Several well-known Venture Capital firms have recently started publishing their sustainability reports. 

In a previous article, I wrote that the characteristics and strengths of companies can be identified by reading sustainability reports and analyzing sustainability data. This is even more true for VC firms. For VCs, there is no standardization for ESG/sustainability data disclosure, so they decide for themselves what data to disclose and design the sustainability report more freely than companies whose shares are publicly traded.

I recently read a sustainability report from 500 Startups. Since they have accelerator programs in several countries and invest in startups globally, they proudly report on the diversity of their portfolio company founders. According to the ESG report, 30.8% of their portfolio companies have at least one female founder (the industry average is 13%), 17.6% of portfolio companies have at least one Black/African/African-American founder (the industry average is 1.0%).

Another impressive sustainability report I read was from Energy Impact Partners.

The report comprises 73 pages and contains a large amount of detailed data on the portfolio companies. Not only aggregated figures are disclosed, but also the raw data of the individual portfolio companies. One of the data that I found interesting was the turnover rates (the average total turnover rates of the portfolio companies was 23%) - by looking details of the turnover rates, I could see the impact of COVID-19 on the startups. 

What stands out from others is that Energy Impact Partners also discloses their own organization's carbon footprint and diversity metrics. I think that's very progressive. According to the report, the percentage of female employees at EIP is 37%.

There is often criticism that the VC industry lacks diversity (lack of gender, racial diversity etc.). With the publication of sustainability reports, VC firms have started to look not only at the sustainability and impact of their portfolio companies, but also at their own sustainability, and I think that's a great thing for the industry as well.

コロナウイルスによるShelter-in-placeが始まって少し経った4月中旬頃から、マウンテンビューダウンタウン付近では、自動運転によるデリバリーロボットが複数台稼働している状況が普通に見られるようになりました。初めこそ珍しくて、写真やビデオを撮っている人が多くいたものの、今はもう住人は見慣れてしまい、ロボットがいる光景はごく普通のことなっています。

試しにアプリをダウンロードしてチェックしてみたところ、約3ドルの宅配費用に加え、商品には通常価格の20%くらいが上乗せされていました。宅配サービスの大手スタートアップ、Instacartと同じ手法です。購入金額の20パーセント増しになることを考えるとそれほど安くはないですが、歩行や荷物の運搬が困難な高齢者の方には、便利なオプションと言えるでしょう。ちなみに、このロボットは話すこともできます。「Hi! I'm Starship, delivery robot!と挨拶して来たことがありました。また、父の日には「Happy Fathers Day!」と話すキャンペーンを行なっていました。

また、宅配ロボットとは別に、自動運転（あるいは自動運転を見越した遠隔操作？）で動いている無人スクーターも4台ほど見かけました。COVID19の影響で外出する人が少なくなっているうちに、様々なロボットの試験や実用化が進みそうです。