Climate Insiders

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 LearnWhen 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 LinksChris Wedding's LinkedIn ProfileChris’ course on Maven: Fund Your Climate Tech StartupChris’ community: Entrepreneurs For ImpactChris’ course on Coursera: Renewable Energy and Green Building EntrepreneurshipOn Deck Climate TechTerra.do and their Climate Tech investing courseMy Climate JourneyThe Founder's Dilemmas by Noam WassermanArticle: 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 LearnYnsect’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 LinksAntoine HubertYnsect’s websitePitch session at Ecosummit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTTNFC00ZSwLearn more about Ynsect at Hello Tomorrow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfNJDzL945MYnsect’s investors: Demeter, Eco Technologies, New Protein Capital (Singapore), BpifranceInsect farming leaders in Europe: Ynsect, Innovafeed, Protix, EnterraThe 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), CriteoAntoine’s book - For Planet, People & ProfitThe Next 40 companies in the French Tech The Parity Pact from La French Tech as a commitment to gender equalityBpifrance’s CEO Nicolas Dufour book on manufacturingYoann’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 LearnHow 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 LinksLawrence's LinkedInTier MobilityVideo of Tier's productsDonating 100% of his shares and exit proceeds via founders pledgeAcquisition of NextBike by TierHow 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 LearnWhy 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 LinksChargePointChristopher'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 LearnUS 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 LinksPlanted FoodsVideo 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 Nordicsthe correlation between impact and financial returnsWhat the current economic slowdown means for Climate Tech VCthe biggest learnings from raising Norrsken VC and investing in 41 companiesListen and LearnThe 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 LinksNorrsken VCNorrsken FoundationNiklas AdalberthStockholm 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 companiesCarveouts700 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 innovationShe 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 LearnZero 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 LinksThe 2 UK-based Climate Tech unicorns 🦄: OVO Energy, Octopus EnergyExtantia (Climate Tech fund and LP in Zero Carbon Capital)Diversity VCFuture world VC → helping people get internships in Venture Capital fundsADA Venture fund investing in overlooked foundersAUXXO, German fund investing in female-led startupsAngel groups focused on women: Astia, Angel Academe, HERmesaPippa’s side project FiveThirteen to work with Women angel investor scoutsRevena: the team of PhDs that Zero Carbon Capital uses for tech due diligenceNetworking group to expand your Climate network: The London Climate Connection, Climate MosaicLearn more from the VC side: whatsapp groups and channels like Voyagers, My Climate JourneyPodcasts to get up to speed on Climate: Climate Insiders, My Climate Journey, CatalystCarveoutsShout 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.We discuss Ubermorgen's evergreen fund model and why it actually helps to raise 1st-time funds.We hear Alex share how difficult it was to raise a first fund and how they run investment decisionsAnd Alex and I rip on contrarian views, on what most people get wrong about being a fund manager and advice for job seekers and entrepreneursListen and LearnThe reasons why Ubermorgen picked an evergreen fund modelThe difficulty to sell this new model to LPs initiallyAlex’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 VCThe area where Alex has completely changed his views over the last 2 yearsWhat most people have wrong about being a fund managerHow 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 fundraisingHow to land your first job in Climate TechShow LinksUbermorgen Ventures' Website Alex's LinkedinThe Sequoia evergeen fund and more about Sequoia’s open ended fund model Climate Tech Slack communities: Voyagers and My Climate JourneyThe 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 surviveUbermorgen NewsletterImpact assessment framework by Full Frame InitiativeClimate Fiction book recommendation: The Ministry for the FutureCarveoutsClimate 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 ManagersThe single trick that dramatically helped accelerate their fundraising Showing vulnerability, humility and resiliency are MUST HAVE values in this Climate Fight Listen and LearnPlanet 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 startupIn 10 years, all investments will become Climate investments.The importance of taking care of yourself to endure the Climate fightSurrounding yourself with other Climate Tech community members and taking a role is the best way to overcome Climate anxietyIt’s not time for EGOs. We need to be f* wise from now on and make good collective decisionsCarbon sequestration is actually not as impactful as most thinkThe sectors where Planet A have completely changed their mindPlanet 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 LinksPlanet A Ventures websiteNick’s LinkedInSebastian heitman from Extantia (ex Beyond Black)ExtantiaClimentum CapitalThe Climate Fiction article I wrote in 2020 mentioned by NickCarveoutsMake 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 LearnHeike’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 LinksWebsiteLinkedinFusion 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 MorganThe 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 VisionLargest fundraising rounds to date in Fusion:Commonwealth Fusion Nuclear-Fusion Startup Lands $1.8 Billion as Investors Chase Star Power - WSJ Helion Energy Helion secures $2.2B to commercialize fusion energy – TechCrunchGeneral Fusion landing funding round from Jeff BezosCommercial Fusion Energy | The White HouseMarvel Fusion pursues a new and more economically attractive fusion technology which promises a fast-track route to commercial applicationMarvel Fusion raised a €35m Series A led by EarlybirdITER news and funding updates and podcast to learn more about ITERFusion Energy Breakthrough from UK JET laboratory in OxfordList of all Fusion organizations globallyCarveoutsListen to the TIL podcast (Today I learned Climate) from MIT to go deep on everything FusionList of Top 14 Fusion startups in the world