Clean Catalyst: Recent Episodes
Alberto Fernandez
The Podcast connecting breakthrough cleantech companies with investor and entrepreneurial communities The purpose of this podcast is to be a connector of early-stage cleantechs with early-stage investors, talent and customers. The aim is to connect the entrepreneurial community to create and scale ideas into environmentally impactful and sustainable businesses.
Season 3 Finale episode is out now, wrapping up this season focusing on Circular Economy!
Featuring Romain Diaz, Founder of the Europe and Africa focused climate impact fund, Satgana. Romain's humility and graciousness is so wonderful and inspiring! Amazing to hear about how he and his team are leading the fund's investment and advisory activities guided by their ethos and passion for solving for the climate crisis.
Romain shares his story of starting as an entrepreneur in Morocco, followed by experiences in South Africa and ultimately following his passion to set up Satgana. He talks about risk-appetite while also being laser-focused on the climate - problem space, and at the same time combining his expertise in emerging markets to find high potential start-ups beyond Europe in African markets like Ethiopia, where VC investments are marginal to date.
Satgana's portfolio companies in Circular Economy, highlighted in this episode are as follows:
- Kubik, Addis Ababa: turning plastic waste in low-carbon, affordable housing
- Onima, Paris: producing sustainable alternative protein from beer yeast
- Loewi, Paris: accelerating the transition to electric bikes with a full-stack refurbishment platform
- Arda, London: transforming waste feedstock into biomaterials for use in fashion, automotive and other sectors
Tune in to this episode to hear the conversation with Romain Diaz from Satgana, and don't forget to share your feedback!
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
Proud to bring to you a brand new episode in this season! We welcome Elin to Clean Catalyst.
Elin Bergman is known for being the Circular Economy Queen of Sweden. She the COO and spokesperson of the Swedish circular economy network Cradlenet, and is also one of the co-founders of the Nordic Circular Hotspot a collaboration platform for accelerating circular economy in the region.
In this episode, Elin elaborates how circular business models are existing and more prevalent than we believe, while also outlining some of the blockers that founders face when setting up circular solutions.
Reports mentioned in the episode:
- Product-as-a-Service in the circular economy: the nine critical challenges and how to fix them
- Nordic Roadmap for Circular Financing
Books mentioned in the episode:
- Waste to wealth, the circular economy advantage: by Jakob Rutqvist, Peter Lacy
- Cradle to cradle, by Michael Braungart, William McDonough
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
Christian Schiller, CEO and Co-founder of Cirplus came upon the idea of founding this company in the middle of the ocean, off the coast of Colombia. It was a moment of epiphany that evolved into a solution with the ambition to change the way the world consumes plastic. More recently, Christian was invited byt he German government to join the consultation process for creating the National Circular Economy Strategy for Germany.
Max Meister, Founder's Associate at Cirplus joins us in this episode to tell us all about their journey so far, and their ambitions in the future. IT's a tight-knit team, going through a lot of firsts together, starting with a certification system for quality of recycled plastic.
Tune in to this episode to hear more about their story.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
So excited to present to you Circunomics, a B2B marketplace and proposition to give second-life to EV batteries. They are revenue positive and gearing up for Series A round of fundraising this year. We have in conversation with us in this episode the CEO and Co-founder of Circunomics, Felix Wagner, joining us from Germany!
With strong backers and validation from the beginning, Circunomics has tackled various challenges starting from the pandemic to a tough B2B environment, in order to reach their current state of progress. Felix's story is a fascinating one of resilience and drive, and we can only share their passion and excitement for more successes ahead.
Listen to this episode to find out more and discover how Circunomics works, and all the excitement lined up for them. Hope you enjoy the conversation with Felix and we would love to hear how it made you feel.
Follow Circunomics and connect with Felix on LinkedIn.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
New year, new season, this time focusing on Circular Economy. I'm Richa, your host, bringing this introductory episode, followed by a line-up of interesting, innovative start-ups in this space. Stay tuned for more!
For this season introductory episode, I go through some trends and statistics describing the current state of affairs in the Circular Economy sector. Top of mind examples from Fashion, Food and Packaging industries, to show how much effort and investment is still needed in this space, and fast!
Listen to the episode to learn more and share your feedback and comments about what more you would like to learn about.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
For our very first start-up feature, we have with us in this episode the CEO and Co-founder of Rentle now Twice Commerce, Tuomo Laine, all the way from Finland!
Twice Commerce in it's newly launched avatar, is a very cool proposition to help customers extend the life of products and the team are all set to scale and grow! Tuomo gets into the depths of how they got inspired to start this journey and what keeps them going and excited for more successes ahead.
Listen to this episode to find out more and discover how Twice Commerce works, and all the excitement lined up for them. Hope you enjoy Tuomo's story and get a chance to try out their offering.
Follow Twice Commerce and connect with Tuomo on LinkedIn.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
For our season finale episode, we welcome Mark Bernstein to share his insights on opportunities in the Mobility space given his extensive experience across academia, government and private equity in this sector.
Currently running Earthshot, a non-profit aimed at inspiring climate action through presenting a positive cleantech vision in the future, Mark talks about their plans to energise and inspire people into taking positive action to solve the climate crisis. He also reflects his several decades of experiences across multiple roles, including for instance being part of the Clinton administration, and why he is optimistic about our future.
Listen to this episode to find out more and discover how Earthshot is out to offer game-based education and engagement. Hope you enjoy it and participate in their launch in the near-future.
Follow Earthshot and connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
And last but not least - our 6th featured start-up in this season focused on Mobility solutions, Vesputi!
Based in Leipzig Germany, Vesputi as described by CEO and Co-Founder Linus Frank, is a remarkable offering that seeks to optimise existing public transportation infrastructure with the ambition to reduce carbon footprint. The concept is so elegant in its simplicity - it started with API-enabled backend integration and is evolving into a platform for providing a bundled offering across providers.
Find out more about Vesputi's upcoming plans and connect with Linus on LinkedIn.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
We change tracks to look into innovative solutions in EV design and engineering. First up is Infinite Mobility based in Oslo, Norway - hear their story in the words of Co-founder Lupi Love.
Taking head on the problem of charging and of efficiency of EVs by changing the design of the EV itself - that's what Infinite Mobility is about. Launching Cargo Bikes, 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler solar powered light-weight EVs for urban mobility and last-mile delivery solutions. Listen to Lupi describe the journey up to the launch and how the team's phenomenal background and ambition has been instrumental in turning this vision into a feasible and remarkable product offering.
Find out more about Infinite Mobility and their prototype launch and interact with Lupi on LinkedIn.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
This episode features the story of Reefilla, by the three co-founders Marco (CEO), Pietro (CTO) and Gabriele (CFO).
Reefilla based in Turin, Italy offers a mobile-based predictive solution for charging EVs. Founded by a team that were co-workers and came together in an MBA program focused on automotive sector, it is a promising and exciting offering with lots of potential.
Find more about Reefilla and the upcoming launch of their product #Fillee and connect with Marco, Pietro and Gabriele on Reefilla's LinkedIn page.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
Sheng joins us to talk about his journey to founding Voltshare and his adventures through the pandemic leading up to a grant award received from the UK public sector! With his diverse background and experience, Sheng's story is one not to miss!
Voltshare connects EV drivers to nearby home EV chargers with off the street private parking spaces. To find out more visit Voltshare or connect with Sheng on LinkedIn.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
The first promising start-up this season is Wattson, based in Madrid in Spain.
Juan Roldán, CEO and Ruben Valiente, CPO join this episode to share their exciting adventure and journey at Wattson. Juan found Ruben through IESE Business School, a thread that connects us all and they clicked instantly!
Wattson is a network of mobile ultra-fast chargers for EV users, whenever and wherever they need it. Check out their MVP launch video here.
Find out more about Wattson or connect with Juan and Ruben on LinkedIn.
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
Back again with Season 2, this time featuring innovative early-stage start-ups in the Mobility sector.
To kick-off this season, Yoshimi Nakajima joins me to discuss the latest trends that are inspiring companies both large and small, to create and offer cool, new solutions. With her background ranging across Mizuho, Honda and now Woven City in Japan, she shares her observations and insights about how the automative sector has evolved to embrace extensive innovation and change for the better.
Tune in to hear more and share your feedback with us on LinkedIn!
Yoshimi would be delighted to hear from you - get in touch with her on LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoshimi-nakajima/)
Visit us on our Clean Catalyst LinkedIn page and do share your feedback!
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/86013913/admin/)
This is the season finale!
Today we are chatting with David Scanlon, director at Resolve Partners.
David has over 20 years of experience in the start-up and entrepreneurship space. He has played a pivotal role in the climate economy ecosystem in Ireland by bringing together founders and entrepreneurs who are creating sustainable solutions.
He has had management roles in Entreprise Ireland, the Start-up grind, NDRC (Ireland's National Start-up accelerator program) and is currently the Director at Resolve Partners. Resolve Partners inspire, guide, challenge, and coach leaders in Innovation, Research, and Entrepreneurship to deliver remarkable outcomes.
If you want to find out more reach out to hello@resolvepartners.ie // linkedin.com/in/davescanlon // https://twitter.com/dscanlon
In this episode we will be chatting with Ben Or, Assaf Co-Founder of Greeneum.
Greeneum is a decentralized platform and marketplace for local energy management that supports you to become energy independent and with no fossil and zero emissions.
Greeneum leverages cutting edge disruptive technology, including blockchain, smart contracts and targeted machine learning (AI), to create an unparalleled reliable, comprehensive and potentially unlimited data platform for the renewable energy market.
Follow them on twitter: @GreeneumNet on their website: www.greeneum.net and on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greeneum-network/
Greemko has the objective of facilitating the environmental management tasks for corporations. Trough their proprietary software they help companies evaluate automatically the environmental performance including their emission calculations.
Their tool allows to analyse information and compare different criteria and establish objectives for improvements. Moreover, it can predict consumption and associated costs.
Make sure to reach out to them: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greemko/ ; https://greemko.com/
They support you on your path to becoming a Renewable Champion and finally contribute to the global energy transition. They are a network of renewable energy advisors helping corporates or public institutions to realize their sustainability strategy in terms of electricity consumption.
In addition, they also support developers or independent power producers to realize their renewable energy projects. ⚡ Subscribe to our Renewable Energy News channel: https://bit.ly/ThinkRE_Subscribe
Make sure to reach out to them: https://www.think-renewable.com & Stephan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephan-dinse
In this episode, we will be chatting with Nils Söderström, CEO & Founder of Renbloc.
Renbloc is a comprehensive and transparent solution for tracing and verifying sources of energy. Suppliers and customers can easily keep track of when, where and how their energy is produced. They want to increase the transparency in the energy market by giving consumers the opportunity to freely choose the origin of their energy, bringing purchasing power to the energy market.
For the first time, the conscious consumer will be able to voice their energy opinion by directly and transparently choosing the origin of their energy. They see this free will as a major step in the development of global democracy.
In this episode, we will be chatting with Vanessa Macdougall Co-founder of Xtonnes.
Xtonnes is the next-gen carbon management software built with designers and manufacturers to reduce, report and remove emissions while saving time, money and the planet. Their approach to carbon footprints is simpler, smarter and safer. It generates results and insight faster with robust SOTA data science. Aligns with the standards that matter now and in the future. Empowers businesses to take meaningful, confident actions at speed Your business can prioritise efforts to take control of their emissions in minutes, effortlessly remain up to date with changes to reporting standards and discover different ways to achieve science-based targets.
Make sure to check their website to book a demo: https://xtonnes.com/ or reach out to them on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/xtonnes
The Podcast connecting breakthrough cleantech companies with investor and entrepreneurial communities
The purpose of this project is to be a connector of early-stage cleantechs with investors, talent and customers. The aim is to connect the entrepreneurial community to create and scale ideas into environmentally impactful and sustainable businesses.
In this intro Episode we will tell you more about what is Clean Catalyst how it became a reality.
In this episode, we will be chatting with Wouter Draijer - CEO and Co-Founder of Solarmente.
Solarmente changes the way PV installations are brought to consumers by creating accurate, honest and transparent automated offers using revolutionary technology.
Solarmente mixes software and financing to make solar simple for any homeowner.
Panels are cheap, installation is easy, yet going solar is still an excruciating process, they solve that.
Make sure to check out his website: https://solarmente.es or reach out to them on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/solarmente/