Optivide

We amplify individual climate action with AI-powered personal finance.

Most of us agree that climate change is a human-made crisis. It is a growing, urgent global problem that will increase the number of irreversible disasters if we don’t take action now.

Despite the hard work of government climate policies, the current compulsory top-down approach would require long negotiations among stakeholders. It is not enough for us to limit the temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius.

We need voluntary-based, bottom-up climate solutions that are fast to solve the problem. Therefore, in the past 2-3 years, many climate tech startups have worked very fast on voluntary climate action.

However, most of the solutions lack long-term financial support from customers.

And that’s the problem that we want to fix.

If everyone, anywhere, can take climate action without worrying about their finance, we could increase our success rate to the net-zero goal.

Accordingly, we target people who are taking individual climate action and working in the sustainability industry. The customer in the USA will be our potential first market.

Therefore, we dedicate ourselves to building solid personal finance for people who take climate action to amplify their positive impacts on our world.

In our solution, we support our users in achieving 3 goals

1. Reduce the negative impacts of climate change with AI-powered personal finance
2. Address the free-ride problem with an upgradable Decentralized Identity(DID)
3. Empower them to crowdfund climate solutions with community-based learning

All of our functions provided will be integrated into 1 mobile application with a gamified design that is easily scaled up and connects with people in the same movement.

People who take climate action suffer from personal finance insecurity.

As individuals, we are customers and beneficiaries. To solve the dynamic complex climate problem, we need to first address the free-riding problem.

Danny Chen, a Generalist with interdisciplinary knowledge and experience in carbon(Sustainability Consultant), finance(CFA Level 3 passed), and technology(Notion, AI, Blockchain, Payment Tech). He actively engages with several climate communities to promote systemic solutions.

Climate change is a global problem and shall not be limited by specific regions or area communities to solve it. After supporting our users with solid personal finance, we would like to channel more private capital toward primary market that support ocean carbon dioxide removal projects and researches.

The conditional impact business model is well-designed and ready to implement once the prototype is ready.

We are now developing our prototype and expect our first draft before June.

Legal service is particularly important for us when our solutions covers blockchain, artificial intelligence and financial technology.

At Optivide, we believe that we could increase our success rate of solving the dynamically complex climate change problem if:

Everyone, anywhere, could take climate action without worrying about their financial security.

Therefore, we dedicate ourselves to building solid personal finance for people who take climate action to amplify their positive climate impacts on our world.

In our solution, we support our users in achieving 3 goals

1. Reduce the negative impacts of climate change with AI-powered personal finance
2. Address the free-ride problem with an upgradable Decentralized Identity(DID)
3. Empower them to crowdfund climate solutions with community-based learning

All of our functions provided will be integrated into 1 mobile application with a gamified design that is easily scaled up and connects with people in the same movement.

The injustice-free-riding problem is a major barrier to the collective climate movement. To solve this problem, Optivide focuses on revolutionizing the traditional capital market through various action plans.

First, they are accredited aspiring social enterprises contributing 51% of annual profits to their social purpose. By joining the social enterprise community, Optivide alleviates the winner-take-all situation and mitigates the free-riding problem.

The conditional impact business model prioritizes the investor’s minimum annual profit with minimal financial requirements. This requirement is the key milestone that Optivide strives to achieve. 

The social purpose targets 4 areas documented in their governing files. They are structural unemployment sustainable training, a grant incubator program for social enterprise, Ph.D. entrepreneurship solution prize, and climate equity crowdfunding official account.

SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns


SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

SDG 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

The impact we measured is the number of individuals who reach financial security under their current situation and contribute to annual net-zero emissions.

It is not about how much they reduce but how many people could join the climate movement in the long term.

The other impact we will track is the number of private capital channels that support primary market innovation.

Artificial Intelligence: Customization Service with Scalability

Blockchain Technology: Information Security with Decentralized Protection

Gamification Design: Motivation Enhancement with Community Building

Chief Executive Officer: Danny Chen, Full-time

linkedin.com/in/chien-chih-chen-20100a168

Chief Technology Officer: Arundhati Gunupuru, Part-time

linkedin.com/in/arundhati-gunupuru

Chief Marketing Officer: Champ Muthle, Part-time

linkedin.com/in/champ-m-5382548

Chief Gamification Officer: Debora Paska, Part-time

linkedin.com/in/pas-ka

Our startup was established in January(2024). However, I have been following up with individual climate action topics for a long time. Our founders have partial or some experience related to sustainability and impact marketing. 

As an early-stage startup, we will not recruit employees at this time. Our founders are diverse, with 2 female co-founders and 1 male American black man.

We value different cultural backgrounds and talents and work to leverage each person's advantage to solve the problem.

In the future, when we have enough funding to hire, we will comply with Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications(BFOQs)

Responsible Customer: Employees who take individual climate action

Value Proposition: We believe that if everyone, anywhere, could take climate action without worrying about their finances, we could increase our success rate in achieving the net-zero goal.

Revenue Stream: Our main revenue stream is from AI-powered financial planning. Other revenues include carbon offset revenue and equity crowdfunding platforms.

Sustainable Channels: Social Enterprise, B Corp Association, Cradle to Cradle Institute

Sustainable Resources: Using the mobile service provided by blockchain and AI, we will constantly engage with climate communities to integrate the latest sustainable practices into our business operations.

Product Lifecycle: Throughout the product lifecycle, our online service will not produce any physical waste. However, the unused, archived, and outdated information stored in the blockchain may create a digital waste problem. We will actively be involved in the discussion of digital cleaning and find out potential best practices for our users.

Positive Impact: 

Our systemic solution heavily embeds finance in our business model design with various action plans.

1. Accredited aspiring social enterprise: Alleviates the winner-take-all situation and mitigates the free-riding problem(Not yet complete the submission)
   
2. Social purpose goals: Structural unemployment sustainable training, grant incubator program for social enterprise, Ph.D. entrepreneurship solution prize, and climate equity crowdfunding official account.
   
3. Long-term Climate Movement: Focus on financial planning to strengthen the capability to join the climate movement as their lifestyle.
   
4. Net-zero Ecosystem: Build up the ecosystem that invites consumers, founders, and LP investors with equity crowdfunding that channels more capital toward primary markets.

Negative Impact: Comes with the benefit of blockchain and AI, the high energy emission is huge. In addition, at the end of our service, digital waste may become a serious problem. We will follow up on the latest developments and potential solutions to mitigate the negative impacts.

Selling products or services and raising investment capital.

Currently, we are using the founders' capital to support our social enterprise startup operation. 

In addition, we applied for several accelerator programs, such as Techstars YC Combinator, a16z, etc, to secure the funding we needed for startup development.