This week on Cleaning Up, Michael welcomes Kim Zou, CEO and co-founder of CTVC (Climate Tech VC). Launched in 2020, CTVC is a leading climate innovation resource and newsletter with 50,000 weekly readers, providing data-driven insights and analysis into the latest deals and developments in climate tech. 

CTVC launched their H1 2023 climate funding update at the end of June, reporting a 40% drop in venture funding. Michael wanted to hear from Zoe whether this was a moment of crisis or correction, and to compare notes on building a market intelligence platform, having jumped through so many of the same hoops building New Energy Finance. 

Make sure you like, subscribe, and share Cleaning Up. We're growing fast on LinkedIn, and we'd love for you tell your professional network about us: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cleaning-up-with-michael-liebreich/ 

You can find everything you need to keep up with Cleaning Up here: https://linktr.ee/mlcleaningup 

Links and Related Episodes

All of the episodes mentioned by Michael at the end of the show can be found in our “Women Leaders of the Net-Zero Transition” playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe8ZTD7dMaaBJwVk9CfU-CZLeX42M7flC 

You can subscribe to CTVC here: https://www.ctvc.co/ 

Read CTVC’s H1 2023 climate tech funding update: https://www.ctvc.co/climate-tech-h1-2023-venture-funding/#:~:text=Highlights,35%25%20from%20H2'22. 

CTVC’s Climate Capital Stack is here: https://www.ctvc.co/the-climate-capital-stack/ 

In May CTCV announced their new climate intelligence platform: https://www.ctvc.co/ctvc-platform-fundraise/ 

Kim and co-founder Sophie Purdom spoke to Techonomy in September 2022: https://techonomy.com/video/the-state-of-climate-tech-venture-capital/ 

Guest Bio 

Kim has spent the last three years building Climate Tech VC, a leading source on climate and innovation with 50,000 weekly readers among climate investors, operators and market leaders. CTVC generates data-driven insights on the climate tech market which have been featured in channels including Bloomberg, Reuters, Financial Times, and TechCrunch. From 2020-2022, Kim was an Investor at Energy Impact Partners, a $2.5B AUM venture capital firm, and from 2018 – 2020, an Investment Banking Analyst at JP Morgan. From 2017 – 2019, Kim was Managing Partner at A-Level Capital. 

Kim holds a bachelor’s degree from John Hopkins University in Economics, Environmental Science and Applied Mathematics.