Climate Insiders

In today's show, I'm receiving Elin Bergman, COO of Cradlenet and Founder of the Nordic Circular Hotspot. She was named the Circular Economy Queen of Sweden, and LinkedIn's top Green Voice

We talk about:

-Circular economy: a reality check of Sweden and the Scandinavian countries

-What will happen when countries become too hot to live in and are flooded with climate refugees

-how to find your voice, establish a brand, and become a LinkedIn top voice

-and the learnings from 15 years without flying

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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from the top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Elin Bergman is known for being the Circular Economy Queen of Sweden. She is one of the co-founders of the Nordic Circular Hotspot and currently serves as the COO and spokesperson of the Swedish circular economy network Cradlenet. For many years she worked as WWF Sweden’s circular economy expert, where she developed the international circular economy network Baltic Stewardship Initiative, to enable the recirculation of nutrients in the Baltic Sea region in the agri-food sector.

She has previous experience as a Marketing and Communications Manager at the sustainability consultancies Tricorona and Respect in Stockholm.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:00 – Intro

00:49 – What does it mean to be named the Circular Economy Queen of Sweden?

01:24 – Do multiple hats, from cradle to advocacy, truly drive tangible results for achieving national circular economy goals?

03:06 – How is Sweden missing climate targets?

04:31 - Is the UK's Circular Economy Strategy a Swing or a Shift?

05:19 – How do you deal with climate issues on a personal level?

06:59 - The apparent disconnection between the increasing number of climate conferences and rising emissions

08:34 – Is Sweden well positioned to lead the change?

11:04 – What are the strategies for effecting change without causing unnecessary confrontations?

12:33 - Climate Refugees: Are Nordic Countries Prepared for the Inevitable Debate?

15:52 - Unpredictable Climate Extremes: Are governments prepared for the challenges?

17:36 - Investing in the Future: The Profitable Business of Saving the World

18:54 - Personal transformations and shifts in core beliefs related to the climate crisis

21:03 – How can travelling bring new ideas for solving climate issues?

22:48 - Regenerative farming gazing: The progress and challenges in embracing the innovative and eco-friendly farming method

24:18 – Should people invest more in technological innovation?

27:18 - The Energy Dilemma: Balancing Technology, Efficiency, and Sustainability

29:10 – How do people find their voice? Tips for the younger generation

30:56 – How to overcome Vulnerability and build a Sustainable Virtual Identity

33:08 - Living the Brand: Ditching Air Travel for a Sustainable Journey, how easy is it?

37:28 – How to turn sustainability into a win and not a sacrifice?

39:34 – Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/

Yoann Berno is committed to the democratization of climate tech investing, to contribute significantly to the fight against global warming. Passionate about empowering individuals striving to make a difference in addressing climate change, he is renowned as the podcast host of Climate Insiders. In this role, he dedicates himself to showcasing the perspectives of trailblazers in environmental sustainability.

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Mentioned in the podcast:

Elin Bergman - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elinbergman/

Cradlenet - https://www.cradlenet.se/

Circular Economy Coalition - https://nordiccirculararena.com/ https://nordiccircularhotspot.org/

Allan Savory TED Talk - https://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_fight_desertification_and_reverse_climate_change

Scientists found a low-cost way to make clean drinking water from the air in the desert - https://www.fastcompany.com/90755964/scientists-found-a-low-cost-way-to-make-clean-drinking-water-from-air-in-the-desert

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the following episodes: https://climateinsiders.substack.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climate-insiders/

In today's show, I'm receiving Emanuel Heisenberg, co-founder of Ecoworks, a construction company that transforms houses into NetZero.

We cover:

- The Energiesprong Revolution: How Ecoworks Transforms Homes to NetZero in Days!

- The Future of Sustainable Construction: Prefabrication & Modularity

- From the Netherlands to the World: Adapting the Energiesprong Principle Globally

- Navigating the Climate Tech Funding Maze: Ecoworks' Success Formula

- Building the Green Dream Team: Ecoworks on Hiring in Climate Tech

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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from the top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Emanuel is the Founder and CEO of ecoworks, a start-up that automates and industrializes renovation to decarbonize the building stock at scale. Before ecoworks, he founded and managed start-ups in deep geothermal and decentralized energy.

Emanuel advises the German Government on heat and decentralized energy policies and is active as an author and speaker.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:09 – Intro

00:23 – What is Ecoworks?

00:52 – The current state of the construction industry regarding carbon footprint

02:04 – How to involve more “big guys” in greener processes?

04:25 – What is behind Ecowork's impressive scale and growth? How does it differ from other companies?

07:25 – How is Ecoworks net zero?

08:15 – What is gray energy?

09:21 – How is what Ecoworks is doing game-changing?

11:36 – The Future of Sustainable Construction: Industrial Prefabrication & Modularity

14:47 – Navigating the intersection of regulation and business model

17:12 – Expanding the business outside of Germany; plans for the future

18:04 – Unpacking the production process

19:39 – Where do the production partners come from?

20:25 – Is 3D printing still used in the construction world?

21:31 – Overcoming workforce challenges: is training installers a way to success?

23:34 – What is the path to success in a growing market? Ecoworks' Success Formula

27:07 – What is the role of private equity in the construction industry?

29:00 – How to create an inspiring vision for investors, co-founders, and employees?

30:22 - Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/

Yoann Berno is committed to the democratization of climate tech investing, to contribute significantly to the fight against global warming. Passionate about empowering individuals striving to make a difference in addressing climate change, he is renowned as the podcast host of Climate Insiders. In this role, he dedicates himself to showcasing the perspectives of trailblazers in environmental sustainability.

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Mentioned in the podcast:

Ecoworks https://ecoworks.tech/

Emanuel Heisenberg https://www.linkedin.com/in/emanuel-heisenberg-49676a1/

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the following episodes: https://climateinsiders.substack.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climate-insiders/

In today's show, we are bringing Arman Anaturk, co-founder of Hack Capital. Hack Capital supports impact-driven founders, funders, and managers with their capital raises.

We talk about:

-managing your LinkedIn presence to grow your brand and drive more people to invest in Climate Tech

-becoming an angel investor in Climate, and the expectations they should have helping out founders early on

-cap table tips and tricks, and whether you should actually give shares of your fund or business to advisors early on

-And the future of Hack Summit, the annual conference organized by Hack Capital

-The best tips for people to penetrate the climate tech space

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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from the top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Arman Anatürk is a co-founder of HackCapital, an investment infrastructure that unlocks capital towards impact companies, funds and projects, and a member of FoodHack, the largest foodtech community. He has previously held roles at CoderCourse and OneRoof Agency.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:09 – Intro

01:17 – Introduction of the guest

02:05 – Managing work intensity and avoiding burnout

05:29 - Introduction to Hack Capital and its three components: community, insights, and capital

07:43 - Democratizing Access to Climate Tech Investments

10:02 – The perks of being a European investor; Is it actually easier?

11:22 – How can you successfully turn online engagement into real-world investors for capital?

14:12 - Stepping out of Your Comfort Zone on LinkedIn: tips on how to use LinkedIn to the fullest potential

19:17 – Angel investing; expected returns and tips to angel investing

23:00 - What kind of added value angel investors can provide in the fundraising?

26:52 - How should funders approach the idea of compensating or involving angel investors as advisors?

33:58 - The differences between top-down and bottom-up approaches in VC funding

37:25 - Climate Tech Investment Beyond Financial Gain

40:20 – Hack Summit – What are the plans for the future of it?

44:42 - Breaking into the Climate Tech Space: Advice for Aspiring Entrants

46:54 - Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/

Yoann Berno is committed to the democratization of climate tech investing, to contribute significantly to the fight against global warming. Passionate about empowering individuals striving to make a difference in addressing climate change, he is renowned as the podcast host of Climate Insiders. In this role, he dedicates himself to showcasing the perspectives of trailblazers in environmental sustainability.

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Mentioned in the podcast:

Hack Capital - https://www.hackcapital.co/about/company

Arman Anaturk - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armananaturk

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the following episodes: https://climateinsiders.substack.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climate-insiders/

In today's show, I'm receiving Sebastian Heitmann, co-founder and General Partner of Extantia, a European Climate Tech fund based out of Berlin.

We cover:

- The Path to Extantia: Strategies and Hindsight in Structuring Climate Funds

- Gigacorn Hunter: Identifying the Next Big Climate Startup

- Impact Measurement Debate: Essential Process or Early-Stage Overkill?

- Deep Diving in New Sectors: Effective Due Diligence Tips

- Announcements for the Super Climate conference to continue boosting Climate Ecosystem

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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from the top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Sebastian Heitmann is a General Partner at Extantia Capital, a €200 million platform dedicated to investing in innovative technology solutions for climate crisis mitigation and adaptation. This platform encompasses Extantia Flagship, which supports scalable deep decarbonization ventures, Extantia Allstars, collaborating with mission-driven climate tech venture capital fund managers, and Extantia Ignite, a sustainability hub advancing expertise in climate innovation and ESG practices.

With a diverse background spanning various industries, including sports, community building, and software, Sebastian is an accomplished entrepreneur. He holds an educational background from the Harvard Business School and currently resides in Berlin, Germany.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:09 – Intro

00:52 – Introduction of the guest

06:01 – The bridge between the Kite World and Climate

09:31 – Is the early investment strategy the right strategy?

11:34 – Fundraising and the Limits to the Institutional Capital

15:53 - Navigating Risk and Opportunity: A Closer Look at Project Evaluation

17:27 - The delicate balance between visionary thinking and cautious decision-making when investing.

20:42 – Is taking the institutional route the right choice for fund managers?

22:20 – How to effectively identify a Gigacorn?

25:45 – Does climate saving mean not investing in new buildings?

28:26 - Balancing Environmental Responsibility with Tech Innovation

29:21 – How to know if the funders are telling the truth?

32:08 - Is there any core or fundamental belief that has changed recently?

35:11 - The art of selling science

36:01 – Super climate – where it’s headed?

39:58 – What is happening with the Berlin chapter?

42:00 – Is there still room for more emerging fund managers, more funds, or is the game set at least for a while?

43:40 - The intersection of finance, climate action, and the race against time – the need for urgent actions

45:42 – Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/

Yoann Berno is committed to the democratization of climate tech investing, with a goal to contribute significantly to the fight against global warming. Passionate about empowering individuals striving to make a difference in addressing climate change, he is renowned as the podcast host of Climate Insiders. In this role, he dedicates himself to showcasing the perspectives of trailblazers in environmental sustainability.

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Mentioned in the podcast:

Extantia https://extantia.com/

Sebastian Heitmann https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-heitmann-3259ab45/

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the following episodes: https://climateinsiders.substack.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climate-insiders/

In today's show, I'm receiving Allegra Kowalewski-Ferreira, Partner at Breakthrough Energy Europe.

We cover:

- Discussion on the world's largest Climate Tech fund

- Exploring Bill Gates' actual role in the fund

- The fund's investment decision-making process

- Cultural differences between the US and Europe in Investing

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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from the top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Allegra is an investment professional passionate about innovations that can address climate change, and driven by the process of partnering with entrepreneurs to accelerate their development and maximize their impact.

She is currently a partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a 2bn+ USD climate-focused venture fund structured to last 20 years and dedicated to backing disruptive technologies to decarbonize the economy at large (electricity, manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and building).

Before the family office, Allegra started her career in a corporate finance boutique (Semcap) that quickly diversified its consulting business with the launch of Belgium’s first equity-based crowdfunding platform (MyMicroInvest, a.k.a. Spreds), supported by an early-stage investment fund (Inventures). As a co-founder, Allegra raised funds & closed deals on behalf of 7 entrepreneurs.

Finally, Allegra graduated as a Business Engineer from the Solvay Business School (University of Brussels) amongst the top 5 of her class.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:00 – Intro

00:48 - Daily life of the partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures

03:54 – Breakthrough Energy Ventures US and Europe - Fund Status and Management Overview

05:59 – How are differences and similarities managed within the team with the same goal?

07:07 – How to get into Breakthrough Energy ventures and why is it so hard?

11:14 - Breakdown of Breakthrough Energy Entities

12:20 – How to land a partner role?

15:01 - Unraveling the Role of Bill Gates at Breakthrough Energy

17:32 - The Dynamics of Breakthrough Energy's Investment Committee and Internal Structure

20:51 – What is the best approach that promotes collaboration and ensures the best possible investment decisions?

22:17 – How do you decide in which sector you should invest in?

24:54 – Is Breakthrough Energy’s primary focus on impact or financial returns?

26:29 – What is the actual performance of Fund One? What is next?

27:20 - Demystifying the Speed of Success – How fast does it happen?

29:16 – Does Breakthrough take a hand-on or hands-off approach?

31:20 - Does Breakthrough Energy adhere to strict valuation discipline or maintain a more flexible approach?

33:56 - Navigating Cultural Differences in Startup Support: US vs. Europe

35:27 – What are the profound cultural differences between the US and Europe when it comes to storytelling and marketing in entrepreneurship?

37:43 – Is Belgium catching up in the climate battle?

39:31 – How to achieve the balance between technological innovation and policy innovation in addressing global crises?

41:28 – Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/

Yoann Berno is committed to the democratization of climate tech investing, to contribute significantly to the fight against global warming. Passionate about empowering individuals striving to make a difference in addressing climate change, he is renowned as the podcast host of Climate Insiders. In this role, he dedicates himself to showcasing the perspectives of trailblazers in environmental sustainability.

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Get in touch with Allegra Kowalewski-Ferreira at:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allegra-kowalewski-ferreira-a3253111

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the following episodes: https://climateinsiders.substack.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climate-insiders/

In today's show, I'm welcoming Jacqueline van den Ende, Co-Founder and CEO of Carbon Equity, a Climate VC and private equity fund investing platform that enables people to invest in the world's best climate funds.

We cover:

-Jacqueline van den Ende's personal journey, motivation, and drive in the climate tech space

-The importance of involving the broader public in climate tech investments

-Exploring strategies to combat greenwashing and the potential for geoengineering in climate solutions

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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from the top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Jacqueline is super inspiring, she loves open and honest talks on everything Climate. And frankly, this conversation is one of the most wide-ranging, fun, and free-flowing that I've had on this show. We talk about the Mayan empire, geoengineering, being extroverted-introvert, and of course how to democratize Climate Tech investing.

Carbon Equity is a climate venture capital and private equity fund investing fintech platform. Carbon Equity was founded with the mission to unlock retail capital at scale to power breakthrough climate technologies whilst enabling more equitable ownership.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:09 - Intro

01:24 - Introduction of the guest

02:11 - What is carbon equity?

02:42 - What is the fuel for dealing with climate challenges after a long time?

04:19 - What are the two weapons for this Climate?

05:37 - How to deal with the pressure of being a public figure?

08:41 - The Yin and Yang energy theory

11:32 - How to reframe your relationship with work?

13:18 - How to deal with eco-anxiety?

15:33 - How to encourage more people to invest in green impactful ventures?

17:08 - How does veganism/vegetarianism go beyond diet?

17:53 - Why is it crucial to democratize access to climate tech investing opportunities?

19:47 - How to get more people involved in investing in climate technology?

23:47 - The front door vs. the back door approach in transforming the society

25:46 - The urgent need for a new perspective in the world

27:55 - Why is it important to set good examples for others when dealing with climate issues?

31:30 - Is more green growth the actual solution for the biggest problems?

33:52 - Does increased efficiency lead to more resource consumption?

35:33 - Why is it important to have diverse perspectives that extend beyond the traditional capitalist approach?

36:41 - Is climate tech an industry solving the CO2 problem?

37:23 - When does geoengineering become morally acceptable?

39:31 - How do we stop expanding oil & gas production?

43:38 - The urgent need to address the influence of oil and gas players

46:10 - What does carbon equity do? How do people get involved?

48:26 - Can 1,000€ open doors when investing?

49:53 - The launch of my Climate Tech investing course to democratize investing

51:02 - Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno (https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno) is committed to the democratization of climate tech investing, with a goal to contribute significantly to the fight against global warming. Passionate about empowering individuals striving to make a difference in addressing climate change, he is renowned as the podcast host of Climate Insiders. In this role, he dedicates himself to showcasing the perspectives of trailblazers in environmental sustainability.

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Mentioned in the podcast:

Jacqueline van den Ende

Generation less: https://medium.com/@jacqueline_88951/generation-less-9ea1154f370d

The counter-intuitive solution to getting people to care about climate change: https://theconversation.com/the-counter-intuitive-solution-to-getting-people-to-care-about-climate-change-120136

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the following episodes: https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climate-insiders/

This time we're turning tables. I will not be conducting the interview. Instead, I will be interviewed. By popular demand, you will hear a little bit about me and my thoughts on some awesome topics, such as risk management, ways to become an angel investor with as little as $1000, alternative forms of growth, why technology won’t solve this deeper crisis faced by humanity, the critical need to better communicate visions, and the power of women to transform society!

In addition, we will discuss my decision to leave Climentum Capital, my evolving role to help democratize climate investing, and how YOU can get involved! Analisa Winther, a veteran podcaster and a great Climate ecosystem builder, will be conducting the interview.

She will be asking me tough questions to extract a lot of valuable insights. This has been one of the most engaging conversations I have had on the show, and I am confident that you will find a lot of inspiration from it. Let's go!

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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from Europe's top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

--------------

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Yoann Berno is committed to the democratization of climate tech investing, with a goal to contribute significantly to the fight against global warming. Passionate about empowering individuals striving to make a difference in addressing climate change, he is renowned as the podcast host of Climate Insiders. In this role, he dedicates himself to showcasing the perspectives of trailblazers in environmental sustainability.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:09 Intro

01:03 Guests background

01:56 Was the push in regulations in recent years the Turning Point for the Climate Tech industry and the main contributor to the booming number of dedicated funds?

05:58 How to measure impact at both the individual company and portfolio level?

12:59 When to run the impact assessment? Is it during the due diligence process, after due diligence, or at the end of the fund?

14:10 Example of how to conduct pre-due diligence or during due diligence assessment.

15:11 Conducting an LCA at the fund level: strategies, considerations, and recommendations!

17:55 Are LCAs very expensive, and will this make VC money even more expensive? Can VCs still be cost-competitive vs generalist funds?

19:22 When does it make sense to be an Article 9 fund?

21:18 Intentions vs Reality Check: are Pre-Seed and Seed Stage the funds right fit for Article 9 or should it be reserved for Growth and Private Equity funds?

25:42 Attribution vs Additionally: unraveling the tricky debate! Which one is the biggest problem?

29:42 Mastering impact assessment in practice: A Guide to Effective Evaluation!

34:17 How to run an impact assessment for a project development case (ex: offshore floating wind farm)?

36:58 Are there any external service providers, professionals, or software that they recommend to run impact investing?

40:48 Mastering LP documentation: best practices and reporting timelines for fund managers!

43:28 What is the role of a Climate Tech VC? Is it to provide impact counseling to founders?

46:15 Striking the balance: prioritizing impactful direction over purely commercial Goals!

49:14 Preventing bad press and safeguarding your reputation

53:19 Unleashing the power of incentives: how to build a successful and effective framework?

56:49 Racing against the odds: how to supercharge industry growth despite capital constraints?

01:01:21 Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

Interviewing me today is Analisa Winther. She is an advisor to corporations helping them to invest in the future of food and build relationships with the ecosystem. She also is a leadership coach for startup founders helping them to clarify their vision and distill their values. Analisa is an expert in the agrifood space and the host of the popular podcast Future Food.

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Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the next episodes: https://climateinsiders.substack.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Website: www.analisawinther.com

Podcast: www.analisawinther.substack.com

Instagram: @analisa.winther

Links:

My Online Course (Invest In Climate Tech Like A VC): https://maven.com/climate-tech/invest-in-climate-tech-new

GET Fund https://getfund.eu/

Climentum Capital https://www.climentum.com/

ClimatePoint https://www.climatepoint.com/

Climate Insiders has grown into a Top 7% podcast worldwide 🔥

Here are some key stats and a preview of what's coming next...

✨ Over 8,000 people have tuned in to at least one episode! (Psst… not many podcasters share their stats, I wish they did it more). For a niche and expert podcast, that's pretty good!

🤯 It's in the Top 7% of all Podcasts worldwide by number of downloads. That blew my mind. That also means we're pretty close to the lead in European Climate Tech.

🎶 Airing the show on both Audio and Video on YouTube helped unlock new audiences, though Spotify certainly stole the show (driving 82% of traffic)!

🎁 Surprise, surprise! The most downloaded episode has a whopping 5,000 downloads! Which one? It came as a big surprise...

I've been truly humbled by your unwavering support 🙏 Each episode demands up to 10 hours of effort – from prep & research work to editing. It’s a rollercoaster, but your enthusiasm fuels my passion! I'm still learning how to juggle it all and onboard more hands to help me bring a bit of automation and scale to it.

👉 Here is the top 5 episodes of all time for great listens this summer to become a Climate Insider: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2oHQSelJbYtXk4HzixAPW2?si=cd72572542f7435f

🎉 And guess what? Season 3 is set to air in September! The lineup? Absolutely world-class. Stay tuned!

📢 CALL TO ACTION! 📢

Have a recommendation for a guest with a resonating voice in Climate Tech? Founder, investor, or changemaker. Respond to this email with their names. Let’s shape Season 3 with your choices!

Together, let's keep elevating our collective climate intelligence. 🌱🎙️🌏

Whenever you're ready, here is how I can help you:​

Join my course to learn the A-Z of climate tech investments . Dive into impactful deals, understand risks, and unlock exclusive investment opportunities. Be a part of the global green revolution. Let’s change the world together! 💚

Sign up here: https://maven.com/climate-tech/invest-in-climate-tech-new

And sign up to my newsletter to receive one Climate Tech actionable tip every Saturday to boost your career, fund or startup: https://climateinsiders.substack.com/

Today's show features not just one, but two guests, who will provide super actionable insights to FINALLY demystify the IMPACT of Climate Tech Funds.

-We will break down the most important concepts around impact measurements, such as SFDR, ESG, LCA, and other key acronyms ruling European Climate Tech.

-We will ask two of Europe's best impact experts how they put it all into practice when making investments and growing their startup portfolio.

-And we will answer some chicky questions to figure out what is truly necessary and what is a bit overkill in this whole impact assessment world.

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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from Europe's top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Our two guests are Isabelle Canu, Partner at the Green European Tech Fund, and Stefan Maard, General Partner at Climentum Capital.

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SHOW NOTES:

0:09 – Intro

01:40 – Guests background

02:43 - Was the push in regulations in recent years the Turning Point for the Climate Tech industry and the main contributor to the booming number of dedicated funds?

06:50 - Is Article 9 the 'holy grail' of Climate impact funds?

08:50 - What is the definition of ESG and how does it overlap with Article 6, 8, 9 funds?

12:00 – How to measure impact at both the individual company and portfolio level?

13:49 – When to run the impact assessment? Is it during the due diligence process, after due diligence, or at the end of the fund?

15:00 – Example of how to conduct pre-due diligence or during due diligence assessment.

17:00 – Conducting an LCA at the fund level: strategies, considerations, and recommendations!

18:45 - Are LCAs very expensive, and will this make VC money even more expensive? Can VCs still be cost-competitive vs generalist funds?

20:10 – When does it make sense to be an Article 9 fund?

23:00 – Intentions vs Reality Check: are Pre-Seed and Seed Stage the funds right fit for Article 9 or should it be reserved for Growth and Private Equity funds?

26:30 – Attribution vs Additionally: unraveling the tricky debate! Which one is the biggest problem?

30:30 – Mastering impact assessment in practice: A Guide to Effective Evaluation!

35:08– How to run impact assessment for a project development case (ex: offshore floating wind farm)?

37:40 –Are there any external service providers, professionals, or software that they recommend to run impact investing?

41:38 – Mastering LP documentation: best practices and reporting timelines for fund managers!

44:18 - What is the role of a Climate Tech VC? Is it to provide impact counseling to founders?

47:05 – Striking the balance: prioritising impactful direction over purely commercial Goals!

50:04 – Preventing bad press and safeguarding your reputation

54:09– Unleashing the power of incentives: how to build a successful and effective framework?

57:39 – Racing against the odds: how to supercharge industry growth despite capital constraints?

1:02:11 - Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/ After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

--------------

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the next episodes: https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Isabelle Canu (GP at Green European Tech Fund) https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelle-canu-897a3189/

Stefan Maard (GP at Climentum Capital) https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanmaard/

GET Fund https://getfund.eu/

Climentum Capital https://www.climentum.com/

ClimatePoint https://www.climatepoint.com/

Nicolas Derrien is the CEO and Founder of Continuum. He's a fervent entrepreneur who believes NO composite should be buried or burned and simply left for future generations to deal with.

We cover:

-The big problem of end of life wind turbines

-The best solutions to recycling composite materials and fiberglass at SCALE

-The best ways to fund a super CAPEX intensive business

-The pathways to global scale and the opportunity for large corporates to play an important role

--------------

ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from Europe's top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

--------------

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Nicolas Derrien is the CEO and Founder of Continuum. He's a fervent entrepreneur who believes NO composite should be buried or burned and simply left for future generations to deal with. It’s our responsibility to do something better and Nicolas wants to dedicate all his time and energy to cracking this problem.

--------------

SHOW NOTES:

0:09 - Intro

0:53 – Introduction to Nico’s work

2:05 – What was the inspiration for starting a composite material recycling company?

4:24 – What happens with the wind turbines after they reach their “expiration” date of 20-25 years?

6:12 – Is there a world where wind blades recycling is possible? Why mechanical processes are preferred to chemical ones?

9:44 – The question of funding. What are the core learnings on how to Raise Funding for Super CAPEX Intensive Businesses?

11:49 – Are VCs absolutely necessary to get the permit to start?

13:00 – Opening of the 36000 tons factory west of Denmark, why is it such a big deal for the whole industry?

14:49 – There is the supply side for wind turbine solutions, what about the demand side?

18:02 – Is there room for multiple technologies? Should VCs fund more companies or focus on a smaller number of them?

20:37 – One way to reframe the problem is to talk about government’s sovereignty

22:13 – How to protect companies in Europe? Will the EU technologies remain European? How to use geopolitics in your company’s favor?

23:44 – The role of the big companies? What is the optimal pass for the industry?

25:12 – When is it a good idea to start selling your company in order to maximize the impact?

26:49 –What kind of hires do you need to scale such a hardware startup? Can you offer remote first culture?

29:27 - Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/ After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

--------------

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the next episodes: https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Nicolas Derrien https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasderrien1/

Continuum https://www.continuum.earth/

In today's show, I’m receiving Analisa Winther the Founder of the podcast Future Food. She spent her entire career putting together startup and investor relationships as an ecosystem developer. Today, she coaches Founders helping them to define their vision and values to create a culture built to scale as well as hone their pitch to attract the right investors

This episode is an open conversation between two podcasters who have been on both sides: startup founder and investor.

We will share:

-The importance of company culture and values

-The Key tips for startup founders to impress investors and secure funding for their climate tech ventures

-The crucial importance of understanding the PSYCHOLOGY of investors (and trust me it's not just an ART, there are some elements of Science in there)

--------------

ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Learn all the insights from Europe's top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, understand the drivers of investment decisions, and become a true Climate Insider.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co

--------------

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Analisa Winther spent her entire career putting together startup and investor relationships as an ecosystem developer. Today, she coaches Founders helping them to define their vision and values to create a culture built to scale as well as hone their pitch to attract the right investors.

In her consulting business, Analisa guides corporate venture capital arms and single-family offices on where to invest related to the future of food. Past clients have included the likes of IKEA and PINC. Analisa is a frequent speaker on the future of food and the host of the popular podcast Future Food with Analisa Winther, which has interviewed over 100 stakeholders on how we can build a better future through food.

If you'd like to work with Analisa, visit www.analisawinther.com for more information.

--------------

SHOW NOTES:

0:08 – Intro

0:46 – Welcoming guest

1:13 – What inspired Analisa to start her Podcast on Food Tech, and how does that tie in with all her other advisory activities?

3:17 – The importance of the universe of culture

5:02 – What is the first tip for the founder who is starting the culture? What are some tips for the founders who are already in it and want to improve?

6:19 – How important are values in building a successful startup, and how can founders ensure that their values are reflected in every aspect of their company?

8:52 – As a founder - how do you ensure that the culture is right? Is coaching the answer?

10:25 – How can the startup founders secure funding?

11:21 – How do you make sure that you increase your chances with investors?

13:16 – The problem of overly glorified VC startups

14:43 – How can you better understand the psychology of investors to increase your chances of success? How can a founder manufacture the right persona to play the perfect part?

16:58 – What is the key thing the investors are looking for?

17:03– The 7 key questions that investors want you to answer.

19:12 – The importance of emotion in a pitch

21:01 – The bias that comes with the investors.

23:33 – Tips for starting a startup.

25:44 – The psychology of a successful founder.

27:18 – Tips for investors, particularly Angel investors – what is their role?

32:12 – The demands that investors make on startups, the dynamic between Angel investors and startups.

33:52 – The value of communication between investors and startups.

34:57 – Outro

--------------

ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/ After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

--------------

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER to stay tuned about the next episodes: https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoannberno

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Analisa Winther https://www.linkedin.com/in/analisa-winther/

Y Combinator - How to pitch your company https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4b-how-to-pitch-your-company

What you do is who you are - Ben Horowitz https://a16z.com/book/whatyoudo/

In today's show, I'm receiving Ulf Stenerhag the Founder of Wayout, a Swedish-based startup that produces Micro-Water Plants the size of a container.

Ulf has a TON of insights to share.

-How to crack the production of water locally and make it trustworthy so that people stop using bottles and drink from the tap again

-Some surprising and shocking facts about the quality of water in our Western cities, and why we might actually ALSO rely on micro water plants in the future

-How could Wayout's model take significant market share away from the Water Giants and eventually create a new model that can scale across all layers of the pyramid

-Ulf's vision of the future where Water becomes literally free

--------------

ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Climate Insiders is brought to you by Climentum Capital, a Seed+ and Series A cleantech European venture capital firm focused on funding and scaling climate-positive ventures that cut down on CO2 emissions.

If you are interested in how smart capitalism and mission-driven founders building innovative tech startups can overcome our climate crisis and build a better future, you’ve come to the right place.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co and https://www.climentum.com

--------------

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Ulf Stenerhag is the CEO and Founder of Wayout, a Swedish-based startup that produces Micro-Water Plants the size of a container.

They are tackling one core problem - the production and usage of plastic bottles.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has called plastics “a climate killer.”

If the plastics industry were a country, it would be the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world.

Today, 1.3 billion plastic bottles are used EACH DAY across the world, THAT IS about 1 million per minute. If you go to any developing country, you will be frightened by the omnipresence of plastic bottles. They are EVERYWHERE and filling up every body of water around the world.

Wayout addresses the specific problem of water production. They make local production of water possible and we will speak about HOW.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:12 – Intro

01:01 – Welcoming the guest

01:11 – How does Wayout work and how do they manage water production?

03:29 – How to ensure that the undesirable elements from water are gone?

04:14 – What type of minerals are actually required in drinking water?

05:37 – Does water even get filtered in the West?

07:08 – The perception of bottled water vs. tap water

08:20 – How to win the psychological perception of bottled vs tap water?

10:37 – How does Wayout envision that the water production experience will change over time?

1 4:57 - Who can afford Wayout’s idea, and how will you gradually deploy your solutions?

18:34 – How will big companies (Coca-Cola, Nestle, Danone, PepsiCo) respond to Wayout, and can Wayout even compete with them on the market?

20:18 - What is the long-term relationship between Wayout Solutions and large-scale water treatment facilities?

22:05 – What is the role of the Middle East in Wayout’s development?

23:45 - Why haven't we cracked desalination at scale and isn't it the #1 solution to fix the problem once and for all?

25:53 – Under what conditions can Wayout Solutions address water access to low-income households?

28:23 – Does Wayout always look for two-way solutions

30:06 - Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/ After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

--------------

To learn more about CLIMENTUM CAPITAL and apply for funding, please visit https://www.climentum.com

To become an LP and invest in one of Climentum’s upcoming funds, get in touch at: https://www.climentum.com/contact-form

And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER at https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Climentum

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Ulf Stenerhag: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulfstenerhag/

Wayout: www.wayout.com

In today's show, I'm receiving Alessa Berg the Founder of Top Tier Impact, a global ecosystem of impact investors, LPs, entrepreneurs, professionals and public figures in more than 45 countries. TTI runs weekly impact investment events across its 40+ city chapters and during gatherings such as the World Economic Forum and COP.

We discuss:

-The steps to successfully build a global network of impact and the actual results 4 years into this amazing experiment

-The crucial role that communities have to play to give us a chance to solve humanity's biggest challenges

-The importance of spiritual awakening and why we need to take a profound step back from our societal dogmas in order to draw a more sustainable path for Humanity

-Why Climate Change is only the tip of the iceberg and a symptom of a more fundamental problem --- our relationship with nature and with ourselves

--------------

ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Climate Insiders is brought to you by Climentum Capital, a Seed+ and Series A cleantech European venture capital firm focused on funding and scaling climate-positive ventures that cut down on CO2 emissions.

If you are interested in how smart capitalism combined with mission-driven founders building innovative tech startups can overcome our climate crisis and build a better future, you’ve come to the right place.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co and https://www.climentum.com

--------------

ABOUT THE GUEST:

In today's show, I'm receiving Alessa Berg the Founder of Top Tier Impact, a global ecosystem of impact investors, LPs, entrepreneurs, professionals, and public figures in more than 45 countries. TTI runs weekly impact investment events across its 40+ city chapters and during gatherings such as the World Economic Forum and COP.

Early in her career, Alessa worked in M&A at Goldman Sachs, private equity at Blackstone, and venture capital at Mosaic Ventures.

Since then, she's decided to dedicate her full career to community building and impact.

--------------

SHOW NOTES:

1:22 – start

1:29 – From institutional life to impact the community

3:25 – how big Top Tier Impact is and what are some tangible results in the past 4 years?

6:08 – How important is the role of the community and why?

8:55 – why is educating people so important?

12:51 – how do we convince more people to start operating differently? Is it one person at a time or is it a spiritual awakening?

19:06 – Why is climate change merely a symptom of a larger issue and not the underlying cause? What are the steps to convince people to think in new ways?

27:20 – What if the Western communities were to backpedal to tribes and communities instead of dominant societies. Is it going to naturally happen?

32:27 – Do we need government states to move away from economic growth dogma for community tribes to emerge?

35:04 – The importance of taking time when it comes to eco change.

--------------

ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/ After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

--------------

To learn more about CLIMENTUM CAPITAL and apply for funding, please visit https://www.climentum.com

To become an LP and invest in one of Climentum’s upcoming funds, get in touch at: https://www.climentum.com/contact-form

And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER at https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Climentum

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Alessa Berg https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessaberg/

Top Tier Impact https://www.toptierimpact.com/

What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness by Harward

https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness/comments

Simon Sinek's Start with Why

https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action/comments

The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership https://conscious.is/15-commitments

Keiran is the Founder of Entocycle, an insect-farming startup based out of London. They commercialize high-tech insect breeding modules to enable efficient and scalable insect farming.

Keiran has a TON of insights to share.

-Why insect farming is at a turning point due to Covid, the war in Ukraine, and the global protein shortage

-The magical properties of insects to turn waste into highly nutritious protein

-Why Europe has the lead globally on insect farming

-Keiran's vision of the future and why this industry might become a much bigger game changer than most people think

--------------

ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Climate Insiders is brought to you by Climentum Capital, a Seed+ and Series A cleantech European venture capital firm focused on funding and scaling climate-positive ventures that cut down on CO2 emissions.

If you are interested in how smart capitalism and mission-driven founders building innovative tech startups can overcome our climate crisis and build a better future, you’ve come to the right place.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co and https://www.climentum.com

--------------

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Keiran is the Founder of Entocycle, an insect-farming startup based out of London. They commercialize high-tech insect breeding modules to enable efficient and scalable insect farming.

He worked for five years as a scuba diving instructor, studied Environmental Design, and has become one of the world's top experts in Entomology. He knows everything about insects.

Entocycle attended Y Combinator's Summer 2017 batch. And has been backed since by top investors like Lowercarbon Capital, Climentum Capital, Teampact Ventures, and many others.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:09 – start

01:42 – from scuba diving to venture-backed startup founding.

03:41 – why insect farming and how does it fit into the broader context of agriculture?

05:13 – what are the magical properties of the black soldier fly?

09:03 – how long does it take a larva to turn into an insect?

11:19 - why has there been a point of inflection in the insect farming space due to covid, the war in Ukraine, and other global supply chain disruptions?

13:26 – this is particularly important in Africa. Can you explain why it is so game-changing for these territories that historically cannot rely on their own chain?

14:31 – How do you safeguard the positive impact of insect farming?

16:50 - Why does Europe seem to be doing insect farming so much better than the US or the rest of the world? What lessons might be drawn from it?

19:57 - vertically integrated production vs picks and shovels approach

23:06 – what are the regulatory and policy changes that could help support the growth and development of the insect farming industry?

25:42 – will the source of the protein not be included in the product description in the future?

26:14 – how will we deliver the enormous volumes of sources of protein?

29:07 – How is your company going to evolve in terms of new product development?

31:28 – How is the whole industry going to change, especially in the geographical sense? Where is this industry going to blossom the most?

35:32 – As a founder of the insect farming industry, what advice can you give to other entrepreneurs that are entering this type of protein creation?

39:04 – Wrap up of the episode.

--------------

ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/ After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

--------------

To learn more about CLIMENTUM CAPITAL and apply for funding, please visit https://www.climentum.com

To become an LP and invest in one of Climentum’s upcoming funds, get in touch at: https://www.climentum.com/contact-form

And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER at https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Climentum

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Lars Nordal Jensen is the Director of Fund of Funds investments at Vaekstfonden, the Danish Growth Fund.

Since 1992, The Danish Growth Fund has financed more than 5,400 Danish companies with a total commitment of more than €1.5 billion. The Danish Growth Fund invests equity and provides loans and guarantees for small as well as medium-sized enterprises in collaboration with private partners and Danish financial institutions

We discuss:

- The role of sovereign/government funds in the EU Venture Capital scene

- Analysis of sovereign funds terms and trends

- The LP takes on today's Climate Tech ecosystem

--------------

ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Climate Insiders is brought to you by Climentum Capital, a Seed+ and Series A cleantech European venture capital firm focused on funding and scaling climate-positive ventures that cut down on CO2 emissions.

If you are interested in how smart capitalism combined with mission-driven founders building innovative tech startups can overcome our climate crisis and build a better future, you’ve come to the right place.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co and https://www.climentum.com

--------------

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Lars Nordal Jensen is the Director of early stage and Fund of Funds investments at Vaekstfonden, the Danish Growth Fund.

Since 1992, The Danish Growth Fund has financed more than 5,400 Danish companies with a total commitment of more than DKK 15 billion. The Danish Growth Fund invests equity and provides loans and guarantees for small as well as medium-sized enterprises in collaboration with private partners and Danish financial institutions

Lars has been with VF for more than 10 years now, occupying multiple roles.

--------------

SHOW NOTES:

00:00 - Introduction

02:07- Start

03:30 – How does a government fund function?

04:26 – Is the EU VC Industry high on soft money?

06:18 – What is the situation like in the U.S. and Asia?

06:53 – How does the EU reduce the dependency on government funds?

09:00 – How could government funds compress the time it takes to deploy capital to funds?

11:53 – Is it desirable to stretch the time of funds to create a market barrier?

13:29 – Are national quotas a bad thing and should they be abolished?

16:30 – Is there a fear that sovereign funds might crowd up the market?

19:03 – Should sovereign funds cooperate more across Europe?

20:45 – How could government funds help increase diversity?

23:45 – Is there too much capital investment in green and sustainable innovation?

24:53 – Is it still a good moment to invest in Climate Tech?

25:50 – Does it make sense to invest only in Article 9 funds from now on?

27:11 – What can investors do to avoid “greenwashing”?

29:08 – Value that Article 9 brings

31:01 – Dual carry structure

32:40 – Rapid Fire Round

--------------

ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/ After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

--------------

To learn more about CLIMENTUM CAPITAL and apply for funding, please visit https://www.climentum.com

To become an LP and invest in one of Climentum’s upcoming funds, get in touch at: https://www.climentum.com/contact-form

And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER at https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Climentum

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Lars Nordal Jensen https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-nordal-jensen-4101882

Vaekstfonden https://www.linkedin.com/company/vaekstfonden/

Caroline Walerud is a Swedish entrepreneur and Partner at Walerud Ventures, a deep-tech investment company that focuses on early-stage green tech startups.

She also co-founded Volumental, a company that developed a cloud-based, 3D-scanning technology to create models to customize products and services. Walerud co-founded Volumental in 2012 together with three computer vision experts.

In this episode, we discuss:

- the most hands-on investment model in the World. Walerud invests and acts as a co-founder

- why Europe seems to trust more finance experts than entrepreneurs as fund managers

- the different roles one can play in Climate Tech Today

--------------

ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Climate Insiders is brought to you by Climentum Capital, a Seed+ and Series A cleantech European venture capital firm focused on funding and scaling climate-positive ventures that cut down on CO2 emissions.

If you are interested in how smart capitalism combined with mission-driven founders building innovative tech startups can overcome our climate crisis and build a better future, you’ve come to the right place.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co and https://www.climentum.com

--------------

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Caroline Walerud is Partner at Walerud Ventures, a deep-tech pre-seed investment firm.

They are the first investors in Klarna, and investors in GreenTech and deep tech companies like Midsummer, Swedish Algae Factory, SatCube and Graphmatech

Caroline has been an entrepreneur since age 14 and has been part of many startup journeys. Now she splits her time between two startups where she is Chairman and Cofounder:

-Volumental - creating custom shoes through the use of 3d scanning and AI

-And AirForestry - Re-inventing Forestry with the use of electric drones.

--------------

SHOW NOTES:

00:00Start

01:50 - Maternity leave and coming back to work

02:20 - Introduction to Walerud Ventures

03:47 - Deciding who Walerud Ventures wants to work with

05:30 - Deciding which project to continue

06:52 - How do investors feel when the company pulls out?

08:17 - U.S. VC compared to Europe. Are startups everyone’s beginning?

09:45 - Main reasons for differences between the U.S and Europe

13:50 - How can more VCs emulate Walerud board model?

15:31 - The dynamics of the company

17:32 - How does the selection of projects work?

19:49 - Use of drones in forestry. How did Walerud pick this venture?

22:33 - Regulations on forestry

25:14 - The transition from traditional jobs to the climate fight. Which sector of climate should people join?

28:33 - Investor vs entrepreneur who is the better option?

30:53 - The natural flow from entrepreneurship to becoming an investor

32:47 - Rapid fire round

35:59 - Outro

--------------

ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/ After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

--------------

To learn more about CLIMENTUM CAPITAL and apply for funding, please visit https://www.climentum.com

To become an LP and invest in one of Climentum’s upcoming funds, get in touch at: https://www.climentum.com/contact-form

And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER at https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Climentum

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Caroline Walerud - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cwalerud/

Jane Walerud - https://www.linkedin.com/in/janewalerud/

Bengt Walerud - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bengt-walerud-18a955/

Sifted - https://sifted.eu/articles/vc-experience-operational-vs-consultancy/

Volumental - https://volumental.com

Air Forestry - https://www.airforestry.com/en/

Marie Helene Ametsreiter is a General Partner at Speedinvest, an early-stage generalist fund based out of Wien in Austria, with more than €600m AUM and 40 investors based in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, and Vienna.

Marie-Helene oversees their newly launched Climate Tech fund.

Marie Helene has a TON of insights to share:

- her perspective on the latest trends in Climate Tech in Europe

- the role of corporates in this transition

- whether Planetly's "failed" acquisition can send a negative signal to the market

ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Climate Insiders is brought to you by Climentum Capital, a Seed+ and Series A cleantech European venture capital firm focused on funding and scaling climate-positive ventures that cut down on CO2 emissions. If you are interested in how smart capitalism combined with mission-driven founders building innovative tech startups can overcome our climate crisis and build a better future, you’ve come to the right place.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co and https://www.climentum.com

ABOUT THE GUEST:

As the lead partner of the Speedinvest Industrial Tech team, Marie-Helene drives Seed stage investments in startups supporting the digitization of Europe’s Industrial Tech sector, including manufacturing, logistics, construction, and Climate Tech.

She oversees Speedinvest’s office in Munich and its investments in the Industry 4.0 space.

SHOW NOTES:

-Introduction to SpeedInvest

-Climate Tech Fund – the team, the funds

-Investments in Industrial Tech – SpeedInvest’s report Takeaways of Europe’s greatest year

-The role of corporates in climate tech and their commitment to net-zero

-Why should corporates change if it brings them the “cash cow”

-What is currently most relevant for investment?

-Software vs. Hardware – is Software a climate solution?

-Strategic (corporate) investment in early stages? Yes, or no?

-Planetly getting shut down – what is the position as the investor?

-Market expansion of climatic startups in the U.S compared to Europe - what can be emulated by the rest of the world?

-What can we do as a community to help climatic startups?

-Rapid fire round

ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/

After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

To learn more about CLIMENTUM CAPITAL and apply for funding, please visit https://www.climentum.com

To become an LP and invest in one of Climentum’s upcoming funds, get in touch at: https://www.climentum.com/contact-form

And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER at https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Climentum

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders/

Links - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-helene-ametsreiter-85459083/

Inflation Reduction Act - https://www.energy.gov/lpo/inflation-reduction-act-2022

Irena Spazzapan is a Managing Partner at Systemiq Capital, a London-based climate fund and spin-off of Systemic Ltd.

Systemiq Ltd is an advisory and investment firm focused on climate, that helps build companies that have the potential to meaningfully accelerate the transition towards net zero.

Irena worked at Goldman Sachs for 13 years in Commodities, Gas & Power systems.

I love conversations with Irena because you're always up for a ride and learn a ton on macro-trends, the psychology of the investor, portfolio management tips, and where the world is headed.

Irena has a TON of insights to share.

- We will discuss Systemiq, its genesis, and vision.

- We will discuss the venture bets that make sense today, as well as the key areas of investment to create a better world for everyone.

- As hydrogen is an important part of the discussion these days, Irena will explain to us the importance of hydrogen and the ways it can be used in the future to create a greener environment.

- We will discuss the role of the Middle East and question whether they are a part of the problem or if could they be a long-term solution for the climate crisis in the world.

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ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS:

Climate Insiders is brought to you by Climentum Capital, a Seed+ and Series A cleantech European venture capital firm focused on funding and scaling climate-positive ventures that cut down on CO2 emissions.

If you are interested in how smart capitalism combined with mission-driven founders building innovative tech startups can overcome our climate crisis and build a better future, you’ve come to the right place.

Check us out at: https://www.climateinsiders.co and https://www.climentum.com

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Irena leads the energy team at SYSTEMIQ, an investor in, and advisor to, cleantech companies.

She is on the board of Upside Energy and on the advisory board of Habitat Energy. Previously, she spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs, finishing as ED in Gas and Power Origination.

She also worked briefly at the United Nations. She is a graduate of International Relations and Macroeconomics at the University of Trieste and SOAS and is a CFA Charterholder.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:00 - Intro

03:03 - Systemiq Capital - goals and visions for the climate, their investments and the way they help companies that are transitioning to a green, how the company started and where it is today

06:20 - The Founders of Systemiq Capital

08:24 - The key learnings from Systemiq, upsides, and downsides that are critical in the environmental crisis

12:00 - Lack of innovations as a part of the problem. Europe losing the leadership in Climate Tech

15:30 - Will the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) play against the U.S market and in favor of Europe?

15:02 - What is sensical and non-sensical in the current venture world, especially in the climate, and key areas to invest in?

17:45 - Hydrogen as a way to electrify what cannot be directly electrified – very high energy heat, parts of aviation, potentially very long-term trucks.

25:50 - The role of the Gulf, the Middle East, is it a part of the solution or part of the problem?

31:47 - Rapid fire round

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ABOUT THE HOST:

Yoann Berno https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/

After a career spent building and investing in top tech startups, Yoann is now a founding member and General Partner at Climentum Capital focused on investing in game-changing technological solutions to our worsening climate crisis.

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To learn more about CLIMENTUM CAPITAL and apply for funding, please visit https://www.climentum.com

To become an LP and invest in one of Climentum’s upcoming funds, get in touch at: https://www.climentum.com/contact-form

And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER at https://www.climateinsiders.co

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Climentum

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/climate-insiders

Links - https://www.linkedin.com/in/irena-spazzapan-741a53/

Inflation Reduction Act - https://www.energy.gov/lpo/inflation-reduction-act-2022

Benjamin Kayser is a former French Rugby international with a 16-year-long career (he played 47 games with the French National Team, and hundreds in the French and English championships).

Benjamin is a Co-founder and Partner at Teampact Ventures, a Venture Capital fund that specializes in human capital.

Benjamin is a charismatic and inspiring character. He is living proof that the reconversion of former world-class athletes into Venture Capital investors is possible and can be very successful.

• We discuss WHY top athletes and Venture Capitalists aren't that different. The elements of competition, unstoppable drive, and performance are central to both.
• We dig into Teampact's model and their People Score to assess startup teams before making investments and WHY it might very well be the future of VC
• And we explore the role that TOP athletes can play after retiring from their busy sports careers and continue being SUPER helpful to society

Listen and Learn

• Why Benjamin picked Venture Capital after retiring from the world of Rugby (3:00)
• Why he went to Oxford to legitimize his business (4:00)
• Always bet on the jockey, don’t bet on the horse (4:30)
• Description of Teampact Ventures: sectors, geography, ticket size (5:30)
• Why athletes want to invest in startups today and why the trend is here to stay (7:00)
• How sportsmen are the entrepreneurs of the real world (8:30)
• Who better than sport-winning dynasties to help break impostor syndrome and help entrepreneurs grow (11:00)
• 70% of the Olympic athletes live under the minimum wage (12:30)
• How Teampact wants to build a bridge between elite sport and elite tech (13:30)
• Athletes can help solve the major human-level issues: the complexity of recruiting, employee well-being, and creating a sense of belonging (16:00)
• Sport-winning dynasties are built on team resilience, team culture, and team chemistry (16:30)
• Teampact’s secret sauce to take the best out of sport and help startups: Score, Boost, Match (18:30)
• The intentionality of the founders is critical for team culture coaching to work (24:00)
• How do they match athletes with projects (26:00)
• Why professional athletes should stand up more and push the climate movement (30:00)
• Rapid fire round (35:00)
• Benjamin’s #1 recommended book (35:01)

Show Links

• Benjamin Kayser 
• Nikola Karabatic
• Teampact Ventures
• Sorare giving a board seat to Serena Wiliams
• Sarah Jallot: Partner at Teampact Ventures
• The rise of Superman by Steven Kotler 
• Legacy by James Kerr

Benjamin Joffe is a Partner at SOSV, a global deep tech fund with 1000 portfolio companies and $1.3B AUM. They focus on early-stage planetary and human health. 

They invest the very first checks at pre-seed via the startup programs HAX (hard tech), IndieBio (biology), Orbit (frontier markets), and dlab (blockchain). 

Benjamin started in an investing role in the HAX program in Shenzhen (invested in Opentrons, now a unicorn), and later chose to work in a non-investing role across the portfolio.

He's been an active angel investor, super speaker, and moderator in hundreds of events globally, and he's now the curator at SOSV Climate Tech Summit which happens virtually every year, generally in October.

Listen and Learn

• Describe SOSV, ticket size, geography, and history (2:18)
• Who backs SOSV today? (4:03)
• How is SOSV structured today? (5:00)
• Why did you decide to invest in climate? (6:35)
• SOSV Climate Tech summit (8:07)
• Do you see a better balance between the US, EU, and China in Climate Tech going forward? (10:30)
• Have you seen more climate funds start outside of the US this year? (12:58)
• What is the interaction between the EU and China in ClimateTech? (14:13)
• Has the climate conversation matured in Asia? (16:06)
• What is your role and how do you structure your investment scope? (18:40)
• Is building a personal brand a must as a fund? (20:22)
• Would you advise new funds to be more visible? (21:59)
• Is building a personal brand the best way to access the best deals? (25:01)
• What drives maximum return: software or hardware? (26:37)
• What is the key to differentiation? (28:13)
• Rapid fire round (30:08)
• Where would you advise people to look for jobs within climate? (35:01)

Show Links

• Benjamin Joffe LinkedIn profile
• SOSV 
• HAX - Hard Tech Venture Capital
• IndieBio
• Orbit Startups
• dlab
• SOSV Climate Tech Summit
• Voyagers community event
• Climate Tech VC
• Work on climate 
• Land Your Dream Job in Climate Tech by Yoann Berno

Christian Vollmann is the Founder and CEO at C1 / Circular Carbon Chemistry, a Berlin-based startup developing climate-friendly chemicals, for example, Green methanol.

He has been involved in over 70 start-ups to date and has built several companies from zero to successful exit, including a listing on the NYSE

We're receiving Christian on the show for his active involvement in the Climate Tech scene as both an entrepreneur and business angel

Listen and Learn

• From contributor to climate change to being part of the solution (1:45)
• How many startups have you founded and invested in? (3:02)
• How is methanol produced today? (4:14)
• What was preventing the production of green methanol before? (6:37)
• What are the economic prospects of C1 nowadays? (7:53)
• On reducing the ‘green premium’ on sustainable chemicals (9:15)
• Who are your customers today? (11:15)
• What is the most challenging bottleneck of a green chemistry startup? (13:50)
• Grabbing lots of capital early on or bootstrapping the first 2 years? (16:35)
• Does your path to scalability require bigger and bigger rounds? (18:00)
• How can we encourage successful founders to invest back into the startup ecosystem? (20:31)
• Tips and tricks to setting up an angel back office (22:40)
• What investment has brought you the most satisfaction? (23:59)
• What has been your strategy in angel investing? (25:12)
• What is your advice for people looking to start in ClimateTech? (26:21)
• Rapid fire round (28:O7)
• Fall in love with the problem or the founding team? (32:27)

Show Links

• Christian Vollmann's LinkedIn
• C1 Circular Carbon Chemistry
• Nebenan.de -  social network for neighborhoods
• C1 Job opportunities

Chris Wedding is an ex-Private Equity investor, 3x founder, professor at Duke University, a Climate CEO Coach, and a MONK !

Today's episode is a little special. Both Chris and I are running Climate Tech podcasts. The difference is that Chris has been doing it for a lot longer than I have, and he sits on the other side of the Atlantic, in the US.

We talk about both ecosystems, and give LOTS of tips to Founders, and folks looking to switch careers and go all-in on the Climate Fight.

Listen and Learn

• When did you decide to dedicate yourself to climate work? (1:29)
• How does ClimateTech compare to crypto, Metaverse, etc. in the US? (6:25)
• How has the economic downturn materialized in your day-to-day interactions? (9:20)
• What is a US ClimateTech success story? (11:39)
• Maturity of the ClimateTech (13:30)
• Teaching ClimateTech CEOs (14:16)
• Resources on how to get into ClimateTech (18:07)
• Do you see ClimateTech job opportunities to be on the rise? (20:49)
• Rapid fire round (21:59)
• Would you hire professional consultants to help with fundraising? (29:23)
• Would you advise to think about exits early on? (31:08)
• How would you attract talent for ClimateTech startups? (32:49)

Show Links

• Chris Wedding's LinkedIn Profile
• Chris’ course on Maven: Fund Your Climate Tech Startup
• Chris’ community: Entrepreneurs For Impact
• Chris’ course on Coursera: Renewable Energy and Green Building Entrepreneurship
• On Deck Climate Tech
• Terra.do and their Climate Tech investing course
• My Climate Journey
• The Founder's Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman
• Article: Six questions you should ask yourself before raising VC money

Antoine Hubert is the CEO of Ynsect, the world's largest insect farming startup based out of France.

They were founded in 2011 and today they count more than 230 employees, have raised more than 450m EUR, which is half of ALL the investments made in the insect farming sector to date.

They are considered the FIRST Climate Tech unicorn out of France (or "soonicorn") and the only one in the insect farming space globally.

Listen and Learn

• Ynsect’s key pivotal moments in their 10-year journey (01:30)
• Ynsect’s first fundraising and the early scaling up phase (3:00)
• How Ynsect managed to get to €150m in contracted revenue (4:30)
• The 3 main steps in the development of Ynsect: innovation, industrialization, internationalization (6:30)
• The 3 main bottlenecks they had to overcome: commercial traction, regulatory, technology (7:00)
• Why most investors are eager to invest in asset light businesses when the transition requires hardware investments (8:30)
• Why governments (Bpifrance, EIF, EIB…) should subsidize startups even more to develop global champions in manufacturing and life sciences (10:00)
• The competitive landscape in insect farming (11:00)
• Europe is importing 50% of its protein needs from South and North America, meaning we are hugely dependent (11:30)
• Why insect farming’s geostrategic importance led to quick regulations (12:00)
• Europe’s has the most advanced insect farming companies in the world (13:00)
• How their acquisition of Protifarm enabled Ynsect to start tackling the human food market (14:00)
• Why the bridge between pet food and human food is actually quite small (14:30)
• Why insect production is one of the most complex farming processes in the world (17:00)
• Ynsect is in the Top 10 patent filing companies in France and has more than half of all patents in the insect farming world (18:30)
• Ynsect’s strategy to scale internationally and become an insect giant (20:30)
• The structural shift that Ynsect had to do to enable growth (22:00)
• The most important lessons learned in the last 3 years (24:00)
• Why lifting the taboo of money is important to reconcile environmental activism and business  (27:00)
• Why the best investment funds are entrepreneurs funds (29:30)
• How they succeeded in aligning all their stakeholders on financial returns AND impact (30:30)
• Why Antoine published a book to diffuse important ideas on planet, people and profit (31:00)
• They raised the minimum wage by 35% to €25k annually which represents a big change for workers (32:00) 
• The joint efforts by La French Tech to support gender equality (34:00)
• Tackling the taboo of industrialization in order to relocalize factories, knowledge and workers in Europe (36:00)
• How they’ve revolutionized the working conditions. “The factory is so clean you can eat on the ground!” (39:00)
• The 5 Steps to land your dream job in Climate (41:00)

Show Links

• Antoine Hubert
• Ynsect’s website
• Pitch session at Ecosummit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTTNFC00ZSw
• Learn more about Ynsect at Hello Tomorrow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfNJDzL945M
• Ynsect’s investors: Demeter, Eco Technologies, New Protein Capital (Singapore), Bpifrance
• Insect farming leaders in Europe: Ynsect, Innovafeed, Protix, Enterra
• The best research centers for insect and training centers: INRAE (France), Agro Paris Tech (France), Wageningen (Netherlands), UC Davis (USA)
• The French Tech successes that led the way and built the community: Price Minister (acquired by Rakuten), Criteo
• Antoine’s book - For Planet, People & Profit
• The Next 40 companies in the French Tech 
• The Parity Pact from La French Tech as a commitment to gender equality
• Bpifrance’s CEO Nicolas Dufour book on manufacturing
• Yoann’s 5 steps to land your dream job in Climate Tech

Lawrence Leuschner is the Co-founder and CEO at Tier, Europe's largest micro-mobility startup based out of Germany. 

You can now ride TIER’s electric scooters, bikes and mopeds in over 130 cities, from London and Paris to Berlin and Dubai.

They were founded in 2018 and today they count more than 900 employees, have raised more than $650m, and did 6 acquisitions to consolidate their leadership.

There's a lot we will learn in this episode from Lawrence as a top entrepreneur but also an impact investor. Lawrence has pledged his entire stake in TIER into his own Cimpact fund. I'm very curious to learn more about this.

Listen and Learn

• How Tier started as the David vs Goliath in the mobility space against heavily capitalized US competitors (2:00)
• How Tier quickly became #1 in the Apple Store globally, ahead of WhatsApp (3:30)
• What happened to the millions of cheap Chinese bikes that disappeared overnight from Europe (4:00)
• Why the e-mobility landscape isn’t set and will continue evolving over the coming years (5:00)
• Why the initial model of e-scooters wasn’t sustainable with batteries lasting weeks (6:00) 
• Repair, maintenance and recycling is now the name of the game (7:00)
• The new battery design coming in the next year continue pushing in a sustainable direction (8:00)
• The actual impact profile of e-scooters and how they manage to be net positive today (9:30)
• Today, 20% of Tier’s rides are replacing car rides, while 80% are replacing foot, bikes and public transportation (11:00)  
• How they intend to replace to 80% (13:00)
• Growing 100% year-over-year (14:00)
• How they added 150,000 bikes by acquiring (15:00)
• Lawrence’s #1 learning from the past 2-3 years that he wishes he had known before (16:00)
• Why one of Tier’s four core values is to “trailblaze” (17:00)
• How hiring key people that have been on this rodeo is critical to enable growth (18:00)
• How to hire the best people in the current talent war, especially against companies that are printing money like Google and Amazon (19:00)
• Why Lawrence decided to create his own impact fund: Blue Impact ventures (20:30)
• How Lawrence decided to allocate all his shares of Tier into Blue Impact (21:00)
• Blue Impact’s playbook of decision to operate with minimal resources (21:50)
• How Lawrence ensured an evergreen structure for Blue Impact (23:00)
• The walk with his partner that convinced him to dedicate 100% of his shares to Climate impact (24:30)
• Rapid fire round (26:30)
• Tips and advice to help people penetrate the Climate community and get their dream job (29:00)
• The accelerated learning curve: what you learn at Tier in 1 year is what you learn in a corporate in 5 years (31:00)
• An experience at a startup is the biggest leverage in your career (33:00)
• How more collaboration between investors can help change Venture Capital from within (34:00)

Show Links

• Lawrence's LinkedIn
• Tier Mobility
• Video of Tier's products
• Donating 100% of his shares and exit proceeds via founders pledge
• Acquisition of NextBike by Tier
• How green are electric scooters?
• Blue Impact Ventures

Christopher Burghardt is the ex-Managing Director Europe of ChargePoint, a US company that built the world's largest network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.

They went public in March 2021 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and became the World’s First Publicly Traded EV Charging company.

Today Christopher is a Venture Partner at 2150, an advisor to Goldman Sachs and an active Business Angel investing in startups and Climate funds (including Climentum Capital).

We cover the role of Transportation in the Climate transition but most of all talk about Europe's key ingredients for success in this Climate race.

Listen and Learn

• Why Christopher decided to leave ChargePoint after their IPO (2:00)
• The place of hydrogen in transportation (3:00)
• The environmental profile of e-scooters and micro-mobility (4:30)
• The role of micro-mobility in cities (5:00)
• Should we chase more unicorns or regional leaders (10:00)
• Why Europe’s should create a market environment in which innovation meets capital more easily to scale globally (11:00) 
• The lessons we can derive from Silicon Valley as an ecosystem to replicate in Europe (13:00)
• The crucial role of successful entrepreneurs to recycle their profit and seed the entrepreneurs of tomorrow (15:00)
• It’s important to reward entrepreneurs for risk (18:00)
• Europe has been very good at setting up regulations but hasn’t been good at creating a business environment to scale (19:00)
• The 3 core elements that make Europe a fertile ground for Climate Tech success (19:30)
• Why we should create a more vibrant Venture Capital ecosystem to breed more success (20:00)
• Surrounding yourself with Tech talent is essential to accelerate your entrepreneurial journey (22:00)
• The 3 mini-revolutions happening all around us making the Climate transition possible: a talent hotbed, a proactive regulatory environment, and a liquid capital market (25:00)
• Why Christopher stepped out of his operational role to really understand those 3 ecosystem players (talent, regulators, investors) (25:30)
• Rapid fire round (26:00)

Show Links

• ChargePoint
• Christopher's LinkedIn

In this episode we go deep into Europe's alternative meat space and discuss whether startups will win this race against US companies and food giants like Nestle.

Pascal Bieri is the Co-Founder of Planted, a Zurich-based startup developing meat from alternative proteins. 

They produce alternative chicken, pulled pork, kebab and schnitzel and their products are available at restaurants and retailers across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Italy and the UK.

Listen and Learn

• US vs Europe: comparison of the alternative meat landscapes (2:00)
• Are we too late to the party in Europe? (3:00)
• Animals have a super inefficient way to transform proteins into a texturized product (5:00)
• The Europe meat substitute market is expected to grow to 3.5bn EUR  by 2027 (6:00)
• Who will win between food giants like Nestle and startups like Planted (7:00)
• Why the super unnatural flavor used by mainstream food giants won’t satisfy consumers for long (8:00)
• The factor that drives success in the alternative meat space (8:58)
• How can intend to compete with the monster retailers (10:30)
• The actual technological innovation of Planted (13:00)
• Planted’s glass-house production facility, making it the first transparent meat production open to the public (15:00)
• Where Planted sources the soy, tofu and the flour used come from (18:00)
• Why pea is also great for the soil (19:00)
• Why the Nutriscore (A to F) isn’t really representative of the quality of ingredients (21:00)
• How growth starts with culture (24:40)
• How Planted tries to center the culture around the team and not egos (26:00)
• How they instill the right hunger for growth (27:00)
• Why being a spin-off from ETH Zurich truly helped them at the start (28:30)
• The advantage of leveraging the innovation centers of top universities (31:00)

Show Links

• Planted Foods
• Video of Planted’s extraction process

Agate Freimane is a General Partner at Norrsken VC, a €125m Swedish early stage impact VC investing in technology that solves some of the world’s greatest challenges.

She comes from investment banking at Morgan Stanley and then worked at a PropTech/Fintech startup: Brickvest.

In today's show, we will discuss with Agate:

• the state of Climate Tech in the Nordics
• the correlation between impact and financial returns
• What the current economic slowdown means for Climate Tech VC
• the biggest learnings from raising Norrsken VC and investing in 41 companies

Listen and Learn

• The Norrsken backstory: how 3 unicorn founders started 6 years ago a one-stop shop for impact investing (2:00)
• Agate’s views on the Climate Tech scene in Sweden and the Nordics (4:50)
• How Stockholm wants to become the global impact capital (5:00)
• The transition from a tech ecosystem to impact ecosystem (5:30)
• The power or role models to scale the ecosystem (6:00)
• How Northvolt’s success led the charge to a booming Swedish electric ecosystem (trucks, airplanes, boats) (7:00)
• What Agate thinks of the “classic VC downturn letter” that most VCs have been issuing to their portfolio companies (9:40)
• Startups with strong fundamentals will remain the best VC cases (11:20)
• Why impact startups might be the most resilient in an economic downturn 
• VC investing comes down to two options: vitamins vs painkillers. Impact companies are the painkillers (12:00)
• Is 10 years sufficient as a time-horizon for deeptech hardware solutions? (13:00)
• Why Norrsken looks for deep tech startups that have immediate pent-up demand (14:00)
• The one area where Agate has completely changed her mind in the past 2 years (17:10)
• Why  Norrsken’s biggest mistake was to fall in love in something else other than the team (18:00)
• Agate’s tips to people that want to break into Climate Tech and join a startup (22:50)
• The 700 Climate tech jobs listed on Norrsken’s job board with  (24:00)
• Why the hardest part is to break into the Climate community and why it gets much easier to transfer between companies once you understand the climate ecosystem (25:00)
• How Norrsken runs investment decisions (27:40)
• The 1-to-1 correlation between financial and impact returns (29:00)

Show Links

• Norrsken VC
• Norrsken Foundation
• Niklas Adalberth
• Stockholm Mayor: “We want to be the impact capital of the world”
• Northvolt (building Europe’s largest EV battery gigafactory)
• Einride (electric trucking) 
• Heart Aerospace (electric airplanes)
• Candela (electric boats)

Nordics funds list:

• Norrsken VC (Sweden)
• Pale Blue Dot (Sweden)
• 2150 (Denmark  / UK)
• Climentum Capital (Denmark)
• Nordic Foodtech (Finland)
• Voima Ventures (Finland)
• Trellis Ventures (Sweden)
• Trellis Road (Sweden)
• Katapult (Norway)
• Summa Equity (Sweden)
• Almi Invest (Sweden - Public fund)
• Helen Ventures (Norway - CVC)
• Yara Growth Ventures (Norway - CVC)
• Vestas Ventures (Denmark - CVC)
• The classic VC downturn letter → Y Combinator infamous letter to their portfolio companies

Carveouts

• 700 climate impact jobs listed on Norrsken VC’s job board https://www.norrsken.org/jobs 

Pippa Gawley is the Founding Partner at Zero Carbon Capital, a UK Climate Fund investing in early-stage companies that are on a mission to fix climate change through deep science innovation

She worked with eBay in the UK, moved to Silicon Valley and is one of the "re-immigrants" as she moved back to Europe.

There's a lot we will learn in this episode from Pippa:

• how to crack the diversity problem in VC and Climate Tech in general.
• the level of maturity of the London and UK Climate tech scenes, how many funds exist and why there are so few Unicorns yet.
• How Pippa runs a VC fund with her husband.

I truly think you will enjoy this one. Pippa brings a unique perspective as a woman Fund Manager AND it's refreshing!

Listen and Learn

• Zero Carbon Capital’s geographical scope, ticket size and strategy (1:40)
• Pippa launched the fund with her husband Alex Gawley (2:00)
• The biggest lessons she brought back from Silicon Valley to the UK (3:30)
• The Climate Tech space is evolving even faster than the rest of Tech scene in Europe (5:30)
• Only 2 Climate “unicorns” in the UK (as of May 2022). Pippa shares the reasons why (7:00)
• Why we need more collaboration between funds and investors in Europe (8:00)
• Their collaboration with Extantia who is LP in their fund (9:00)
• How do we enable more diversity in Venture Capital (10:30)
• The responsibility from Governments, LPs, and the Climate Tech community to help more women get (12:30)
• Why they chose not to work with the UK government fund (14:00)
• There are lots of angel groups that focus on women (15:40)
• The triggering moment that pushed Pippa to become an Angel investor (16:00)
• Why we need outreach programs to encourage friends to get into Angel investing (16:30)
• Pippa’s positioning on funding Software vs Hardware startups (17:30)
• Why Pippa only invest in opportunities where they can be additive (18:00)
• Their decision to invest in less crowded verticals: industrial hardware, hydrogen leakage (19:00)
• How Zero Carbon Capital runs technical Due Diligence and uses an external team of expert for sanity checks (20:00)
• The one area where Pippa has completely changed her mind (21:40)
• Why the laziness of the human species means we will need carbon removal even if the logic doesn’t make sense (23:30)
• Why people love the idea of a silver bullet and why it unfortunately won’t happen (24:00)
• The biggest learning and mistake since starting Zero Carbon Capital (25:00)
• What Pippa would do if she had to start again (26:00)
• Why we need more specialist Climate funds in the future (27:00)
• Why the smaller funds will drive more impact than the bigger ones (28:00)
• Pippa’s great networking recommendations to transition your career into Climate, expand your Climate network (30:30)
• Why listening to Podcasts is the best advice to get up to speed on Climate (31:20)

Show Links

• The 2 UK-based Climate Tech unicorns 🦄: OVO Energy, Octopus Energy
• Extantia (Climate Tech fund and LP in Zero Carbon Capital)
• Diversity VC
• Future world VC → helping people get internships in Venture Capital funds
• ADA Venture fund investing in overlooked founders
• AUXXO, German fund investing in female-led startups
• Angel groups focused on women: Astia, Angel Academe, HERmesa
• Pippa’s side project FiveThirteen to work with Women angel investor scouts
• Revena: the team of PhDs that Zero Carbon Capital uses for tech due diligence
• Networking group to expand your Climate network: The London Climate Connection, Climate Mosaic
• Learn more from the VC side: whatsapp groups and channels like Voyagers, My Climate Journey
• Podcasts to get up to speed on Climate: Climate Insiders, My Climate Journey, Catalyst

Carveouts

• Shout out to the hundreds of Women in Europe already driving big impact in VC 
• Why women are better investors, by Forbes → TLDR: they are better with "Research, Risk Aversion and Self-Control".
• Studies show that women spend more time researching their investment choices. And while they do take on less risk than men when it comes to investing, that doesn’t mean they’re risk averse. Rather, they’re simply more likely to take on appropriate levels of risk with their investments than men. Both of these findings make for better investing outcomes.
• “This prevents women from chasing ‘hot’ tips and trading on whims, behavior that tends to weaken men’s portfolios.

Alexander Langguth is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Übermorgen Ventures, an early stage Zurich-based venture firm with early investments in climate innovators like Sunvigo, carbo culture and delicious data.

Alex has always shown a high level of transparency and collaboration with other Climate Tech investors. In this episode, I take you behind closed doors and give you maximum insights.

1. We discuss Ubermorgen's evergreen fund model and why it actually helps to raise 1st-time funds.
2. We hear Alex share how difficult it was to raise a first fund and how they run investment decisions
3. And Alex and I rip on contrarian views, on what most people get wrong about being a fund manager and advice for job seekers and entrepreneurs

Listen and Learn

• The reasons why Ubermorgen picked an evergreen fund model
• The difficulty to sell this new model to LPs initially
• Alex’s expected ratio of institutional funds, evergreen funds, solo GPs in Europe in 10 years 
• Alex most painful moment raising their 1st fund 
• Whether LPs cared more about impact of financial returns 
• Why having contrarian views and avoiding confirmation bias is so important in VC
• The area where Alex has completely changed his views over the last 2 years
• What most people have wrong about being a fund manager
• How Übermorgen handles investment decisions internally and votes on deals (with 1 to 10 scoring) 
• The best advice to share with entrepreneurs on HOW to engage with VCs to maximize success of their fundraising
• How to land your first job in Climate Tech

Show Links

• Ubermorgen Ventures' Website
• Alex's Linkedin
• The Sequoia evergeen fund and more about Sequoia’s open ended fund model 
• Climate Tech Slack communities: Voyagers and My Climate Journey
• The runing list of all Climate Tech VC funds (in Europe and worldwide)
• The Huge heat wave hitting India and Pakistan with 42C 
• The Wet build 35 phenomenon when it’s too hot for humans to survive
• Ubermorgen Newsletter
• Impact assessment framework by Full Frame Initiative
• Climate Fiction book recommendation: The Ministry for the Future

Carveouts

• Climate Fiction book recommendation: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. A fantastic Climate Fiction which gives a lot of clues as to what geoengineering solutions might be most helpful and they will play out. It’s like reading into the future of Climate.

Nick de la Forge is a General Partner at Planet A Ventures, a German early-stage ClimateTech fund investing in start-ups that have a significant positive impact on our planet. 

I really appreciate Nick as a human being and for his unique value system.

In this episode, we will be human, humble, and vulnerable and take you behind the scenes of raising and running a Climate fund.

In this episode, we cover:

• The serendipitous meeting that led to the creation of 3 European Climate Tech funds!
• Thoughts on how to bring more diversity in the Climate Tech space and generate more diverse Fund Managers
• The single trick that dramatically helped accelerate their fundraising 
• Showing vulnerability, humility and resiliency are MUST HAVE values in this Climate Fight 

Listen and Learn

• Planet A Ventures’ fund structure, scope and geography.
• Starting a Climate VC Fund feels like “assembling an airplane in mid-air”.
• The necessity of privilege to go for 2 years+ without a salary, which reinforces patterns and prevents new managers from getting in.
• The discrepancy in funding going to Female vs Male founders is rooted in the fact that there’s a huge gap of Female founders. That is the problem that should be fixed.
• MOMENTUM (in other words FOMO) is the single biggest driver of success in your fundraising.
• The main differences between fundraising for a fund vs for a startup
• In 10 years, all investments will become Climate investments.
• The importance of taking care of yourself to endure the Climate fight
• Surrounding yourself with other Climate Tech community members and taking a role is the best way to overcome Climate anxiety
• It’s not time for EGOs. We need to be f* wise from now on and make good collective decisions
• Carbon sequestration is actually not as impactful as most think
• The sectors where Planet A have completely changed their mind
• Planet A’s voting mechanism to approve investments 
• There is a risk that the large funds get corrupted and leave impact out of the equation.

Show Links

• Planet A Ventures website
• Nick’s LinkedIn
• Sebastian heitman from Extantia (ex Beyond Black)
• Extantia
• Climentum Capital
• The Climate Fiction article I wrote in 2020 mentioned by Nick

Carveouts

• Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about Planet A Ventures’ upcoming fundraising updates!
• We have a LOT more Fund Managers coming on the show and it will go crescendo! Listening to this podcast is the curriculum you need to know how Climate Funds get raised, how they operate and the macro trends they invest in.

This episode goes deep into Fusion energy which is essentially the energy produced by the Sun.

Fusion makes SciFi become reality. If achieved, it could alter humankind forever. 

So we're glad to have one of the leading Fusion companies in Europe on the show.

Listen and Learn

• Heike’s transition from Big Consulting at McKinsey to a Fusion energy startup.
• Why Fusion is considered the Holy Grail of energy.
• Picture of the world running on Nuclear Fusion (how would it change transportation, food production, manufacturing, space travel).
• The actual level of maturity of Nuclear Fusion. How long before it hits commercial energy production?
• Marvel’s technological innovation (ex: Laser technology vs Magnetic).
• The economic perspective of Marvel: how they intend to make money.
• Europe’s place in the global race to Fusion energy.
• 30 fusion startups out of 35 globally are in the US. 
• Recently raised €35m from Earlybird, a generalist VC. Why they picked a generalist VC fund to lead their round rather than a dedicated Climate fund.
• Where will the billions of euros necessary to build a commercial prototype COME FROM.
• Why ITER is both a success and a failure.
• How to get a job in Fusion. Why Marvel is a great company to work for and the jobs they are hiring for. 

Show Links

• Website
• Linkedin
• Fusion energy could be a game changer in solving Europe’s energy crisis and enabling the road to net-zero World needs extra $1.3 tr energy investment by 2030 - JP Morgan
• The fusion industry made tremendous progress over the last 12 months with over $2 billion invested, the White House holding a Fusion Day in 2022 and the UK developing a governmental fusion strategy: Readout of the White House Summit on Developing a Bold Decadal Vision
• Largest fundraising rounds to date in Fusion:

1. Commonwealth Fusion Nuclear-Fusion Startup Lands $1.8 Billion as Investors Chase Star Power - WSJ 
2. Helion Energy Helion secures $2.2B to commercialize fusion energy – TechCrunch
3. General Fusion landing funding round from Jeff Bezos

• Commercial Fusion Energy | The White House
• Marvel Fusion pursues a new and more economically attractive fusion technology which promises a fast-track route to commercial application
• Marvel Fusion raised a €35m Series A led by Earlybird
• ITER news and funding updates and podcast to learn more about ITER
• Fusion Energy Breakthrough from UK JET laboratory in Oxford
• List of all Fusion organizations globally

Carveouts

• Listen to the TIL podcast (Today I learned Climate) from MIT to go deep on everything Fusion
• List of Top 14 Fusion startups in the world

Hampus Jakobsson is a General Partner at Pale Blue Dot, a Swedish seed-stage ClimateTech fund investing in startups that reduce and reverse the effects of climate change.

He was previously at BlueYard Capital, before that an angel with >100 angel investments. And before that, a serial founder.

This is an EPIC conversation between two European Climate Tech fund managers. Hampus shares a TON of insights and opinionated views. You don’t want to miss out! 

• Fundraising for a fund vs fundraising for a startup
• How to do fundraising the right way
• Why smaller funds are better than large ones
• How they run investment decisions internally and invest when they fall in love with the founders

Listen and Learn

• Pale Blue Dot’s fund structure, scope and geography
• The reasons why fundraising wasn’t actually that painful for them
• The importance of filtering out the wrong LPs up front 
• Why emerging Climate fund managers need to specialize today to raise their fund
• How to steal deals from bigger brands generalist funds 
• Why fund managers should actually ‘reverse pitch’ entrepreneurs to convince them they are good investors
• How they’ve designed an entire investment process around PASSION, PRIDE and LOVE
• The surprising simplicity of their investment decision process (with a voting scale: Hell Yes, Yes, No, Hell No) and the absence of Investment Committee
• Great founders have some super power and extreme skills to sell to anybody or build anything that makes it hard to say no
• Why Hampus thinks it’s way nicer to raise for a fund than to raise for a startup
• The gold question to help investors commit:  ‘What can I do to help you decide?”
• The #1 tip to raise a fund: start small and show a track record as a fund manager
• The reason why emerging fund managers outperform
• Your fund size is your strategy and it’s important not to balloon your fund size
• Pale Blue’s ideal portfolio construction: 30 deals with 10% shareholding
• How Pale Blue opens up their entire DD process to founders via a Notion Page
• Why they originally intended to do a €40m fund and created two scenarios: €40m or €80m funds to test the market
• WHEN and HOW to do a fund announcement in the media
• Never announce when you’re not ready to absorb inbound (investors, media, job seekers, customers)
•  Main advice to emerging fund managers: figure out your unique angles (niche, vertical, geography, belief system) and set up a hyper local or hyper verticalized fund
• Why fund managers should NOT be capital allocators and instead people that care about people and businesses

Show Links

• Pale Blue Dot portfolio companies’ jobs https://paleblue.vc/jobs 
• Connect with Hampus on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hampusjakobsson
• Causal App for portfolio modeling https://causal.app 

Final Note

Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get notified when we publish Part 2. If you liked Part 1, you will LOVE Part 2 !

Another epic conversation to dig into Hampus’ macro views on how to crack this climate fight and how we should deviate from a pure capitalistic system.