Leaders in Cleantech

More energy dense, faster charging batteries. Batteries, or any energy storage of all natures, are so critical to the ongoing energy and mobility transitions. One of the areas that doesn’t get much thought, but is so critical, is material science, the materials which enable bigger, better, faster, more efficient batteries. This week I speak to Francis Wang, CEO of Nanograf. From PhD to entrepreneur and CEO, he has a great story to tell, and some superb insights into both the startup entrepreneurial journey, and the whole battery industry. I hope you enjoy the episode.About Francis Wang: Francis serves as the Chief Executive Officer for NanoGraf Technologies, a leading advanced materials company in the energy storage space. He brings over 20 years of experience in technology innovation and commercialization in the energy storage and clean energy spaces. Prior to NanoGraf Technologies, Francis was a founder and Director of Energy Storage Center at the National Institute of Clean Energy in Beijing, China from 2010-2015. Francis’s experience in energy storage spans a range of magnitudes from very small (uW-mW) forms of storage for portable electronics and medical applications to very large (kW-MW) for transportation and the grid. He has held positions in some of the world's largest battery, consumer products and energy companies, including Duracell, Proctor & Gamble, Gillette, Boston Scientific and the Shenhua Group. Francis received his Ph.D. in 1998 from the Department of Chemistry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of over 45 US and International patents, over 20 scientific publications and a recipient of the National Thousand Talents award in Energy Storage.About Nanograph:NanoGraf is an advanced battery material start-up and spinout of Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory whose novel silicon-graphene anode battery material enables a quantum leap in lithium-ion battery energy and power density. NanoGraf’s patented battery material enables longer-lasting, higher-energy, and higher-power, lithium-ion batteries for electronics ranging from consumer electronics to electric vehicles to grid-scale energy storage.Social links: Francis Wang LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-wang-3643273/ Nanograf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sinode-llc/ Nanograf Twitter: https://twitter.com/NanoGrafTech Nanograf website: https://www.nanograf.com/ About Hyperion Executive Search:Hyperion About Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...

What’s it all about?The electrification of transport continues at pace (literally and metaphorically), and one of the most interesting areas of growth, particularly for those who have to deal with high levels of local and regional road traffic congestion, is electric taxi’s. One of the leading pioneers in this sector is Vertical Aerospace. I was able to speak to founder and CEO Stephen Fitzpatrick ahead of his hot footing to New York to ring the bell on their NYSE public Listing on 16th December. We talk disruption, electrification, innovation and of course entrepreneurship. I hope you enjoy the episode.About Stephen Fitzpatrick: Cleantech entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick founded Vertical Aerospace in 2016, an electric aircraft company which is pioneering electric aviations. The Bristol, UK-based company has partnered with Microsoft, Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, GKN and Solvay to build one of the world’s most advanced electric VTOLs (vertical take-off and landing). Its VA-X4 aircraft will be capable of speeds of 200mph, a range of over 100miles, near silent when in flight and with zero operating emissions. Vertical has 1,350 conditional pre-orders of its aircraft for $5.4bn from the likes of American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Avolon and Bristow. The VA-X4 will be delivered to its customers, after certification, in 2024.Stephen is also the founder of OVO Energy, the UK’s largest independent energy company supplying British homes with 100% renewable energy. OVO hopes to decarbonise 5m British homes by 2030.About Vertical Aerospace:Vertical Aerospace is pioneering electric aviation. Over the past five years, Vertical has focused on building the most experienced and senior team in the eVTOL industry, who have over 1,700 combined years of engineering experience, and have certified and supported over 30 different civil and military aircraft and propulsion systems. Vertical’s unrivalled top-tier partner ecosystem is expected to de-risk operational execution and its pathway to certification, allow for a lean cost structure and enable production at scale. Vertical has received conditional pre-orders for a total of up to 1,350 aircraft from American Airlines, Avolon, Bristow and Iberojet, which includes pre-order options from Virgin Atlantic and Marubeni, and in doing so, is creating multiple potential near term and actionable routes to market. In June 2021, Vertical Aerospace announced a SPAC merger with Broadstone Acquisition Corp (NYSE: BSN).Social liAbout Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...

What’s it all about?Extreme fast charging of electric vehicles! I love batteries, and cars, and of course electric vehicles, and I’ve been watching Storedot for some time, and how they are creating batteries that can charge a car fully in 5 minutes. Now I don’t mind a 30-40 minute charge whilst stopped at a service station, or trickle charging at home, but for some people it’s still a barrier to entry, and faster charging will remove another excuse for adoption, and make it easier for us all. A great story of cross discipline research and collaboration. I hope you enjoy the episode.About Doron MyersdorfAs the CEO of StoreDot, Doron brings vast experience in business and technology management to StoreDot. Prior to founding the company, he served as senior director of SanDisk SSD Business Unit (NASDAQ: SNDK), establishing and managing the division in Israel, building product strategy, marketing and business development, resulting in sales to leading laptop makers amounting to over $100M in revenue in under 3 years.Previously, he was VP Flash and Operations of systems, a flash memory global leader, where he managed strategic sourcing of $1B annually, resulting in annual revenue of over $1.5B. Doron’s diverse record also includes founder and CEO of InnerPresence, a Silicon Valley security software company, and co-founder and VP business development of Siftology, a pioneer in interactive media search.Earlier, as Partner at Tefen – Semiconductor Operations Management, Doron managed US West Coast operations, in charge of the design and setup of over 40 semiconductor, pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturing facilities worldwide.Doron holds PhD in R&D Management (1994), MSc in information systems (cum laude, 1991) and BSc in Industrial Engineering Management (cum laude, 1989) - all from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.About StoreDot:StoreDot is a pioneer and leader of extreme fast charging (XFC) batteries that overcome the critical barrier to mainstream EV adoption – range and charging anxiety. The company has revolutionized the conventional Li-ion battery by designing and synthesizing proprietary organic and inorganic compounds, making it possible to fully charge an EV in just five minutes – the same time it takes to refuel a conventional combustion engine vehicle. StoreDot’s battery technology is optimized for best driver experience with XFC in Li-ion batteries, as well as future technologies for extreme energy-density (XED).Social About Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...

What’s it all about?I first met Jules through his work at Cleantech Group, but was delighted when I saw, via a number of VC contacts, that he was leading the Cleantech for Europe initiative. I’ve worked for and with many of the VC’s involved, and their portfolio companies. This is a great initiative, with the mission to help the EU lead the race to net zero by putting innovation at the center of the public policy debate, and building bridges between the EU’s cleantech community and policymakers. In President Von der Leyen's words, we are here to seize the EU's man on the moon moment. No small ambition or challenge. I talk to Jules about the state of play in Europe, how it compares to the US and how the EU can seize its moment.About Jules BesnainouJules Besnainou leads Cleantech for Europe, an initiative supported by Breakthrough Energy and 12 EU cleantech VCs, aiming to help the EU lead the race to net zero by building bridges between cleantech and policy leaders. Jules is a director at Cleantech Group, the global authority on clean technology innovation. In his decade at the company, Jules has advised the world’s leading cleantech investors and corporates, helping them assess new innovations and deploy capital. After starting his career in San Francisco and London, he moved back to France to focus on European clients and strategy. Jules graduated summa cum laude from Sciences Po Paris.About Cleantech for EuropeCleantech for Europe’s mission is to help the EU lead the race to net zero by putting innovation at the center of the public policy debate, and building bridges between the EU’s cleantech community and policymakers. In President Von der Leyen's words, we are here to seize the EU's man on the moon moment. The initiative is powered by Cleantech Group, supported by Breakthrough Energy and gathers 12 leading EU cleantech venture capital firms.Social linksCleantech for Europe Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleantechforeuCleantech for Europe Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/74494891Cleantech for Europe Website: https://www.cleantechforeurope.com/ Jules Besnainau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jules-besnainou-26a51b41/About Hyperion Executive SearchHyperion are a specialist executive search firm working with some of the most innovative cleantech companies in the world, helping to find extraordinary talent to enable their growth and success. Partnering with leading cleantech VCs, as well as directly with founders and entrepreneAbout Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...

What’s it all about?In a nutshell, Lithium! So much is spoken about the supply and availability of Lithium, and about the Lithium battery sector, from availability of source material, the impact of extraction, and of course the geopolitics of lithium and battery supply. There is no doubt these are huge topics, with a significant impact on how and if we can make the transitions to clean energy and mobility that are essential to the future of our economy, society, and the human race’s survival! So what is the story? Take a listen and find out.About Lukasz Bednarski: Lukasz Bednarski is an author, battery materials analyst and a former commodity trader.About ‘Lithium: The Global Race for Battery Dominance and the New Energy Revolution’:“Lithium: The Global Race for Battery Dominance and the New Energy Revolution” travels from the salt lakes of the Tibetan plateau, where Chinese government–linked companies extract lithium, to Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, which hold the world’s biggest resources of the mineral. It reveals superpowers’ struggle to secure strategic supplies, and the astonishing efforts of lone-wolf inventors and entrepreneurs. The book also explores the environmental impact of lithium extraction, the limits to battery electrification, and lithium battery recycling as the way forward.Social links: Lukasz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LithiumResearch About Hyperion Executive Search:Hyperion are a specialist executive search firm working with some of the most innovative cleantech companies in the world, helping to find extraordinary talent to enable their growth and success. Partnering with leading cleantech VCs, as well as directly with founders and entrepreneurs in the sector. With our clients we are transforming business and growing a strong and prosperous cleantech economy.If you want to grow your team, or move forward your career, visit www.hyperionsearch.com, or email info@hyperionsearch.com EPISODE LINKS Lithium: The Global race for Battery dominance and the New Energy Revolution! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lithium-Global-Battery-Dominance-Revolution/dp/1787385639/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1633536261&qsid=258-2814752-9203612&refinements=p_27%3ALukasz+Bednarski&s=books&sr=1-1&sres=1787385639&text=Lukasz+Bednarski Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribeI'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter. If you do About Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...

What’s it all about?It’s great to hear about start-ups, and those journeys, but we all know scale is what we want, it’s not easy, but you can have more impact and do more ‘good’ when you have scale. I’ve seen Anesco grow over the last ten years and make a real impact in the deployment of solar and energy efficiency in particular. It was great to have time to speak to the (relatively) new CEO Mark Futyan about the company culture, growth and plans for the future, as well has his thoughts on the path to Net Zero.About Mark Futyan: Mark Futyan is CEO of Anesco, a renewable energy business focused on solar PV, battery storage and energy efficiency. He is committed to championing the low carbon agenda and believes that Anesco have a key role to play in enabling investment in low carbon infrastructure. Since being appointed as CEO in February 2020, Mark has re-focused the organisation on its core services offering, established a new market optimisation business line and overseen a change in ownership. Prior to Anesco, Mark worked for Centrica, Interconnector UK, Booz Allen and Air Products. Mark held a number of executive roles at Centrica, which included running the international power generation and storage portfolio, advising the CEO and optimising the 7,000 strong UK residential services team. He holds a Chemical Engineering degree from Cambridge and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Mark is married with three children and enjoys cycling and mountaineering.About Anesco:Anesco is a market leader in renewable energy, managing the development, design, construction, maintenance and market optimisation of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. The company has constructed more than 100 solar farms, while its O&M service is monitoring more than 24,000 sites. Anesco was the first company in the UK to achieve subsidy-free solar; first to introduce utility-scale energy storage and first to co-locate energy storage with existing solar sites to meet the ROC requirements. To date, the technologies the company has deployed and manage are generating over 1GW of renewable energy.Social links: Mark Fuytan on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-futyan/ Anesco Website: www.anesco.co.uk Anesco on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnescoLtd Anesco on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anesco-limited/About Hyperion Executive Search:Hyperion are a specialist executive search firm working with some of the most innovative cleantech companies iAbout Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...

What’s it all about?One of the things that drives me most is helping cleantech founders and start-ups to scale and bring great products and solutions to the world. I do this through the Hyperion Executive Search team, through mentoring for accelerators and incubators like Plug & Play, and Foresight Cananda, and through this podcast. This week I’m keen to share a great new Rockstart accelerator opportunity. Doors close to entry on 30th September, so take a listen, and see if this could be the catalyst for you and your idea or company to come to life.About Nick Stokman: Nick is the former Investment Director at Lucros Investment, responsible for building a portfolio of direct equity (VC and PE) and fund investments within the technology sector focused on the energy transition. Nick has 13+ years of transaction experience in an international setting, including 11+ years of experience within the energy investing segment ranging from large (multi billion) project/development investments & financings, to early & late stage VC (up to Series H), and fund investments. Before joining the Rockstart team he was an investor and a mentor for startups in the Smart Energy programs (on behalf of Lucros). Next to his role at the Rockstart Energy Fund, Nick holds non-executive board positions at two cleantech startups. Nick holds an MSc from Erasmus University.About Rockstart:Rockstart is a global accelerator-VC empowering purpose-driven founder. Through its €22m fund focused on Energy startups, Rockstart is dedicated to finding and investing in top tier founders. Rockstart Energy is for early-stage startups contributing to the energy transition and driving the transformation towards renewable, clean and low carbon energy solutions. The fund is looking to make new investments in the coming months in promising startups, specifically in these three areas of interest: oRenewable energy generation oLow carbon solutionsoMobilitySocial links: Website: https://www.rockstart.com/energy/energy-2021/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rockstartTwitter: https://twitter.com/rockstartFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockstartAbout Hyperion Executive Search:Hyperion are a specialist executive search firm working with some of the most innovative cleantech companies in the world, helping to find extraordinary talent to enable their growth and success. Partnering with leading cleantech VCs, as well as directly with founders and entrepreneurs in the sector. With our clAbout Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...

What’s it all about?At last. With caution and compliance being followed, live events are back. I expect very many of the Leaders in Cleantech audience are familiar with the all things clean mobility and energy Youtube Channel Fully Charged. As well as having over 800,000 subscribers and 2 million monthly views, the Fully Charged team have also been running fantastic events, in the UK and Austin, Texas. Then Covid interrupted that flow. Now they’re back, starting in the UK in September 2021. I speak to Fully Charged Founder and host Robert Llewelyn (TV actor/presenter and Red Dwarf cult hero) and my good friend Dan Ceasar (CEO and now also a presenter) to look forward to what we can expect at this event, and other international events to follow.About Robert Llewellyn: Robert Llewellyn is a British actor, presenter and writer, famous for his thirty-year stretch as the rubber-masked mechanoid Kryten in the much-loved science fiction comedy, ‘Red Dwarf’. With his interest in engineering, Robert then turned his hand to presenting the long-running TV gameshow, ‘Scrapheap Challenge’ and also ‘How Do They Do It?’ and ‘Carpool’.In 2010, after being blown away by early Electric Cars, Robert launched Fully Charged, a YouTube channel focussing on the future of electric vehicles, of all shapes and sizes, and clean energy. Fully Charged has exceeded 55 million views around the world and Robert was recently acknowledged as ‘Tech Legend’ at the T3 Awards.About Dan Caesar: Clean Energy promoter since 2005, Electric Car driver since 2015, Dan has 25 years’ experience in digital, events and media. He's worked with, or on, the following in that timeframe: Accelerating Clean Technologies, Ceres Power, CORGI, Department of Energy & Climate Change, Energise Communications, Homebuilding & Renovating Show, Solar Media, Wolseley Plc; Renewables Roadshow, Renewables Awards, Renewable Heat Incentive Roadshow, Energy Storage Alliance, Energy Saving Home at the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show, Installer/Green Installer Magazine, House of the Future/Installer LIVE and Place Magazine.About Fully Charged:The origins of Fully Charged lay in the question, ‘is it possible for humans to no longer need to burn things to live, to work and to travel?’ An unachievable destination perhaps, but an important direction of travel as the world responds to air pollution and climate breakdown. Our recent Fully Charged survey shows that our audience want to live and work in buildingAbout Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...

What’s it all about?I was delighted when the Fifth Wall people reached out about the podcast. For some time I’ve wanted to address areas of the climate challenge, and areas of technology that are hugely important, but don’t often get much press or attention, including on this podcast. In particular the Built Environment is of enormous importance to us all on many levels, it is of course where we live and work, and because of that impacts not just our immediate lives, but as you will hear, contributes far more to carbon emissions than transport, which gets most coverage at present. Greg has a great background, including reporting directly to Elon Musk at the Boring Company and Neuralink. Take a listen.About Greg Smithies: Greg is a Partner at Fifth Wall, where he co-leads the Climate Technology Investment team.Prior to joining Fifth Wall, Greg was a Partner at BMW i Ventures where he led the Sustainability investing practice, investing in companies such as Prometheus Fuels, and PureCycle (NASDAQ: ROCH). Before joining BMW i Ventures, Greg led Finance & Operations for both The Boring Company and Neuralink simultaneously.Greg started his investment career at Battery Ventures where he covered early-stage enterprise technology startups, as well as industrial technology buyouts. Successful exits from his work there include Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc.), and IST (acquired by Scott Brand).Greg was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and currently lives in Oakland, CA. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School where he received a BS in Economics and a BS in Computer Science.About Fifth Wall:Founded in 2016 and based in Los Angeles, California, Fifth Wall, a Certified B Corporation, is the largest venture capital firm focused on technology-driven innovation for the global real estate industry. With approximately $2.5 billion in commitments and capital under management, Fifth Wall connects many of the world's largest owners and operators of real estate with the entrepreneurs who are redefining the future of the Built World. Fifth Wall is backed by a global mix of more than 70+ investors from 15 countries, including Acadia Realty Trust, Azora, BNP Paribas Real Estate, British Land, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, D.R. Horton, Equity Residential, Gecina, GLP, Hines, Host Hotels & Resorts, Hudson Pacific Properties, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Jamestown, Knight Frank, Lennar, Lowe's Home Improvement, Macerich,About Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...

What’s it all about?Energy Storage!! More importantly optimising and commercialising grid scale energy storage assets. I first met Ben at a conference in London some years ago. He has since gone on to co-found one of the leading energy storage optimisation companies, recently expanding into Australia and the US. We have a dive into battery tech, long duration storage, entrepreneurship, and internationalisation. I hope you enjoy the episode.About Ben IronsBen is a co-founder of Habitat Energy, where he leads their international business development and partnership activities. Ben was previously an Executive Director and board member at Aurora Energy Research where he founded and then led their consulting practice for 4 years, and before that, Strategy Director at Centrica Energy, and energy and sustainability consultant and McKinsey & Company in London. Ben has a first-class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from New Zealand, and an MPhil and DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.About Habitat EnergyHabitat Energy was founded in 2017 to operate and manage battery storage assets and renewable energy. Habitat has independently developed a market leading trading platform based on algorithmic and machine learning techniques that can handle the intensive forecasting and computational demands of battery storage and market optimisation, complemented by a traditional trading team. Habitat’s system also incorporates deep insight into the physical capabilities and degradation of battery storage, offering a profit maximising rather than revenue maximising approach. Habitat was recently awarded the optimization contract for the world’s largest solar powered vanadium flow battery in Australia, and currently operates over 200 MWh of storage assets in the UK. Habitat’s platform is consistently ranked by independent third parties as the highest performing in the UK in terms of revenue per MW.Social links: Ben Irons on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-irons-a59359/ Habitat Energy Website: http://www.habitat.energy/ Habitat Energy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/habitat_energy About Hyperion Executive Search:Hyperion are a specialist executive search firm working with some of the most innovative cleantech companies in the world, helping to find extraordinary talent to enable their growth and success. Partnering with leading cleantech VCs, as well as directly with founders and entrepreneurs in the sector. With our clieAbout Hyperion Search: At Hyperion Search, we specialize in building world-class teams for the cleantech and energy transition sectors. We focus on leadership roles but also recruit strategically critical individual contributors who drive business growth. Whether you’re a founder scaling a startup, a board member guiding a scaleup, a VC/PE investor, or a corporation committed to energy and mobility transitions, we find the talent that will deliver impactful, sustainable results. Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hyperion-search-ltd Website: www.hyperionsearch.com Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the podcast Linked In page. If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/ Also follow the podcast and to stay up to date. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leaders-in-clean...