Episode 8: Climate-tech Investing. How is Europe's biggest climate tech VC helping to unf**** the planet
I'm joined by the Founding General Partner of World Fund, who are doing high-risk deep-science venture investments in startups that can transform life on earth for the better.
60 gigatons of Carbon Dioxide (Co2) is discharged into the atmosphere every year. Co2 levels are now higher than they have been in at least 800,000 years making climate change the number 1 threat faced by mankind.
What tech to invest in in order to 'unf*** the planet'?
I’ve always wondered how do we solve this problem by allocating capital to the right domains of tech. So for this, I sat down with Danijel Visevic (@visevic) - the Founding General Partner of World Fund, Europe’s biggest climate tech VC fund.
We cover :
- the fundamentals & purpose of climate tech investing
- the mechanics of a climate tech fund
- how to manage LP expectations
- Key technologies to invest in to undo the effects of climate change
- Climate change policy prescriptions for government
You can listen to it by clicking on your favorite podcast platform of choice as below:
Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players, you should be able to click the timestamp for the episode.
(00:00) - Intro
(03:05) - Danijel's journey to becoming a leading climate tech investor
(05:34) - World Fund's investment thesis for decarbonizing the planet
(07:44) - Distinction between climate tech and cleantech
(09:39) - Climate tech investing fund mechanics
(12:24) - What are the upsides or downsides to being a dedicated fund vs private VCs like Sequoia & SoftBank
(14:31) - The purpose of investing in climate tech
(16:47) - Managing Limited Partner's (LP) expectations - How to prioritize between short-term profit maximization vs sustainability?
(23:28) - Technologies that can help minimize the impact of climate change
(25:07) - What makes Europe the most suitable place for climate tech investing?
(28:11) - The different stages of fundraising for a climate tech startup
(29:50) - How is World Fund developing the climate tech ecosystem in Europe?
(31:13) - Next-generation climate tech innovations to look forward to
(35:25) - What immediate policies can government undertake in mitigating the effect of climate change crises
(40:07) - Outro
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