By Nate Beck ( February 26, 2025, 4:51 PM EST) — The U.S. Department of Justice and a group of states are urging a North Carolina federal judge to reject a move by RealPage Inc. and a group of landlords to escape claims that use of the company’s software paves the way for collusion on setting rental prices…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Hugging Face, the AI startup valued at over $4 billion, has introduced FastRTC, an open-source Python library that removes a major obstacle for developers when building real-time audio and video AI applications. “Building real-time WebRTC and Websocket applications is very difficult to get right in Python,” Freddy Boulton, one of FastRTC’s creators, said in an announcement on X.com. “Until now.” WebRTC technology enables direct browser-to-browser communication for audio, video and data sharing without plugins or downloads. Despite being essential for modern voice assistants and video tools, implementing WebRTC has remained a specialized skillset that most machine learning (ML) engineers simply don’t possess. Building real-time WebRTC and Websocket applications is very difficult to get right in Python. Until now – Introducing FastRTC, the realtime communication library for Python ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/PR67kiZ9KE — Freddy A Boulton (@freddy_alfonso_) February 25, 2025 The voice AI gold rush meets its technical roadblock The timing couldn’t be more strategic. Voice AI has attracted enormous attention and capital — ElevenLabs recently secured $180 million in funding, while companies like Kyutai, Alibaba and Fixie.ai have all released specialized audio models. Yet, a disconnect persists between these sophisticated AI models and the technical infrastructure needed to deploy them in responsive, real-time applications. As Hugging Face noted in its blog post, “ML engineers may not have experience with the technologies needed to build real-time applications, such as WebRTC.” FastRTC addresses this problem, with automated features handling the complex parts of real-time communication. The library provides voice detection, turn-taking capabilities, testing interfaces and even temporary phone number generation for application access. Want to build Real-time Apps with @GoogleDeepMind Gemini 2.0 Flash? FastRTC lets you build Python based real-time apps using Gradio-UI. ? ? Transforms Python functions into bidirectional audio/video streams with minimal code?️ Built-in voice detection and automatic… pic.twitter.com/o835htr0hl — Philipp Schmid (@_philschmid) February 26, 2025 From complex infrastructure to five lines of code The library’s primary advantage is its simplicity. Developers can reportedly create basic real-time audio applications in just a few lines of code — a striking contrast to the weeks of development work previously required. This shift holds substantial implications for businesses. Companies previously needing specialized communications engineers can now leverage their existing Python developers to build voice and video AI features. “You can use any LLM/text-to-speech/speech-to-text API or even a speech-to-speech model,” the announcement explains. “Bring the tools you love — FastRTC just handles the real-time communication layer.” hot take: WebRTC should be ONE line of Python code introducing FastRTC⚡️ from Gradio! start now: pip install fastrtc what you get:– call your AI from a real phone– automatic voice detection– works with ANY model– instant Gradio UI for testing this changes everything pic.twitter.com/kvx436xbgN — Gradio (@Gradio) February 25, 2025 The coming wave of voice and video innovation The introduction of FastRTC signals a turning point in AI application development. By removing a significant technical barrier, the tool opens up possibilities that had remained theoretical for many developers. The impact could be particularly meaningful for smaller companies and independent developers. While tech giants like Google and OpenAI have the engineering resources to build custom real-time communication infrastructure, most organizations don’t. FastRTC essentially provides access to capabilities that were previously reserved for those with specialized teams. The library’s “cookbook” already showcases diverse applications: voice chats powered by various language models, real-time video object detection and interactive code generation through voice commands. What’s particularly notable is the timing. FastRTC arrives just as AI interfaces are shifting away from text-based interactions toward more natural, multimodal experiences. The most sophisticated AI systems today can process and generate text, images, audio and video — but deploying these capabilities in responsive, real-time applications has remained challenging. By bridging the gap between AI models and real-time communication, FastRTC doesn’t just make development easier — it potentially accelerates the broader shift toward voice-first and video-enhanced AI experiences that feel more human and less computer-like. For users, this could mean more natural interfaces across applications. For businesses, it means faster implementation of features their customers increasingly expect. In the end, FastRTC addresses a classic problem in technology: Powerful capabilities often remain unused until they become accessible to mainstream developers. By simplifying what was once complex, Hugging Face has removed one of the last major obstacles standing between today’s sophisticated AI models and the voice-first applications of tomorrow. source

00:00Hi, everybody! Welcome to DEMO, the show where companies showcase their latest products and platforms. Today, I’m joined by Gilad Shriki, co-founder of Descope, but he’s also known as Shriki. Hello, Shriki! 00:11Shriki: Hello. 00:12Welcome to the show! Tell me a little about Descope and what you’re going to be showing us today. 00:16Shriki: Thanks for having me! Descope is a customer identity and access management platform that provides app developers with an easy way to build login experiences and user journeys. 00:27So, you’re going to be showing me parts of the platform, which is also called Descope, correct? 00:32Shriki: Yes. 00:33How big of a problem is authentication in this market? Because every time I visit a new website, authentication is already in place, so I don’t really understand what’s happening behind the scenes. 00:43Shriki: It’s a big market and a big problem. There are still a lot of passwords in use. Some app developers prefer to build authentication themselves, while others choose to buy a service. We believe this market requires disruption, making it much easier to build, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. 01:01So, the problem you’re solving is primarily about speed — getting authentication up and running quickly — rather than developers building it themselves or using templates from existing authentication platforms, right? 01:14Shriki: Correct. So, it’s about speed but also about approach. We believe in low-code and no-code experiences for developers who want to set something up quickly, and that’s what we provide. 01:23Okay. If companies don’t use Descope, what are they doing instead? Are they just hand-coding authentication? 01:31Shriki: Yes, they often build it themselves, and sometimes they do it poorly. Other times, they use a different authentication provider, but there are only a few major players in this space. 01:40What makes Descope different from the competition? Why should everyone use it? 01:43Shriki: I think our approach to authentication, especially with the flows I’ll be demonstrating today, is a leader in the space. The ability to build and iterate on authentication without making changes to the application itself is a game-changer. 01:57All right, let’s dive into the demo! Show us some cool stuff. 02:01Shriki: Of course! What you see here is our platform, featuring dashboards and activity logs. But the most important part is the authentication methods. We support a wide variety of authentication options, including passwords — though we’re not fans of passwords, we still support them. Today, I’ll be demonstrating how to go passwordless. In just five to 10 minutes, I’ll show you how to add multiple authentication options that don’t rely on passwords. You’ll also see where users are managed — this is your user pool — and how we track user information. The real magic happens in the flows, which allow you to build and iterate authentication processes and user journeys. Let’s step into our sample application. This is a revenue management app we quickly spun up. You’ll see a basic login experience, which is powered by Descope. Right now, it’s rudimentary and basic, but it can be fully styled and customized. I’ll log in with my user account. Since I don’t have an account yet, I’ll sign up using a simple password. Now, you see that I need to verify my email. All of this is part of the flow — meaning the application itself isn’t aware of the verification process, and the developer didn’t have to code it manually. I’ll go ahead and retrieve the verification email, enter the OTP [one-time password], and now I’m in. 04:48Does this process come with a template, or would most developers be familiar with setting it up themselves? 04:55Shriki: Yes, we provide templates. In fact, what I’m showing now started as a template. I began with the password authentication template and am iterating on it. The cool part is that you can modify the experience. For example, when a user already exists, instead of just prompting them for a password, we can add an option to log in with a magic link. I’ll demonstrate that now by adding a “Log in with Magic Link” button. I’ll configure it to send a magic link via email. You can see how easily I connect the dots — this update automatically handles sending the email and verifying the user. Now, if I go back to my login page and enter my email, I see the new magic link option. Clicking it sends me an email with the magic link, which I can click to log in instantly. This process was faster to set up than it would take to edit this video! 08:35Are you seeing more social logins being used? If I’m an app developer and I don’t trust Google, can I switch to a different provider? 08:53Shriki: Yes! Discord, for example, is another popular option. It’s incredibly easy to add — we just drag and drop it. No need to modify the authentication flow, because it uses the same OAuth and OIDC protocols. All social logins are bundled together because they use the same method. If I log out and refresh, you’ll see Discord as a login option.If you need a different provider, we support custom social logins too. Anything that follows standard OAuth protocols can be added, with full icon and branding support. 09:51What’s the most popular authentication method right now? I see you’re wearing a “Kill the Password” shirt. 10:06Shriki: The trend is moving towards passwordless authentication. Social logins are widely used, but there’s also a growing shift toward passkeys. Passkeys are a strong authentication method that provide a great user experience. They use the biometrics of your device, allowing seamless authentication — even across devices. For example, if you create a passkey on your phone, you can still use it to log in on a desktop. 10:44With my email, I still have to use a long, complex password, then enter an authenticator code, and then use Face ID. That’s three steps! 11:04Shriki: Exactly! Passkeys eliminate the need for extra steps. They’re

By Andrew Karpan ( February 27, 2025, 5:21 PM EST) — Netflix persuaded the Federal Circuit to sign off Thursday on another one of the streaming company’s wins at the patent board in its fight with a Broadcom subsidiary over chip technology…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

In the new Religious Landscape Study (RLS), nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults who are currently married (74%) say they have the same religion as their spouse, a similar share as in the 2014 RLS (75%). And 26% of married U.S. adults in the new study say their spouse has a religious identity that is different from their own. They include: 13% of married U.S. adults who are Christians paired with a religiously unaffiliated spouse, or vice versa; 7% of married U.S. adults who are Christians and whose spouse is part of a different Christian tradition, such as a Catholic married to a Protestant; and 6% of married people who are in other types of interfaith pairings, such as between a Jew and a Catholic, or between a Muslim and a religious “none.” The survey also finds that 51% of married U.S. adults say their religious beliefs are very similar to their spouse’s beliefs. And 36% say they talk about religion with their spouse at least once a week. Compared with people in religiously mixed marriages, respondents who are “in-married” (married to a person of the same religion) are more likely to say they share similar beliefs and talk about religion weekly or more often with their spouse. All these findings depend, of course, on how one defines a religious intermarriage. The analysis in this chapter is based on current, intact marriages. It compares the respondent’s current religion with their description of their spouse’s current religion at the time of the survey. (Spouses were not interviewed.) This analysis does not include marriages that have ended – whether through divorce, annulment or death. Nor does it hinge on whether one spouse switched religions to join the other’s religion. For example, a former Christian who converted to Islam before (or after) marrying a Muslim would be counted as in-married – not as religiously intermarried – if they were married and shared a religion at the time of the survey. In addition, this analysis treats Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox Christians and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (widely known as Mormons) as separate religious groups. Marriages between people in any two of these traditions (such as between a Protestant and a Catholic) are counted as intermarriages throughout this chapter. However, all varieties of Protestantism are treated as one religious group – meaning that a Baptist married to a Lutheran, or a Methodist married to a nondenominational Protestant, are not counted as intermarried. Similarly, all religiously unaffiliated Americans are considered as one group. An atheist who is married to an agnostic, for instance, doesn’t count as religiously intermarried for the purposes of this analysis. Jump to sections in this chapter about: Intermarriage across religious traditions Overall, 74% of married respondents in the survey say their spouse has the same religion they do, while 26% say their spouse identifies with a different religion, using the definitions outlined above. Roughly nine-in-ten married Latter-day Saints (87%) have a spouse who is of the same religion, making people in this group more likely than married people in any other U.S. religious group we analyzed to be religiously in-married. Meanwhile, 81% of married Protestants have spouses who also are Protestant, while 10% are married to religiously unaffiliated spouses and 7% have Catholic spouses. Among married Catholics, three-quarters have spouses who are Catholic, 12% are married to Protestants, and 9% have spouses who are religiously unaffiliated. Roughly two-thirds of married religiously unaffiliated people (68%) have a spouse who is religiously unaffiliated. A similar share of married Jewish respondents (65%) say they have a Jewish spouse. The survey did not include enough interviews with married people in other religious traditions – including Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others – to be able to analyze their intermarriage patterns. Religiousness and intermarriage People who identify with the same religion as their spouse tend to have higher levels of religiousness than people married to someone of a different religion. For example, among Protestants who are married to other Protestants, 62% are highly religious, compared with 27% of Protestants who are married to non-Protestants. And 46% of Catholics who are married to other Catholics display a high level of religious engagement, compared with 24% of Catholics married to non-Catholics. Among Jewish respondents with Jewish spouses, 29% are highly religious. That is the case for 4% of Jewish respondents whose spouses are not Jewish. Few religiously unaffiliated respondents are highly religious, regardless of whether their spouse identifies with a religion. That said, unaffiliated respondents whose spouses identify with a religion are less likely to exhibit low levels of religious engagement than are unaffiliated respondents whose spouses also are unaffiliated (60% vs. 72%). The survey did not include enough interviews with married people in other religious traditions – including Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others – to be able to analyze their intermarriage patterns. It also did not include enough married Latter-day Saints to analyze those who are intermarried. These results don’t necessarily show that being in a religiously mixed marriage causes people to become less religious. Indeed, the causal arrow could just as easily point in the opposite direction: People who aren’t particularly religious may be more inclined to enter into a religiously mixed marriage. Similarities in religious views between spouses When asked to compare their own religious beliefs with those of their spouse, 51% of married respondents say their beliefs are very similar. An additional 30% say their beliefs and their spouse’s beliefs are somewhat similar, while 14% say they are not too similar or not at all similar. Among married people whose spouse shares their religious identity, 62% report that their spouse has very similar religious beliefs. By contrast, among married people whose spouse does not share their religious identity, 21% say they and their spouse hold very similar religious beliefs. Similarities in the importance of religion between spouses Among married people who say religion is very important in their own life, 68% say it also is very important in their spouse’s life.

Data theft accounted for 94% of all cyber attacks worldwide in 2024, according to new research, as cybercriminals increasingly combine data exfiltration with encryption in ransomware campaigns. Beyond encryption, ransomware attackers now threaten to leak or sell a company’s data on the dark web if victims refuse to pay. Stolen information often includes personally identifiable data and proprietary intellectual property. The findings come from BlackFog’s 2024 Ransomware Trend Report, which analysed ransomware activity across hundreds of publicly disclosed and non-disclosed attacks on global organisations between January and December. The report found the average amount of data stolen in an undisclosed exfiltration attack is 592 GB, and the number of disclosed and undisclosed cyber attacks increased by 25% and 26% year-over-year, respectively. Dr. Darren Williams, founder and chief executive officer of BlackFog, said in a press release: “The report shows 2024 was a landmark year with organizations facing growing financial and reputational damage from ransomware attacks, with high-value sectors particularly pressured to pay ransoms to restore operations.” According to IBM’s Cost of Data Breach report, the average cost of a ransomware attack involving data exfiltration in 2024 was $5.21 million. “As cybercriminals continuously refine their techniques to exploit vulnerabilities and launch large-scale attacks, defending against ransomware is becoming increasingly complex,” Dr. Williams added. “Governments are stepping up efforts to counter this growing threat, introducing new measures such as mandatory ransomware incident reporting. However, the global ransomware crisis continues to escalate at an alarming rate.” Ransomware attackers are increasingly drawn to legitimate enterprise tools In September 2024, security researchers discovered a double-extortion ransomware variant targeting VMware ESXi servers, which both copied and encrypted the target’s data. Ransomware groups have also been exploiting legitimate file transfer technology to secure attacks. SEE: Microsoft Says Ransomware Groups Are Exploiting the Newly-Patched VMware ESXi Flaw BlackFog reported that PowerShell was used in 56% of ransomware cases in 2024, highlighting how attackers are increasingly “leveraging legitimate tools and platforms to infiltrate networks, establish a presence, and exfiltrate data without triggering alarms from many endpoint protection platforms.” Must-read security coverage Top targeted industries face relentless pressure The manufacturing, services, and technology sectors saw the highest number of undisclosed attacks, and are often-cited as highly targeted due to the critical nature of their uptime, high levels of digitisation, and large volumes of sensitive data. For disclosed attacks, healthcare, government, and education were the most targeted, accounting for 47% of all ransomware-related news headlines in 2024. The biggest surge was seen in the retail sector where disclosed attacks spiked by 96% with high-profile victims including Starbucks, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, London Drugs, and Krispy Kreme. Ransomware groups: Old leaders persist, new players emerge LockBit remained the most active ransomware group, attacking 603 reported victims. This was despite a major law enforcement takedown in February 2024, led by the U.K. National Crime Agency’s Cyber Division, the FBI, and other international partners. The operation temporarily disabled LockBit’s ransomware-as-a-service platform, but the group resumed operations days later on a new dark web domain. Still, payments to LockBit decreased by 79% in the second half of the year, according to separate research from Chainalysis. BlackFog’s report identified RansomHub as the second-most active ransomware group of 2024. A relative newcomer, it emerged in February 2024 and quickly gained notoriety with attacks on global manufacturer Kawasaki and oil and gas services company Halliburton. Medusa and Play ranked third in disclosed and undisclosed incidents, respectively. Surge in new ransomware groups fueled by AI A Cyberint report from October found that Q2 2024 had the highest number of active ransomware groups on record, as smaller, newer groups entered the scene. In January 2024, the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre warned that the threat of ransomware was expected to rise due to the new availability of AI technologies decreasing the barrier to entry, enabling even inexperienced criminals to conduct sophisticated attacks. BlackFog’s research reinforced these findings, reporting that 48 new ransomware groups emerged in 2024, marking a 65% increase from the number of new variants from the previous year. More than half of all ransomware attacks in the last two months of 2024 were carried out by these newly formed groups. source

Earlier this month, Cisco celebrated 40 years during its Cisco Live! event in Amsterdam. The San Jose-based company positions itself as a unique partner to provide solutions to the challenges of its customers, from the changing nature of the workplace to the revolution of AI and the need for digital resilience. In this context, as Oliver Tuszik, Cisco’s VP for EMEA, said, the changes they’ve faced over the decades gives the ability to not just survive but thrive. By achieving such an ambitious milestone, Fletcher Previn, the company’s CIO, added that the company’s culture-centric IT strategy has been key. “Culture is the only thing you really own about your company,” he says. “They can steal your technology, but not your philosophy.”  Structuring IT strategy On the basis of this organizational culture, Previn is in charge of fine-tuning a tactical and holistic IT plan, with the capacity to innovate and maintain resilience to face future uncertainties. And it’s all structured around three fundamental pillars, the first of which consists of the user experience. “This was one of the first changes I made when I took on the CIO role at Cisco,” he says. “I created a function that would report directly to me from our design and user experience department, which would give me information to integrate into the development teams.” In this way, he says, everything Cisco builds, from business applications to emails, goes through this channel. source

By Bridgette Carr and Vivek Sankaran ( February 24, 2025, 1:36 PM EST) — In the wake of significant government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits, lawyers across the country are overwhelmed…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Replit is helping non-technical employees at Zillow contribute to software development. The real estate giant’s customer routing system, which connects over 100,000 home shoppers to agents, now includes features built by team members who previously couldn’t write code. This breakthrough stems from Replit’s new partnership with Anthropic and Google Cloud, which has enabled over 100,000 applications on Google Cloud Run. The collaboration integrates Anthropic’s Claude AI model with Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform, allowing anyone with an idea to create custom software. Wow — Replit powers production routes on Zillow, which was built by a non-coder!! https://t.co/mgtDYLfbg6 — Amjad Masad (@amasad) November 22, 2024 “We’re witnessing a transformation in how businesses create software solutions,” said Michele Catasta, Replit’s president, in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. “Our platform is increasingly being adopted by teams across marketing, sales and operations who need custom solutions that pre-built software can’t provide.” The initiative addresses the growing global developer shortage, expected to reach 4 million by 2025. Companies can now empower non-technical teams to build their own solutions rather than waiting for scarce developer resources. Claude’s sophisticated approach to code generation sets this partnership apart. “Claude excels at producing clean, maintainable code while understanding complex systems across multiple languages and frameworks,” Michael Gerstenhaber, Anthropic’s product VP, told VentureBeat. “It approaches problems strategically, often stepping back to analyze the bigger picture rather than rushing to add code.” Built 2 new internal systems for my team this week (leave requests/customer support) using code generated by Claude. Took me 1 day in total & saved us $5-10K in consultant costs. If an english/psychology grad like me can use code to build stuff, any wordcel can. — Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) February 7, 2025 How Replit, Anthropic and Google Cloud are making AI coding secure and scalable Replit handles security and reliability concerns through Google Cloud’s enterprise infrastructure. “We’ve built our security framework on a foundation of enterprise-grade infrastructure through Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform,” Catasta said. “This allows us to offer accessible AI development tools while maintaining stringent security standards.” The partnership demonstrates significant advances in AI capabilities. Claude 3.5 Sonnet improved performance on SWE-bench Verified from 33% to 49%, surpassing many publicly available models. These technical improvements enable users to create everything from personal productivity tools to enterprise applications. Both companies emphasize AI augmentation over automation. “AI’s biggest potential is to augment and enhance human capabilities, rather than simply replacing them,” Gerstenhaber said. “For developer teams, Claude acts as an expert virtual assistant that can dramatically accelerate project timelines — reducing weeks-long projects to days.” Almost paid $100/year for an app I needed (export 1000s of saved posts/bookmarks to a spreadsheet), then thought “hmm I wonder if Claude could make this for me.” 10 minutes later, the app works and I have a CSV of everything I’ve ever saved. Wild! — Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) February 7, 2025 The future of software development: Replit’s AI puts coding in everyone’s hands Replit’s tools could transform who gets to build and sell software. A teenager in rural India recently created an app using just their smartphone, earned enough to buy their first laptop, and now builds software for companies worldwide. Stories like this suggest a future where anyone with an internet connection can turn their ideas into working software — regardless of their technical background or location. Challenges persist. The platform must balance accessibility with code quality and security while ensuring AI-generated solutions remain maintainable and scalable. Success could establish new standards for custom software development in the AI era. The global custom software development market will reach more than $700 billion by 2028, according to industry analysts. Replit’s AI-powered approach could determine who participates in this expanding market. Early results show promise. Companies have built their own employee time-off trackers and help-desk systems within days, tasks that previously took months of development. Some independent developers have created and launched new applications using just their phones, showing how the platform makes software development accessible to more people. In an industry known for high barriers to entry, this partnership between Replit, Anthropic and Google Cloud opens software development to anyone with an idea. The implications extend beyond traditional technology companies to reshape how businesses across industries build and deploy custom solutions. The next billion software creators may not know how to code — and that might be exactly the point. source

Sustainability tech has been all the buzz in the last few years. Investors are hunting promising ESG businesses, governments are pushing ambitious legislation, and companies are getting on board to adopt new solutions. Sustainability funding is projected to reach unprecedented levels, with BCG Henderson Institute estimating accumulated global investment to achieve net zero to hit $75 trillion by 2050.  And yet, behind the curtain, the picture isn’t quite as rosy. According to Statista, VC investment in sustainability and climate tech has been steadily declining since 2021. While AI startups often manage to secure funding rounds within mere weeks, sustainability-focused companies can spend years in fundraising limbo. As a partner at VC consulting agency Waveup, I’ve seen dozens of exceptional startups forced to bootstrap despite having validated technology and clear market potential — from sustainable agriculture solutions to carbon capture technologies. Something just doesn’t add up in venture capital. Why aren’t investors backing the innovations needed to create a more sustainable future? The core issue lies in how they evaluate investment opportunities. The great expectations mismatch When looking at sustainability tech companies, most VCs expect rapid adoption, hockey-stick growth, and massive total addressable markets (TAMs) (understandably so, as otherwise, the VC formula might simply not work). They apply the same metrics and expectations used for SaaS and AI startups, and while some sustainability companies might fit this mould, many simply are too early in market adoption to demonstrate these characteristics. Consider one of the clients we worked with developing revolutionary ocean-cleaning technology. The team managed to build a product with a clear and proven ability to drastically lower ocean pollution by reducing the amount of microplastics that enter the water. Despite recognition from the UN and an excellent client roster, the company has struggled with financing for years. For VCs, an absence of rapid growth overshadowed patented tech, past environmental impact, and excellent business economics. While recognising impressive results, most investors couldn’t get comfortable with the adoption timeline and speed of growth as, for many corporate clients, sustainability investments remain a “nice-to-have” category rather than a “must-have.”  TNW Conference – Groups get the best fun and the best deals Bring your team and multiply your efficiency to cover more grounds and collect new leads. It doesn’t help that many sustainability solutions require buy-in from multiple stakeholders within organisations, leading to longer and more unpredictable sales cycles. Worse, many companies also need significant upfront investment in physical assets or infrastructure, unlike purely software-based startups. The result? Gloomy statistics: while traditional tech companies typically take three years from Series A to Series B, sustainability technologies need an average of seven-plus years to achieve scale.  The bottom line: impact investments aren’t yet firmly matching traditional VC returns. While there’s been a concerted push since 2015 to argue that impact returns are approaching venture returns, the data often tells a different story – and this performance gap creates a fundamental tension with the VC model. Venture funds operate under strict constraints: they have fiduciary duties to their limited partners, closed-end fund structures, and defined timelines for delivering returns. A fund’s ability to raise Fund II or III depends entirely on the performance of its previous investments. In this context, backing “good investments” that haven’t proven viable enough becomes paradoxically risky — even for an industry built on taking risks.  Rethinking the climate tech model Financing the next generation of climate tech might require new solutions from everyone. The question is, are investors truly willing to find new models? With many VCs (without calling out names), we’re seeing a troubling trend: rather than looking for new ways to adapt investment frameworks and funding mechanisms or dedicating more time to sourcing high-potential nascent climate tech startups, they hire consultants to reposition their existing portfolio companies as “ESG-friendly.” Essentially, this involves finding an ESG angle in otherwise traditional software companies to report to LPs strides made in financing sustainable tech solutions. Needless to say, this approach does little to drive meaningful environmental and social change. What’s the alternative? We have a few ideas. 1. Rethink traditional funding mechanisms VC investors need to work with other ecosystem players to offset financing risks while balancing risks and returns. Today, leading impact investors are working to combine traditional VC money with impact-first capital and structuring investments with different return tranches for various investors. Some use catalytic capital to de-risk early-stage investments or create revenue-based financing options for steady-growth sustainability companies. Others develop outcome-based funding models tied to impact metrics.For companies struggling with VCs altogether, evergreen funds that don’t have fixed lifecycles and allow for extended holding periods can better match sustainability tech’s development timelines. Corporate venture capital and large corporations facing pressures to transition to net zero can also become viable backers by providing both capital and pilot opportunities for sustainability startups. 2. Provide actionable help to accelerate the road to scaling Monthly advice in board meetings will be valuable, but the true contribution lies in hands-on help driving adoption. The best impact investors put their time where their money is by partnering with corporate venture arms to secure pilot opportunities and market validation for their portfolio companies, collaborating with government agencies on grants and subsidies, and working with industry consortiums to accelerate adoption. 3. Adjust metrics and expectations Investors need to consider new frameworks for evaluating sustainability investments. Traditional SaaS metrics could be replaced with impact-adjusted indicators that consider both financial and sustainability outcomes or allow for longer return lifecycles that align with the sector’s development timeline and adoption curves. Important to note: this isn’t about lowering standards; it’s about adapting them to match the unique characteristics of sustainability technologies.  For VCs, the question shouldn’t be whether to invest in sustainability tech but how to adapt their approach to these critical innovations. Without this shift in perspective, we risk missing out on the next wave of transformative technologies that could help address our most pressing environmental and social challenges. After all, the biggest risk might not be backing sustainability tech