In today's show, I'm receiving Marie Ekeland, the founder of 2050, a French Climate Tech fund. She's a superstar investor in the French Venture ecosystem. She was a Partner at Elaia Partners where she invested early on in Criteo (which IPOed at the Nasdaq and remains one of the biggest success stories of the FrenchTech). Then she founded Daphni, a Generalist VC fund.
In 2012 she co-founded France Digitale, bringing together French VCs & entrepreneurs to make the French digital ecosystem thrive
She's been BUSY and loves to take on new challenges.
This time it's Climate Tech! She launched 2050, with profound innovations at the Fund construction level to TRULY solve the systemic crisis that we're facing.
We cover a lot, and it gets technical, but there's a LOT to learn from someone as inspiring as Marie:
-ALIGNMENT, what that means as a Fund Manager, why it's not easy during bearish cycles when fundraising is made extra hard
-the future of the Venture Capital industry to REALLY solve this Crisis - it's not only technological but also Juridic and structural
-why they created a Chief Knowledge Officer and an open source Climate Tech course with the University of Paris Dauphine to spread knowledge and leverage the commons.
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ABOUT THE GUEST:
Marie Ekeland is co-founder of Daphni, a venture capital firm that invests in European tech startups and is supported by an online platform and an international community of experts. She began her career in 1997 at J.P. Morgan in New York as a computer scientist. Since 2000, Marie has been acting as a VC, first at CPR Private Equity, then, from 2005 to 2014 at Elaia Partners, leading investments in Criteo, Edoki Academy, Pandacraft, Teads, Wyplay, and Ykone. In 2012 she co-founded France Digitale, bringing together French VCs & entrepreneurs to make the French digital ecosystem thrive. She serves as a board member for Parrot, Showroomprive. Marie holds an engineering degree in mathematics and computer science from Paris Dauphine University as well as a master's degree in Economics from the Paris School of Economics.
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SHOW NOTES:
00:00 – Intro
00:05 – Who is Marie?
00:35 – Why 2050?
02:22 – Are we going to hit rock bottom?
03:19 – The transition from generalist VC world to climate
04:58 – The new fund model and the specificities of 2050
08:47 - The Challenge of Proposing New Ideas in Challenging Times
09:41 – Is it better to focus on one problem rather than a wide range of problems?
13:22 - The Debunking of Incremental Mindset and the Core Dilemma of Venture Capital
15:42 - The ultimate goal of changing decision-making models and the role of visionaries in driving new industries
21:33 - How to maintain fundraising when faced with potential compromises that may disrupt internal alignment?
25:22 - The Impact of Market Cycles on Decision-Making; How to Remain Strong?
31:45 - Insights into fund construction dynamics
35:56 - Innovations in Fund Structure and the Role of Chief Knowledge Officer
39:59 – Is Creative Commons open source for everyone?
40:05: How are Hybrid and Esoteric Roles funded?
41:04 – How are the findings of Creative Commons published?
42:03 – 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:
Marie Ekeland - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marieekeland/
2050 - https://2050.do/
Daphni - https://www.daphni.com/
All alignment resources / And open-source climate courses - https://alignment-playbook.com/resources
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