Uptake Alliance is the first and only climate tech venture development program started under Governor Kathy Hotchul. Its core premise is to connect companies with technical challenges to startups with novel solutions — in essence, nurturing relationships to accelerate market adoption. After winning a competitive grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), this project needed to get off the ground quickly. The team brought in UME to create an entire identity for this nascent organization. Together, we collaborated with multiple stakeholders including government funders, external advisors and a rapidly growing team to launch Uptake Alliance in a matter of weeks.
Our strategy centers the unique value that this new organization delivers: market adoption. While other accelerators take equity in exchange for programming and coaching, Uptake does not take equity and instead helps startups with market-ready climate technologies broker their first corporate contract, earn revenue and show traction.
The name pinpoints exactly what this is — an intersectional community of startups, corporations, investors and policymakers coming together to create the market conditions for frontier climate ventures to get uptake and thrive. It’s upbeat, optimistic and action-oriented.
The letterforms of the wordmark for Uptake Alliance all have the same x-height, creating a feeling of compressed energy on the verge of take off. Using both uppercase and lowercase letters speaks to the diversity of the community, while making this logo unique and ownable. As a whole, the wordmark is professional, clean and crisp — with an rule-breaking edge.
In the first six weeks after launch, the Uptake Alliance website had 6K visits, 4.4K unique visitors, and 13K page views. The venture development program received 118 applications from startups across 27 states and around the world including Canada, Germany, India, Israel, Mexico, Sweden, UK and Zimbabwe.
UME didn't just help us lock in a name that signals what matters in the climate fight. They crafted a powerful brand strategy and messaging that resonates with each part of our ecosystem, particularly corporates and climate ventures. The brand we developed together is now effortlessly woven into daily conversations across the ecosystem. Our experience with UME not only helped give life to the Uptake brand, but also inspired our team to live up to our brand promise: to create the conditions for frontier climate ventures to thrive.
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