CleanTechies

We’re back with another episode featuring Jonathan, a founder shaking up the battery tech industry! Jonathan, a UC Berkeley Chemical Engineering grad, spent years in wastewater treatment before realizing the key driver of adoption was economics. In 2017, he and his co-founders, frustrated with their jobs, started their own company after working in thin film membrane industries. (Psst! This is a fr...

In this episode, we are joined by Till Stenzel, Partner at SET Ventures, a European venture capital firm that has been in operation in 2007 which makes them one of the first climate VCs out there. They invest $2-$5M in rounds that range from $3-10M at the Series A/A+ stage. SET Ventures focuses on innovative business models and typically like to lead or co-lead rounds. Their investments range over...

This is a masterclass on investing in the future 🌍💰. Today, we're sitting down with Peter Sofer, Investment Partner at Clean Energy Ventures (CEV). Based in Austin, Texas, Peter tackles investing in the toughest-to-decarbonize sectors. CEV is known for backing companies that could be the only game in town for the long haul, with potential to achieve multi-gigaton greenhouse gas reductions....

Today’s episode is special to me! When I first learned about ClimateTech, I dreamed of building a Venture Studio in the space. Although I didn’t even know what a Venture Studio was back then, I quickly realized that founder-market fit is crucial for success. While I’m not there yet, I started my own recruitment firm to gain the freedom and impact I wanted in a field with a huge need for affordable...

We don’t always have climate philanthropic-learning orgs on, but when we do, it’s always a banger 💥 We're sitting down with Karl Burkart, the Co-Founder and Deputy Director of One Earth. One Earth funds advanced scientific research and technology applications to address the climate crisis at scale across three pillars:  Renewable energy transition Nature conservation Regenerative agriculture...

This is a special breakdown of Ample’s strategic playbook and how you can apply it to your hardware climate startup. The full version of this episode is only available to our paid subscribers — soo… if you’re looking for a reason to become a paid sub… here is your chance 😉 Become a paid subscriber today by clicking here: 👇 https://cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe Links John de Souza | Ample I...

Today, our guest is John de Souza . Co-founder of Ample Inc . A startup betting that battery swapping is the future. If you're at all like me, you're thinking that sounds bat shit crazy. Well, listen to today's episode, and you'll realize it's the opposite. It's the only logical conclusion to EVs. We can't gloss over this -- John is special. This is his 4th major...

Drew D’Alelio is an Investor at Connecticut Innovations, the government investing arm of the state of Connecticut, who helps manage and co-founded the state’s $100M climate tech fund. He plays a pivotal role in managing their $100M Climate Tech fund with a triple bottom line of returns, climate mitigation and adaptation, and CT jobs. His passion for sustainability was sparked by witnessing the imp...

Woo Hoo! Episode #200 🎉🎉🎉 We are thrilled to release our 200th episode with the one and only Moji Karimi. Moji is a co-founder of Cemvita, the biotech powerhouse that has also birthed GoldH2 and Endolith (now individual companies). This is the free version of the episode. To get the full thing, go to our Substack and become a paid subscriber. Any paid tier gets full access to the episode.  Toda...

Vivin Hegde is a visionary in the built environment space — from leading innovation efforts at Hilti to co-founding Zacua Ventures, Vivin is on a mission to redefine how we think about construction and infrastructure.  In this episode, he dives deep into the challenges and opportunities of investing in the built environment, sharing his journey from managing corporate venture capital at Hilti to l...

Today, we are speaking with Kieran White. Co-Founder of Curo. At Curo they help EV Fleet owners secure reliable charging without the need to build their own infrastructure.  This has the double benefit of allowing existing infrastructure owners to maximize their assets.  Today’s call is super fun. We discuss: How he hustled his way into a job with Tesla at 18, even tho they claimed to only hire 21...

Hey everyone!  Today’s episode is a special issue. We are unpacking Susan Su’s recent article “What a second Trump presidency would mean for climate investing” . She originally posted this on her Substack, Climate Money but we wanted to unpack it for those who prefer to learn by audio.  The first ~20 minutes of today’s episode are public, but you’ll need to be a paid subscriber to access the remai...

Edo is a rockstar individual — from tackling the lack of green employer incentive problem to building climate tech communities across the USA, Edo joins us to share his journey from working in sustainability at Apple to founding Elements World, making it possible for employers to hit their sustainability targets through their employees.  He discusses the unique challenges and opportunities in addr...

Today we speak with Ravi Kurani, CEO and Founder of Sutro (water IoT device company -- exited to Sani Marc). Aaand the creator and host of Liquid Assets, a Podcast interviewing the leading voices in WaterTech. Between Ravi's background as a founder in the water, his familiarity with the water ecosystem, and now his opportunity to interview the leaders in the water space, he's a great per...

Today, we are talking to Matthias Muehlbauer of OnePointFive . We have the pleasure of covering one of our good friends, Matthias Muehlbauer at the powerhouse firm OnePointFive. Matthias is a Founding Partner at the firm, where their activities range across two operations: **They provide diligence and climate advisory services **They train sustainability professionals They’re bringing a level of s...

Dimitry Gershenson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Enduring Planet. A fractional CFO and Non-Dilutive Funding service for ClimateTech Entrepreneurs. As for funding, they provide working capital for founders who have landed grants or who have government contracts.  It's great to see more Climate-Specific service providers to help continue supporting the ecosystem.  Today, Dimitry shares his story...

In our third installment of sustainable building materials, we’re taking another look at lumber. We’ve already called reclaimed lumber “the superpower building material you’ve never heard of”. As a refresher, lumber, processed wood from trees, is a versatile and widely used building material known for its strength, durability, and workability. So why isn’t there more of it in our buildings? Well,...

Reclaimed lumber is the superpower building material you’ve never heard of (because we’re all up to date on our Rolodex of sustainable building materials, right?). Lumber, processed wood from trees, is a versatile and widely used building material known for its strength, durability, and workability. So why isn’t there more of it in our buildings? Well, as great as lumber is, usable lumber from our...

Mycelium is an emerging decarbonized building material due to its sustainability, biodegradability, and strength. It is cultivated by growing fungal networks, also known as mushrooms. Mycelium-based products can be used for insulation, bricks, and packaging. Today, we have a ClimateTech Entrepreneur making waves with Mycelium. Ilya is CEO & Co-Founder of COMU Labs, bridging the gap between sus...

Ashwin Salvi is the Co-Founder and COO of AtmosZero. They create electrified boilers to replace traditional fossil-fuel-burning boilers in industrial settings. Steam touches a huge amount of products that we, as consumers, use every day, and AtmosZero is helping decarbonize that.  Today, Ashwin shares his story, and we discuss: How they solved the cost issue by making a drop-in replacement  How th...

Today, we are talking to Toby Ferenczi from Granular Energy . In this electrifying (ha!) episode, we finally tracked down the elusive Toby Ferenczi, a man who juggles startups like they're hot potatoes. ⚡️ Toby educates us about the world of electricity transparency and trading. Did you know you can trade electricity like stocks? Neither did we! And it doesn’t exactly work like that…but it g...

Kevin Noertker is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ampaire, a developer of Hybrid Aviation Propulsion Systems to Decarbonize Air Travel Today. Currently they are scaling up their tech. Their tech is proven to reduce fuel usage by about 50% for small aircrafts (anything with a propeller). Today, Kevin shares his story and we discuss: Aerospace Engineer to Ampaire: His story of co-founding Ampaire.  Addres...

Chad Mason is the CEO and Founder of Advanced Ionics, a company that has designed a revolutionary electrolyzer. They did this by designing their technology from scratch. They are currently scaling up this innovative technology and plan to sell these units, known as stacks, either directly or through licensing agreements. Today, Chad shares his  journey: Early Inspiration: How he first learned abou...

Jesse Henry is the CEO and Founder of Heartland Industries, a company that produces drop-in pellets made of hemp fiber. These pellets are used as an additive to plastics. They reduce the weight and cost of the products, improve strength, and lower scope 3 emissions. It's a quadruple-benefit product. Today, Jesse tells us his story - how he started Heartland - how he's the 3rd generation...

Rahul broke down the nitty-gritty of how 2150 built (no pun intended) a leading ClimateTech VC fund focused on decarbonizing the built environment. We talked investing, fund modeling, learning from general VC, FinTech in ClimateTech, & more. This was a VC-fundamental extraordinaire , and super informative for anyone looking to learn more about venture capital. AND let’s not forget, Rahul spent...