We believe businesses can and should be a force for good and Zuora’s success is directly linked to our communities. Before we went public back in 2017, we took the 1% Pledge and committed to give back 1% of our equity and employee time to our communities. Later in 2019, we launched Zuora.org, which is part of our company and not a separate entity, to propel our pledge to action. Since 2019, we have granted over $3 million to mission-aligned nonprofits around the world.
To maximize resources and have the greatest impact possible, Zuora has focused on building deep multi-faceted relationships with nonprofit partners that are aligned to the core of its business and provide opportunities for its employees to engage.
In 2021, we formed a partnership with Village Capital, the most active supporter of impact-driven, seed-stage entrepreneurs in the world. For more than a decade, Village Capital has been reinventing the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future and address the gaps that currently exist in the innovation economy.
Fighting Climate change and preserving the planet through the Subscription Economy
This year, Zuora gave Village Capital a $409,454 grant to support one of their accelerator programs. After conducting a deep landscape analysis, Zuora and Village Capital launched Sustainability Subscribed and selected a cohort of 9 startups, out of dozens, who were all from diverse backgrounds and focused on solving climate change using recurring revenue business models.
- 40% of the cohort was headquartered outside of US tech hubs (NY, CA, and MA)
- 40% have a BIPOC member of the founding team or C-Suite
- 70% have a female member of the founding team or C-Suite
The startups focused on things like:
♻️ Reducing plastic waste
?? Micro-climate forecasting to improve local agriculture yields
? Reducing food waste
? High tech soil carbon verification
✅ More effective deployment of green building incentives
? Establishing a carbon savings account via HSA/FSA like structures
? An O/S for charging platforms
? Increasing textile reuse/recycling
⚡ Turning any lamppost into an electric charging station
During the 4-month accelerator, which was laser-focused on investment readiness, the founders had the opportunity to work with mentors, industry experts, investors, and ecosystem partners to develop the networks they need to scale their impact. Over 20 Zuora employees were engaged on the Advisory Board, as mentors, and/or as workshop leaders.
“I was impressed with the passion of the entrepreneurs to make a true difference in climate change. The technology was also very interesting. Thanks to Village Cap and Zuora for supporting ZEOs to partner with these startups.”
– Ronak Majmudar, Head of GTM Initiatives, Illinois
The final 2.5 day Program Summit was held at Zuora’s HQ in Redwood City. Tien Tzuo, Zuora’s Founder & CEO, joined Allie Burns, Village Capital’s CEO, for a fireside chat where he reflected on Zuora’s journey and shared advice with the founders. The event concluded with the 9 participant startups evaluating each other through an investor lens, using eight specific investment criteria that leverage Village Capital’s venture investment levels. Benchmark Labs and Voltpost were ranked “most investment ready” and each received $50,000 in grant funding from Zuora.
Learn more about our Zuora.org efforts and how we use Zuora for Good