Sustainable Tech Partner

11/07/2024

Status Update: Johnson Controls, while hunting for an executive to succeed current George Oliver, continues to gain momentum in the and technology markets.

Much of that success involves solutions and direct sales rather than -- though the company has 10,000 partners.

See our homepage for a detailed update on the business, direct vs indirect revenue mix, and CEO search.

11/05/2024

Good Tuesday morning. Here is today's and news for technology partners. Updates for November 5, 2024 include:

1. Executive Leadership - Smartphones: Sustainable maker Fairphone of Amsterdam has hired Chandler Elizabeth Hatton as chief technology officer (CTO). The move comes roughly three months after the company hired Raymond van Eck as CEO.

2. Executive Leadership - Smart Buildings: Johnson Controls has named Richard Lek as VP and president, Building Solutions Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America (EMEALA). Lek succeeds Marc Vandiepenbeeck, who remains executive VP and CFO of Johnson Controls.

3. Remanufactured Laptops and Clean Water: has partnered with an international charity to help deliver clean, safe water in countries low on the UN Development Index around the world, the firm said. Special thanks to Hamish Hallett of for the info.

4. IT Asset Disposition (ITAD): Teqtivity is focusing its IT asset management ( ) services on sustainability opportunities. The effort includes automated asset monitoring, proactive maintenance scheduling to extend device lifecycles, and integration with certified IT asset disposition ( ) partners.

5. Electronics - Circular Economy: -- a retail chain that allows customers to buy, sell and trade their electronic devices -- has opened its 50th location. The retail chain expects to span nearly 30 U.S. states by the end of 2024, Chain Store Age reported. Thank you to Lynnea Rogers of Fransmart for the info.

6. Google Partner: Blyncsy, a Bentley Systems company, has achieved the Google Cloud Ready - Sustainability designation in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program.

7. AI Chip Orders: NVIDIAis shifting orders from Supermicro Computer to other suppliers amid accounting question marks, reported.

8. Research - Business Travel Benchmarking: Organizations need to take additional steps to materially reduce their business travel emissions, according to the GBTA | Global Business Travel Association and Accenture.

9. Meta AI Data Center Plan - Nuclear Setback: The plan to build an AI in the U.S. that runs on were thwarted in part because a rare species of bee was discovered on land earmarked for the project, The Financial Times reported. Meta is parent to Facebook.

10-. M&A - Hospitality Services: Hotel sustainability specialist Greengage | B Corp™ Solutions of Buckinghamshire, England, has acquired Responsible Futures to expand its 360 consulting division.

Deeper details are on our homepage.

11/04/2024

Talent, Executive Leadership: maker Fairphone hires Chandler Elizabeth Hatton as chief technology officer (CTO). The move comes roughly three months after the company hired Raymond van Eck as CEO.

Sustainable smartphone maker Fairphone hires Chandler Elizabeth Hatton as chief technology officer. Can new CTO & recent CEO hire drive innovation & green mobile device adoption?

11/04/2024

Hype involving for faces reality check. Federal regulators block proposal involving and . Result: stocks under pressure. Cloud & data center providers could face challenges as they hunt for new power sources.

Nuclear energy may power some AI data centers from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and rivals. Here's a global nuclear power progress report, challenges & discussions about safety concerns.

11/04/2024

Surprise change at Schneider Electric. Details: https://sustainabletechpartner.com/news/schneider-electric-replaces-ceo-seeks-to-accelerate-sustainable-it-data-center-and-energy-transition/

Schneider Electric's board replaces CEO Peter Herweck with data center & energy management veteran Olivier Blum; seeks to accelerate business ex*****on.

08/20/2024

Seeking Acquisitions: wants to acquire businesses that focus on building technologies. Key focus areas include & .

In a prepared statement, Kontrol CEO Paul Ghezzi said: “During the second quarter we significantly improved the balance sheet, grew our cash position and closed out the secured debt facility. We are now in a position to focus on growing our core business both organically and through strategic acquisitions.”

Ideal acquisition targets typically generate:

A. $1 million to $5 million in revenues;

B. up to 50% in recurring revenues; and

C. gross margins in the range of 40% to 50% with an established customer base, Kontrol said.

Want more details? Check our homepage for the complete story.

08/19/2024

The Accelerator 4.0 cohort features 21 focused on "the needs of enterprises looking to accelerate their energy transition through emerging technologies."

The cohort has six key areas of focus:

1. Amazon's own operations.

2. solutions for clean energy.

3. Water tech acceleration.

4. .

5. modernization and security.

6. Alternative fuels.

The 21 participating startups to know include:

1. BET MOTORS

2. BlocPower

3. ChargeWheel

4. DeepIQ

5. EH GROUP

6. Electriq Global

7. Faradai

8. Genesis Systems® (USA) - Water Your Way

9. Moment Energy

10. NET2GRID

11. PolyJoule, Inc.

12. QEA Tech

13. Relyion Energy Inc

14. SafeMode

15. Salient

16. Splight

17. Subeca

18. Syzygy Plasmonics

19. Teknobuilt

20. Tyromer Inc.

21.

What does each company do? See our home page for complete article tracking company profiles, focus areas, year founded, headquarter location and more.

08/19/2024

Good Monday morning. Here is today's news for technology partners. Our updates for August 19, 2024 include:

1. IT Services - Carbon Neutral: Ltd, an IT service provider in the UK, has achieved status, according to Carbon Neutral Britain.

2. Partnership - Consulting: Thrive Ventures Consulting Pte. Ltd. and Management Consultancies have partnered to jointly offer Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) consulting services across the South-East Asian region, the two firms said.

3. Smart Phone Reseller: Currys plc, an online reseller, now offers the to UK customers. The sales relationship surfaced the same week that Fairphone announced a CEO transition to Raymond van Eck from Reinier Hendriks.

4. Solar Layoffs: The SunPower Corporation also involves , Siliconvalley.com reported.

B. Sustainability M&A, Investments, Funding and Green IT Business Launches

1. Startup Investments - Clean Fuel Challenges: Multiple startups are collapsing or struggling to bring their and products to market, The Wall Street Journal reported.

2. M&A - Data Center Infrastructure: AMD plans to acquire , a provider of for the world’s largest hyperscale computing companies, for roughly $4.9 billion.

3. M&A - Circular Economy: has acquired Holdings of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. This is Reconomy's second U.S.-focused acquisition in recent weeks. The other involved buying Lincoln Waste Solutions. Financial terms of each deal were not disclosed.

4. M&A - Solar Power: Capital will acquire 12 projects in Spain with an overall capacity of 248 megawatts (MW) and eyes more opportunities in the country, Reuters reported.

5. M&A - Private Equity and Waste Management: has acquired from Genesis Private Equity. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal surfaced a few days after EQT acquired AMCS Group, a provider of SaaS-based applications that help customers with their waste management, recycling and sustainability strategies.

See all details on our homepage.

08/16/2024

M&A deal number 256 of 2024 (so far): , an investment firm focused on IT services, has acquired circular IT asset management firm Premier LogiTech of Dallas, Texas.

This is Tide Rock's second acquisition in recent days. The other involved Full Circle Electronics, backed by Tide Rock, acquiring Global Electronics Recycling (GER) -- an IT Asset Disposition ( ) specialist.

Premier LogiTech, founded in 2007, specializes in technology -- including product sourcing, warehousing, asset management, configuration services, fulfillment services, delivery, reverse services, product repair and reclamation, the company said.

Tide Rock, founded in 2013, is based in Solana Beach, California. The unlevered buyout firm acquires companies with strong free cash flow and grows them to scale, while distributing high quarterly yield to its investors, the buyer said.

Tide Rock typically acquires B2B (business to business) companies that have annual (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $2 million to $7 million.

Read our complete report -- including statements from Tide Rock President Brooks Kincaid & Premier LogiTech CEO Scott Paul -- on our home page.

08/16/2024

M&A deal number 255 of 2024 (so far): consultancy , backed by Blackstone, has acquired -- an engineering company that helps building owners and property managers to their infrastructure.

Legence has extensive M&A experience. Indeed, Legence acquired six businesses in 2023, and the company purchased Corporate Sustainability Strategies (CSS) in May 2024.

The latest acquisition, AMA Group, has national reach. But the company's presence, in particular, positions Legence well for building decarbonization opportunities.

Indeed, acquiring AMA positions Legence to "better support building owners and operators in meeting the stringent energy reduction mandates of Local Laws 87 and 97," the buyer asserts.

AMA will ultimately tuck into CMTA, Inc. , Legence’s largest mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering services portfolio company, the buyer said.

For more context and statements from Legence CEO Jeffrey Sprau, AMA Group Founder Arthur Metzler, and CMTA CEO James Benson, read our complete coverage on our home page.

08/16/2024

Updated list: 55 technology to help build their , & .

The latest addition to the list is the Amazon.com 4.0 cohort.

This cohort, announced in August 2024, focuses on Amazon Operations Sustainability; for ; water tech acceleration; ; grid modernization and security; and alternative fuels.

See the entire list of accelerators on our homepage.

08/16/2024

More continue to surface in the market. Here are the latest updates so far for August 2024:

August 14 - X (formerly Twitter) Faces Lawsuit: Austrian advocacy group filed a complaint against social media platform , Reuters reported, accusing the - owned company of training its with users' without their consent in violation of EU privacy law.

August 12 - Lawsuit vs Intel: Software maker Anaconda, Inc. has sued Intel Corporation in Delaware federal court, accusing the chipmaker of misusing its software for developing platforms, Reuters reported.

August 5 - Elon Musk vs. OpenAI: Elon Musk revived a lawsuit against maker OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging that OpenAI put profits and commercial interests ahead of the public good, Reuters reported. Musk has also launched to compete against OpenAI.

August 2 - Scope Narrowed: A U.S. District Judge dismissed a claim accusing OpenAI of unfair business practices by utilizing the works of authors — including Sarah Silverman, Paul Tremblay and Ta-Nehisi Coates — without consent or compensation to power its AI system, The Hollywood Reporter said. However, the authors' primary claim for direct copyright infringement remains in the case, the report added.

Want more details? Our complete monthly timely -- stretching from October 2022 through August 2024 covers AI lawsuits involving OpenAI, , , , and more.

Check our homepage for details.