Investor Episodes

On today's episode of the Climate Insiders podcast, we’re sitting down with Fabian Heilemann, CEO of AENU. AENU is an impact fund that focuses on stage-agnostic long-term investments in climate-tech and social impact companies. Fabian shares insights into his journey from being an entrepreneur to becoming a venture capitalist with a focus on sustainable investments. Highlighting his experience of burnout post-Google acquisition, Fabian discusses how maintaining a routine involving physical wo...

In today's show, I'm welcoming Nadav Steinmetz an early stage climate tech investor based in London, UK. Nadav is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Climate First. Nadav delves into he critical role of deep tech in combating climate change and the challenges and opportunities faced within this niche. The discussion is particularly relevant given the backdrop of heightened climate awareness and the pressing need for sustainable solutions. Nadav highlights the crucial role of deep tech and ...

Yair Reem is a Partner at Extantia Capital, a climate-first venture capital firm accelerating the path to a decarbonized world by backing daring entrepreneurs with breakthrough ventures. He co-founded BeyondBlack, a fund for investments in technologies reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and advises European startup CEOs on strategic narratives. Formerly Managing Director at Hasso Plattner Ventures, Yair was also a cyber technology leader at Israel’s Unit 8200. He holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engi...

On today's episode of the Climate Insiders podcast, we’re diving into an engaging conversation with Benjamin Kayser, a former French Rugby international with a 16-year long career. Today, Benjamin is a renowned commentator of international rugby games on TV, both in France and the UK, and his voice is easily recognizable by all Rugby fans. More relevant to this podcast, Benjamin is the Co-founder and Partner at Teampact Ventures, a Venture Capital fund that specializes in human capital. We di...

On today's episode of the Climate Insiders podcast, we’re diving into an engaging conversation with Alexandra Perez, a seasoned investor in climate tech. We discuss a range of important topics affecting the VC industry and the role of women in investment. Most recently, she worked for the Climate Tech Fund: 2150. This episode delves into: - Challenges Women Face in the World of Investment - Finding the Balance: Vision and Realism in the VC Industry - Balancing Ruthlessness and Emp...

In today's show, I'm joined by Leslie Kapin, Director of Impact at Astanor Ventures, one of Europe's largest Impact funds. Whether you work for a climate or impact fund, are looking to start one, or are simply curious about what's happening in the impact world behind the scenes, you'll love this value-packed conversation. We cover: - The impact journey of Astanor: how they started from scratch five years ago and now publish one of the most useful impact reports in the industry. - How...

In today's show, I'm receiving Marie Ekeland, the founder of 2050, a French Climate Tech fund. She's a superstar investor in the French Venture ecosystem. She was a Partner at Elaia Partners where she invested early on in Criteo (which IPOed at the Nasdaq and remains one of the biggest success stories of the FrenchTech). Then she founded Daphni, a Generalist VC fund. In 2012 she co-founded France Digitale, bringing together French VCs & entrepreneurs to make the French digital ecosystem thrive ...

In today's show, I'm receiving Sebastian Heitmann, co-founder and General Partner of Extantia, a European Climate Tech fund based out of Berlin. We cover: - The Path to Extantia: Strategies and Hindsight in Structuring Climate Funds - Gigacorn Hunter: Identifying the Next Big Climate Startup - Impact Measurement Debate: Essential Process or Early-Stage Overkill? - Deep Diving in New Sectors: Effective Due Diligence Tips - Announcements for the Super Climate conference to continue boosting ...

In today's show, I'm receiving Allegra Kowalewski-Ferreira, Partner at Breakthrough Energy Europe. We cover: - Discussion on the world's largest Climate Tech fund - Exploring Bill Gates' actual role in the fund - The fund's investment decision-making process - Cultural differences between the US and Europe in Investing -------------- ABOUT CLIMATE INSIDERS: Learn all the insights from the top Climate Tech Founders and Investors. Listen to the stories behind the startup successes, underst...

In today's show, I'm welcoming Jacqueline van den Ende, Co-Founder and CEO of Carbon Equity, a Climate VC and private equity fund investing platform that enables people to invest in the world's best climate funds. We cover: -Jacqueline van den Ende's personal journey, motivation, and drive in the climate tech space -The importance of involving the broader public in climate tech investments -Exploring strategies to combat greenwashing and the potential for geoengineering in climate solutions ...

This time we're turning tables. I will not be conducting the interview. Instead, I will be interviewed. By popular demand, you will hear a little bit about me and my thoughts on some awesome topics, such as risk management, ways to become an angel investor with as little as $1000, alternative forms of growth, why technology won’t solve this deeper crisis faced by humanity, the critical need to better communicate visions, and the power of women to transform society! In addition, we will discuss ...

Today's show features not just one, but two guests, who will provide super actionable insights to FINALLY demystify the IMPACT of Climate Tech Funds. -We will break down the most important concepts around impact measurements, such as SFDR, ESG, LCA, and other key acronyms ruling European Climate Tech. -We will ask two of Europe's best impact experts how they put it all into practice when making investments and growing their startup portfolio. -And we will answer some chicky questions to figur...

Caroline Walerud is a Swedish entrepreneur and Partner at Walerud Ventures, a deep-tech investment company that focuses on early-stage green tech startups. She also co-founded Volumental, a company that developed a cloud-based, 3D-scanning technology to create models to customize products and services. Walerud co-founded Volumental in 2012 together with three computer vision experts. In this episode, we discuss: - the most hands-on investment model in the World. Walerud invests and acts as a ...

Marie Helene Ametsreiter is a General Partner at Speedinvest, an early-stage generalist fund based out of Wien in Austria, with more than €600m AUM and 40 investors based in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, and Vienna. Marie-Helene oversees their newly launched Climate Tech fund. Marie Helene has a TON of insights to share: - her perspective on the latest trends in Climate Tech in Europe - the role of corporates in this transition - whether Planetly's "failed" acquisition can send a negative ...

Irena Spazzapan is a Managing Partner at Systemiq Capital, a London-based climate fund and spin-off of Systemic Ltd. Systemiq Ltd is an advisory and investment firm focused on climate, that helps build companies that have the potential to meaningfully accelerate the transition towards net zero. Irena worked at Goldman Sachs for 13 years in Commodities, Gas & Power systems. I love conversations with Irena because you're always up for a ride and learn a ton on macro-trends, the psychology of th...

Benjamin Kayser is a former French Rugby international with a 16-year-long career (he played 47 games with the French National Team, and hundreds in the French and English championships). Benjamin is a Co-founder and Partner at Teampact Ventures, a Venture Capital fund that specializes in human capital. Benjamin is a charismatic and inspiring character. He is living proof that the reconversion of former world-class athletes into Venture Capital investors is possible and can be very successful....

Benjamin Joffe is a Partner at SOSV, a global deep tech fund with 1000 portfolio companies and $1.3B AUM. They focus on early-stage planetary and human health. They invest the very first checks at pre-seed via the startup programs HAX (hard tech), IndieBio (biology), Orbit (frontier markets), and dlab (blockchain). Benjamin started in an investing role in the HAX program in Shenzhen (invested in Opentrons, now a unicorn), and later chose to work in a non-investing role across the portfolio. H...

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 ...

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...

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 Nordics the correlation between impact and financial returns What the current economic slowdown means for Climate Tech VC the biggest learn...

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 innovation She 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 scene...

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...

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! Thou...

Hampus Jakobsson is a General Partner at Pale Blue Dot, a Swedish seed-stage ClimateTech fund investing in startups that reduce and reverse the effects of climate change. He was previously at BlueYard Capital, before that an angel with >100 angel investments. And before that, a serial founder. This is an EPIC conversation between two European Climate Tech fund managers. Hampus shares a TON of insights and opinionated views. You don’t want to miss out! Fundraising for a fund vs fundraising for...