Another ClimateTech Podcast

This inverview is the 25th and final episode of my podcast Sound Funding , where I've been interviewing impact fund managers together with Impact Europe since 2020. If you're interested in impact funds, I highly recommend checking out the back catalogue! Impact Europe's podcast host Benjamin DeVries interviewed me about my background as a founder, how I became a climatetech investor...

Remember in the mid 2010s when we were all talking about microplastics in things like face creams, and brands were making a big deal about being micro-bead free? Well although the media attention has gone away, the problem of microplastics has definitely not. Adam Root is the founder and CEO of Matter. , which is tackling the problem of microplastics head on at one if its key sources—your washing...

Jason Goodhand is an old classmate and pal, and a fellow traveller in renewable energy before it was cool. He's been fascinated by the role energy storage has in greening the grid for as long as I've known him. These days, he's travelling the world discovering, developing, and implementing storage technologies based on hydrogen, sodium, zinc, iron, vanadium redox flow technologies....

Bruce Friedrich is the founder and president of the Good Food Institute and the reason I invest in alternative proteins. I was driving through the hills of Umbria listening to podcasts and an interview with Bruce came on. An hour later I was enthralled and had found my calling. It really was as simple as that.  I talked with Bruce about the outlook for investment in alt proteins, the nature of the...

Fungi is having a moment as it does everything from open our minds, feed our population, pass notes for our trees, capture our CO2, and clean up our messes. Nathan Paumier is a fungi nerd and writer of the popular and informative BRB newsletter.  I took advantage of having him on the show to ask everything I always wanted to know about mushrooms but was afraid to ask. Nathan's go-to book to l...

Will Wiseman is a Forbes 30 under 30 founder who’s on a mission to democratise investing in renewable energy. He co-founded Climatize , which allows people to invest as little as five bucks, just two years ago and it’s going well. We talked about how Will got started, his experiences abroad in Europe, and the role of microloans in electrifying the grid. 👨‍💻 Hiring developers? You need to look at...

I was flattered when Silas Mähner and Somil Aggarwal reached out to invite me onto The CleanTechies Podcast out of New York. In the end we decided to do something fun and interview each other and syndicate the episode across both our podcasts at the same time. Fun times!  👨‍💻 Hiring developers? You need to look at Ukraine, where I've been hiring exclusively since 2018. Set up a no-stress ne...

Stuart Goldsmith is one of the only people out there who can make me LOL about climate change. I caught his act on YouTube thanks to "the Algorithm" and was thrilled that he said yes when I invited him on the podcast. Especially since he's in front of slightly larger audiences like the Conan O'Brien Show and Wembley Arena. This episode has some important insights nested in some...

Susanne Glørsen is a renowned early-stage sustainability investor who took her fascination with the potential of fungi to the next level: she created an award, called the Future Is Fungi . In this episode, Susanne talks about the award and introduces us to the inaugural winners including the bioremediation company novobiom , as well as Oona Snoeyenbos-West , whose company MycoMine solves the &quot...

If you've ever found yourself looking for a job in the foodtech sector, chances are you've come across the name Emma Osborne. Once a traditional executive recruiter, Emma threw that overboard to focus only on matching talent with roles that are aligned with her own values. Today, in addition to her talent matching work, she is at the centre of some major campaigns like "50 x 25&quot...

I know Nate Crosser as an influential venture capitalist at Blue Horizon , where I've co-invested with him. But I've lately started appreciating his talents as a writer of the Fifth Industrial series of essays on Substack . It was in reading his essay "Solarpunk is the next big literary-design movement" that I knew my listeners needed to hear from him. I've been called a p...

Glenn Hurowitz is Founder & CEO of Mighty Earth , which aspires to be the most effective environmental advocacy organization in the world. Based on the work I’ve seen them do so far, I think they’re pretty damn close to achieving that. Glenn founded Mighty Earth after recognizing a need for an entrepreneurial, results-focused organization working on the biggest problems that aren’t getting eno...

In a world where biodiversity is under threat, the role of native trees in maintaining the planet's health cannot be overstated. Blaine Pearson is the founder of Squiirrel , a digital marketplace and traceability system for reforestation and restoration ecology. We talked about trees' complex roles in biodiversity, the wildfires in Canada, and the importance of preserving native tree see...

Jonny Everett didn't want to build his own climatetech company, so he decided instead to launch Marble , a climatetech company to build 25 of them in the next five years. Does that sound crazy to you? Well, it didn't to some serious backers who have helped make this Paris-based venture studio a reality. Jonny talks about his career, his thoughts on climatetech financing, how a venture st...

Mallory Greene' s father was a funeral director and mother worked at a hospice, so the topic of death was never far from the dinner table. With her company Eirene Cremations ,  she has combined digitisation and transparency in order to shake up the funeral industry and give people real and cost-effective choices for themselves and their loved ones. Especially interesting is one service Eirene...

Paul Foulkes-Arellano is a sort of elder statesman in the circular economy industry. A lone wolf consultant these days, he previously spent the better part of 30 years in packaging and so knows first-hand the uphill battle we have ahead of us to achieve circularity in our economy. Fortunately, he also has some ideas about how to get there.  In this sprawling interview he talks about the broad shif...

Did you ever consider that your bank account could be doubling your carbon footprint? Me neither. But Dan Sherrard-Smith has built a business called Mother Tree that exists to help people and businesses shift their money so that they're not funding climate change. It might actually be the easiest way to lower your carbon footprint. 🧑‍💼 Growing your team across Europe? Grab a free consultati...

Amos Golan is Founder and CEO of Chunk Foods , based both in Israel and the USA. Chunk has the distinction of being the first plant-based steak on an American steakhouse chain's menu. Here's what it says on the menu at Charley's Steakhouse : F U Filet Mignon: *freaking unbelievable* plant-based by Chunk Chunk's goal is to make plant-based steaks better-tasting and--drum roll pl...

Nicole Kellner was already making a living as an artist before she even identified as one. A tech entrepreneur by background, she kept finding herself drawn (haha) to visual storytelling through art and so went all in. With this episode she is launching her colouring book, Electrify Everything , which is an awesome way for kids and adults alike to learn about renewable energy. Follow Nicole's...

Paul Ritch is a recent transplant from the US to Berlin, via two years of world travel. He's one of the forces behind ProVeg Incubator's absolutely brilliant Kickstarting for Good program which your humble podcast host sees as one of the most ambitious and clever programs ever(!)  Check out some of the ideas they have come up with, which they are ready to support: 🧑🏽‍🍳 World Society o...

It's hard to be an animal lover. Those of us who eat plant-based diets because we don't want to harm animals are also very likely to have cats and dogs at home. And so we end up unwittingly fuelling cruel and unsustainable meat production every day. Dogs can be plant-based--though they don't all take to it--but cats, as obligate carnivores, are the real challenge. But what if you co...

Today, ClimatePartner works with more than 6,000 companies in over 60 countries. Manca Jurca   talks about the pivotal role corporations play in mitigating climate change.   Our conversation highlights the importance of quantifying a company's carbon footprint, transitioning to green energy sources, and investing in green technology. Listen as we discuss the essence of establishing short and...

Jeff Katz is a serial entrepreneur who these days invests in climatetech through his company builder and investment vehicle 1.5° Ventures. In this conversation, Jeff dives into the many structural problems with VC and how it's not set up to tackle the massive challenges around climate change. This interview is packed with insights both for professional investors in the sector as well as clima...

Megan Poinski is a US-based journalist who has covered the food industry the last 7 years. During this time, she has seen some of the biggest changes in how and what we buy, eat, and think about food literally in centuries. We talked about these changes in technology, attitudes, and markets and what excites her about the industry now. 👨‍💻 Hiring developers? You need to look at Ukraine, where I&a...

Markus Linder is a serial tech founder whose company Inoqo evaluates the impact of grocery products on the basis of climate, social impact, animal welfare, and nutrition to help consumers make greener food selections. We talked about how private label brands can create differentiation by appealing to sustainability-conscious consumers and retailers,  the EU's efforts to fight greenwashing, an...