Thanksgiving a holiday, calling it "the most ridiculous idea ever conceived." Historians believe he thought it blurred the line between church and state. Thanksgiving didn’t become an official annual holiday until Lincoln declared it in 1863. (business insider) 🎶 "Jingle Bells" Wasn’t Always About Christmas Surprise! "Jingle Bells" was written in 1857 as a Thanksgiving tune called "One Horse Open Sleigh." It became so popular during December that it earned its iconic title just two years later. (business insider) Happy thanksgiving from the PollyLabs team! 🦃🍁

We are always happy to share and highlight the work of other outstanding players in the ecosystem and bring reflections on thought-provoking discussions. Last week distinguished speakers from The Aspen Institute, @Gitterman Asset Management, MSCI Sustainability Institute, and Columbia University gathered to share their thoughts on "What's on the Horizon for Sustainability & Impact Investing in 2025". Here are our key takeaways: 1. ESG Evolution: 2024 marked the ESG conversation shift from ESG as an investment theory and thesis to ESG as an analytical lens for understanding risks and opportunities. This more nuanced approach helps bridge the gap between sustainability goals and practical investment decisions for more actors, including those who shy away from everything they see as “woke”. 2. Climate Focus: Energy transition funding is becoming central to the sustainability conversation, with increasing attention on physical risks and global trends—regardless of regional policy variations, even in the US. 3. Practical Translation: The success of our sectors lies in converting ESG and impact concepts into familiar business terms and existing financial strategies (like tariffs and interest rates), making them more accessible and actionable for as many stakeholders as possible. 4. Global Leadership Diversity: While the EU leads with principle-based approaches and the US focuses on rules-based frameworks, emerging leaders like Brazil, South Africa, and Australia are contributing valuable perspectives to the global sustainability dialogue. 5. Policy Impact: The IRA benefits are reaching across political lines, demonstrating how sustainability initiatives can create broad economic value. Meanwhile, Europe's focus on disclosure and impact materiality mapping through SFDR is setting new standards. The geopolitical ecosystem is definitely too hard to say anything definitive (positive or negative) about as of now - so there are plenty of reasons to stay tuned into this conversation in 2025. A special thanks to Impact Capital Forum, Impact Hub New York Metropolitan Area, and Finpublica for organizing this insightful discussion and a shout out to the brilliant speakers Erika Karp, Jeff Gitterman, Linda-Eling Lee and Shiva Rajgopal #SustainableInvesting #ESG #ClimateFinance #ImpactInvesting

Excited to announce our partnership with Rehab Venture Lab through our Future Resilience Fund Portfolio! 🏥 RVL, supported by Friends of Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital, is pioneering rehabilitation technology integration to help caregivers treat more patients efficiently post-trauma. 📈 Strategic Focus: • Repurposing existing tech for rehabilitation • Streamlining clinical workflows with assistive technologies • Developing new applications to expand patient reach 💡 Why This Matters: When rehabilitation demands surge, we need innovative solutions to amplify provider impact. RVL serves as a vital case study for rehabilitation centers globally, proving how technology can maintain care quality while serving more patients. #HealthTech #Rehabilitation #Innovation #FutureResilience #HealthcareInnovation #TechnologyForGood

Did you know New York State is home to over 30,000 farms, producing a remarkable variety of crops and livestock products? 🌾🍎🐄 For many of us urban dwellers, it’s easy to overlook the fact that New York is a vibrant agricultural powerhouse, leading the way in sustainable practices and innovative solutions. Creating the food and agriculture systems of tomorrow means going far beyond just growing crops—it’s about reimagining the entire supply chain. Innovation thrives when diverse perspectives come together. 🌱✨ The Grow-NY competition and summit brought this vision to life, showcasing groundbreaking startups that united multidisciplinary expertise—from tech innovators to business leaders, and, most importantly, the growers and farmers driving it all. 🌍💡" Our team had such a great time attending and connecting with experts of the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Congratulations to the winner of the competition Unibaio. #agtech #ecosystem #newyorkagriculture

What makes a social inequality PhD turned government official start a fintech company serving banks? 🤔 Meet Dr. Dganit Biederman Shalev, who spent many years working directly with families in financial distress - before realizing that the way to scale her proven NGO programs wasn't through more social services, but through technology. Today, her company C.I - Citizen Impact (PollyLabs portfolio company) is transforming how banks work with struggling customers, proving that sometimes the most powerful fintech innovations come from outside the financial industry. Ella Drory sat down for a conversation with Dganit to learn about her fascinating journey in our latest Founder Spotlight (link in the first comment)

🌱 Our Ag research team is heading to Ithaca next week for the 2024 Grow-NY Food & Ag Summit! Excited to dive into the latest food and agriculture innovations, hear from industry experts, and connect with others working on the future of agriculture. *We're particularly looking to meet medium-sized specialty crop farmers who are interested in discussing how robotics solutions could optimize their farm operations 🤖🌾. If you'll be there too and want to connect, let Ella Drory know! #RegenerativeAg #RobotsForGood #GrowNY2024

✨ Wishing PollyLabs community a Diwali filled with light, joy, and prosperity. May we all keep inspire us all to keep lighting the way toward a brighter tomorrow✨✨ #Diwali2024 #PollyLabs #Community

Aseel is transforming how Humanitarian Aid is delivered, first in Afghanistan - but they are just getting started. Efficiency, Transparency, and accountability might sound like "general" technical terms - but what's behind it is more money spent on baby formula versus being wasted on the 7th coordination layer in the best case, or completely stolen in the worst case. We are so proud of their work!

⬇️ 🚜 ⬇️ 🚜 ⬇️ 🚜 ⬇️ 🚜 ⬇️ 🚜 ⬇️ Check out this opportunity from FARMpreneurs™ and please help them reach as many farmers as possible! https://lnkd.in/gZz5bbXJ

"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms" ~Muriel Rukeyser At the core of leading any change - especially in our world of putting tech to work in service of humanity - lies the need to get people to think and act differently. Mastering the ability to express a vision, concept, or idea in a way that will truly resonate might be called a "soft skill," but it's a hard-core thing to do. With that in mind, earlier this week our one and only Ella Drory led two classes on storytelling and pitching at The New School venture course - subbing for their usual professor, who happened to be Alina Shkolnikov, our Chief of Partnerships. We're proud to train the next generation of changemakers and share our knowledge in impactful storytelling. #SocialImpact #Storytelling #TechForGood #NewSchool