School buses are the largest source of mass transit in the US, transporting over 20 million students to and from school daily. Most run on diesel fuel, which spew toxic fumes that are harmful to human health and the environment.
Zum’s electric school buses have provided more than a million rides to 4,000 schools in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, Chicago, Nashville and other US cities. With AutoGrid’s software for virtual power plants, or VPPs, Zum plans to equip 10,000 electric buses over four years with more than one gigawatt of flexible capacity to help utilities match supply and demand.
The company has raised $140 million in a new round of funding “to turn school buses into powerful tools for environmental change,” said CEO Ritu Narayan.
Green mobility
The Series E round was led by Singapore’s GIC, with participation from Climate Investment, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund and other investors, bringing Zum’s valuation to $1.3 billion.
“Zum is rapidly reinventing the student transportation industry, bringing great improvements in quality, efficiency, and sustainability through software and electrification,” said Sequoia’s Bryan Schreier. The women-led company’s mobile app allows parents and teachers to track the buses – and students – in real time.
Zum has raised $350 million since 2015.
Zum Raises $140 Million for School Bus Batteries on Wheels
February 2nd, 2024
February 2nd, 2024
Via ImpactAlpha, an article on a company raising money to use school buses as batteries on wheels:
This entry was posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2024 at 3:35 am and is filed under Green Design, Resilient Infrastructure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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'Black Swans' are highly improbable events that come as a surprise, have major disruptive effects, and that are often rationalized after the fact as if they had been predictable to begin with. In our rapidly warming world, such events are occurring ever more frequently and include wildfires, floods, extreme heat, and drought.
'Green Shoots' is a term used to describe signs of economic recovery or positive data during a downturn. It references a period of growth and recovery, when plants start to show signs of health and life, and, therefore, has been employed as a metaphor for a recovering economy.
It is my hope that Black Swans / Green Shoots will help readers understand both climate-activated risk and opportunity so that you may invest in, advise, or lead organizations in the context of increasing pressures of global urbanization, resource scarcity, and perils relating to climate change. I believe that the tools of business and finance can help individuals, businesses, and global society make informed choices about who and what to protect, and I hope that this blog provides some insight into the policy and private sector tools used to assess investments in resilient reinforcement, response, or recovery.