New Wave.

Sign up to New Wave's newsletter. ***This week on New Wave Weekly:👉 AI won’t magically invent new materialsAlphaFold worked because biology had great data. Inorganic materials don’t. Sparse datasets, missing thermodynamics, and poor characterization remain the biggest blockers.👉 The real moat is synthesis, not modelsFrom rare-earth-free magnets to catalysts, value is created in the lab: making, characterizing, and scaling materials that actually work in the real world.👉 Vertical beats generalist (for now)Foundational models are capital-intensive moonshots. Highly verticalized plays, magnets, catalysts, specific industrial use cases, have a much clearer path to market.👉 Commercialization is brutally hardDiscovery is step one. Producing at scale, at cost, and getting industry adoption is where most materials stories break, graphene being the cautionary tale.👉 Europe’s materials moment?With critical minerals concentrated in China, supply-chain security is creating real pull from industrial players, not just curiosity, but urgency.***Wave Makers:Matt - Voyager VenturesRobina - ContrarianVera - Apex VenturesHugo - New Wave This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

Thank you to this week’s sponsor:Accelerating Impact - a non-profit advancing impact finance by mobilizing capital and running free accelerator programs for emerging fund managers. Join for expert coaching, training, financial support, and a strong community. Apply here.***🌊 A New Swell Has ArrivedHow the European Investment Fund is shaping the next generation of climate VCs.We’re joined by Anna Finizio, Investment Manager at the European Investment Fund (EIF) Green-Tech, one of Europe’s most influential LPs in climate investing.EIF isn’t just backing climate funds. It’s building the market.In this episode, we unpack how Europe’s largest public LP thinks about first-time managers, risk, performance, and impact, and what climate fund managers actually need to do to earn EIF’s conviction.From anchoring funds to setting impact accountability, this is a rare look inside the LP that has quietly shaped Europe’s climate VC ecosystem over the last decade. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

🌊 Simon Belka on fixing the grid.Why long-duration storage and microgrids may define the next energy system.We’re joined by Simon Belka, Co-Founder of Shifted Energy, a long-duration energy storage startup building compressed-air systems for the decentralized grid.In this episode, we dive into one of the biggest paradoxes in clean energy: we’re producing more cheap renewable electricity than ever, yet still burning gas because the grid can’t move or store it fast enough. In our conversation, we covered:→ Why grid congestion, not renewables, is now the real problem→ How microgrids work (and why they’re a €135bn market)→ Why batteries fail beyond ~6–8 hours of storage→ Inside Shifted Energy’s compressed-air “air battery”→ How long-duration storage competes with hydrogen and thermal systems→ Early traction: microgrids, mines, logistics hubs, and off-grid sites→ The economics: efficiency, CapEx, and levelized cost of storage→ What it takes to scale from 100 kW pilots to megawatt systems→ Why Europe is uniquely positioned to lead this transition This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

🌊 Eglantine Dupuy on what the data says about European climate tech.Why deep tech is winning, VC is retreating, and corporates are stepping in.We’re joined by Eglantine Dupuy, Research Associate at Dealroom.co, where she tracks Europe’s climate and deep tech ecosystem through one of the most comprehensive data platforms in venture.In this episode, we take a hard look at European climate tech in 2025, what’s slowing down, what’s quietly accelerating, and why the next wave will look very different from the last.We covered:→ Why European climate VC is down ~30% YoY→ How deep tech now captures ~50% of climate funding in Europe→ The real cost of deeptech: $100M+ in VC to reach $100M revenue→ Why Europe struggles at Series B, and how foreign capital fills the gap→ Corporates vs VCs: who’s actually funding climate innovation now→ Defense, sovereignty, and resilience rebrands, hype or strategy?→ Early signals for 2026: biomaterials, circular economy, and AI overlap This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

🌊 David Ferguson on pilot-to-scale partnerships.Why corporate-startup partnerships fail and how to design the ones that actually work.We’re joined by David Ferguson, Head of Innovation (UK) at EDF, a 20-year energy veteran working at the intersection of climate, technology, and large-scale infrastructure.In this episode, we dive into why corporates love pilots but struggle to scale them, and unpack what it really takes for startups and big utilities to build collaborations that survive beyond the proof of concept.In our conversation, we covered:→ Why most climate pilots die before reaching scale→ How to design a trial that stands on its own (not a fake path to procurement)→ The four real ways corporates can work with startups, beyond selling→ Culture clash: speed, risk, incentives, and decision-making→ Why corporates need startups as much as startups need corporates→ What EDF actually wants from climate startups right now→ Why flexibility and long-duration storage are the next big battlegrounds This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

🌊 Marc Lechantre on industrial decarbonization.We’re joined by Marc Lechantre, Partner at Axeleo Capital’s Green Tech Industry Fund. After 15 years in the automotive industry, Marc now backs the founders building the factories, materials, and energy systems that actually move the climate needle.In this episode, we dive into industrial climate tech, and unpack what it really takes to finance, scale, and de-risk hardware-first startups in Europe.We covered:→ Why software alone won’t solve climate change→ The real funding gap in industrial climate tech→ How to de-risk industrial investments→ Why Europe still has a shot at re-industrialization→ What VCs often miss about hardware risk, and why it’s different, not worse→ Why “green premiums” are over, and climate solutions must now win on cost→ What investing actually looks like when you’re building physical infrastructure This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

Sam Goodall on Europe’s Climate Tech “Supercluster”In Paris, I sat down with Sam Goodall, CEO of Cambridge Cleantech and co-founder of the Climate Tech Supercluster.We unpacked a question I kept hearing:Why does Europe lead in climate innovation, but fall behind on scale?Sam’s take is refreshingly clear: Climate tech is spread too thin. We miss an obvious “Silicon Valley” to go to.That’s why he created the Supercluster approach: a series of events across Europe (London, Paris, Amsterdam) that increases the collision rate, and let smart people collaborate.Here’s what we covered:→ Europe’s superpower: the research base (TRL 1-3)→ Where the system breaks: scaling post-TRL 7 + “value leakage”→ The missing link: capital that matches deeptech timelines→ Why corporates are the de-risking engine for FOAK → 2026+ opportunities: industrial decarb + data center energy This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

Makesense just closed its €25M pre-seed fund:So we sat down with Marion Schuppe to unpack what it really takes to build an impact-first VC from a nonprofit DNA.👉 Fundraising: fun, exciting.. exhaustingWhat does it take for a nonprofit-rooted team to win over LPs and triple their fund size? More trust-building, cooperation, and resilience than most people think.👉 Why pre-seed impact investing needs small fundsMarion explains why “bigger is not better” at pre-seed, and why Makesense is doubling down on inclusive circular business models as the most resilient path to economic, social, and environmental value.👉 The hybrid model: NGO mindset, VC disciplineIncubation programs. Operating support. European subsidies. A 10% NGO investment pocket. Makesense is quietly building one of Europe’s most innovative capital stacks.Is this the future of early-stage impact investing? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

This week on New Wave Weekly:👉 Why food & ag still scare generalist VCsDespite being a $8T industry employing more people than any other, exits are small, timelines are long, and the science is heavy. So why does capital hesitate? And what are they missing?👉 Where the real opportunities are in food techFrom ingredients with 1% inclusion rates, to functional foods, to GLP-1 alternatives, to sugar-free sweet proteins, which models actually scale in venture timelines?👉 Food as Medicine: the next multi-billion category?GLP-1 drugs reshaped consumer behavior… but can food do the same? We explore peptides, functional mushrooms, sugar replacement, and why nutrition may beat pharma at its own game.👉 The investment memo for food tech — across stagesWhat does “good” look like at pre-seed? Seed? Growth? Revenue thresholds, market entry strategy, brand vs B2B ingredients, regulatory cycles, and why biotech in food still needs ~15 years and $100M to get to market.👉 Do brands or ingredients win? The great debateLavie, Beyond Meat, Oatly, challenger brands vs. enabling technologies, and why doing “both biotech AND brand” almost never works.***Wave Makers: Nadine - World FundGil - Flora VCFabio - ZintinusHugo - New Wave This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

Siddharth 'Sid' Khullar, Co-founder and CEO of Aris Machina, previously led Software & AI at Northvolt. In this engaging discussion, Sid reveals the challenges of creating an agentic OS for complex manufacturing, emphasizing the need for AI to provide insights amidst data overload. Listen as he shares insights from Northvolt’s collapse, his pivotal 'aha' moment with a factory yield issue, and how he raised $10M in pre-seed funding after numerous rejections. He also envisions an app store for manufacturing that could transform the industry.