Unlocking funding | Lessons learned from a climate tech investor

Our guest this week, Ramsay Siegal, has worked in a variety of roles in the energy and climate space for the past 15+ years, and while she has watched it all evolve, she now views the sector from a unique vantage point; early stage investor. And one thing we learned in this conversation (and that gives us a bit of hope) is that Ramsay is excited about the future of climate tech.

A partner at Earthshot Ventures, the $94 million climate tech venture capital firm investing across the climate spectrum - think energy, mobility, food and agriculture, industry and carbon - Ramsay has seen some very bold and innovative ideas come through their doors; some that won over investors, and others that failed to do so for any number of reasons. In this week’s show we sat down with Ramsay and asked her to share some advice for founders, sustainability pros, and those who might want to jump into the space.

Here are a few of the things covered in our conversation:

• Everyone should learn to be a salesperson
• The importance of good design (it could make or break your business)
• Staying out of the valley of death: Get buy-in and traction as soon as possible
• The correlation between revenue and impact
• Why it’s a better time than ever to be in the climate solutions space
• Why you should consider starting a climate-focused business
• You don’t have to have a technical degree to be active in the climate industry

Related links worth clicking on:

• Earthshot Ventures - Always looking for Pre-Seed to Series B stage opportunities across four main categories: Energy, Materials & Mobility, Food Systems, Industry & Carbon
• Elemental Excelerator - A nonprofit investor focused on scaling climate technologies with deep community impact.
• Kanin Energy - Helpint heavy industry monetize their waste heat and decarbonize their operations
• Breakthrough Energy Ventures - Inspiring the world to develop and scale the critical solutions we need to reach net-zero emissions—so everyone can enjoy affordable, abundant clean energy.
• Prime Coalition/Azolla Ventures - In June 2023, Azolla conducted its final close at $239MM, comprised of 1/3 catalytic capital and 2/3 impact-aligned investment capital.
• KoBold Metals - Finding the metals of the future with AI and HI
• Lilac Solutions - Scaling lithium supply for the electric era
• Mitra Chem - Innovating and commercializing iron-based cathode materials to enable mass-market electrification in transportation and energy storage
• Catalyst Podcast, by Canary Media - A weekly podcast with climatetech veteran Shayle Kann interviewing experts about the future of decarbonization.
• CTVC (Climate Tech VC) - Climate tech's leading perspective

Produced by our team of experts at thinkPARALLAX.

Intro/Outro music by QubeSounds from Pixabay.

#inspiringperspectives #sustainability #climatetech #climatesolutions #venturecapital #sustainabilityadvice #investment #thinkparallax #earthshotventures #founders #policy #branding #marketing #gooddesign

Got a topic you’d like us to explore on the show? Get in touch with us at thinkparallax.com/podcast.

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