Venturing Into Sustainability

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The episode features a discussion with Dr. Benjamin Slotnick, founder and CEO of Lillianah Technologies, a carbon removal startup. Dr. Slotnick speaks about his educational background in geology, which led him to invest in environmental solutions.

Discussing his company, he outlines Lilianah's approach to carbon removal through the optimisation of oceanic biological pumps and bioremediation of 'dead zones' caused by excess chemical runoff.

He discusses the challenges startups face in the Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) industry, the need for Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of technologies and the importance of marine sediments as an effective carbon store.

Dr. Slotnick also expresses his belief in CDR as a crucial player in maintaining planetary stability. This is a powerful episode and one not to be missed.

Enjoy the show!

Contact Jake
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Contact Dr Benjamin Slotnick
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Lillianah Technologies

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In this episode, environmentalist and investor, Julia, opens up about her investing journey in the field of climate tech and sustainability. As the founder of 'We Have The Power', an organisation that invests in solutions and startups tackling single-use waste, Julia discusses her mission and the challenge of catalysing practical action towards a sustainable circular economy. The episode dives into the accomplishments, potential, and challenges faced by various circular economy startups that Julia supports, including Dizzy, Revolution Zero, and Clean Bus. Julia also highlights her vision for focusing on reuse over recycling, advocates for changes in consumer habits, corporate behaviour and government legislation, and shares her unique insights on striking a balance between investment appeal and socio-environmental impact.

Enjoy the show!

Contact Jake
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Contact Julie
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We Have The Power

00:01 Introduction to the Podcast
01:00 Guest Introduction: Julia Davies
02:17 Julia's Journey to Sustainability
03:10 The Role of Early Stage Startups in Impact Finance
05:08 Julia's Investment in Reuse and Circular Economy
06:24 The Challenge of Changing Consumer Habits
07:40 The Role of Corporations in the Sustainability Transition
09:58 The Potential of the Circular Economy
10:39 Innovations in the Circular Economy: Case Studies
12:09 The Challenge of Systems Change in the Circular Economy
19:08 The Role of Government Regulation in Sustainability
24:29 The Importance of Focusing on Impact in Investment
43:16 Inspiration and Advice for Sustainability Journey
46:24 Overhyped and Underhyped Trends in Sustainability
47:44 Investing in Biodiversity and Nature Conservation
48:36 Policy Reform for a Sustainable Future

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Join us for today's podcast where our host Jake Wombwell-Povey interviews the two co-founders of Windscape AI, Eric Thompson (CEO) and Jason Yosinski(CTO).

Windscape combines low-cost pressure sensors and artificial intelligence to provide cleaner and more accurate data to optimise wind turbine operations. Though selling this technology to utilities is challenging due to the long, costly, and bureaucratic process, they have found early adopters and are working towards permeating the industry.

The co-founders also express their views on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and their potential uses in sustainability and climate change. They identify some overhyped trends and discuss their preferred policy reform of a price on carbon.

Contact Jake
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Contact Windscape.ai
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Website

00:01 Introduction to the Podcast
01:01 Guest Introduction: Co-founders of Scape AI
02:29 Origins of Windscape and the Founders' Journey
08:54 Understanding the Technology Behind Windscape
09:04 The Role of AI and Machine Learning in Windscape
09:13 The Impact of Technological Advancements on Windscape's Existence
11:12 How Winscape Improves Efficiency for Wind Turbine Operators
15:55 The Distinction Between AI and Machine Learning
21:56 Challenges and Lessons from Selling Novel Technologies in the Wind Industry
24:14 Understanding Wind Farm Ownership and Operations
24:52 Building Relationships with Asset Managers
27:19 Challenges and Barriers in Wind Farm Operations
29:42 Navigating Stakeholder Mapping and Incentivization
31:33 Finding Advocates within Organizations
33:28 Targeting Early Adopters in the Wind Industry
34:07 The Impact of Windscape on Wind Farm Output
37:46 Potential Applications of AI in Power Generation
45:33 Investing in Sustainability and Climate Crisis Solutions
48:04 Enacting Policy Reforms for Climate Crisis
48:54 Contacting and Learning More About Windscape

If you enjoyed this episode please subscribe to our channel and leave a review.

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In this episode, founder and host Jake Povey discusses the philosophy behind Seven Generation Ventures, their approach to investing, focusing on early stage digital climate tech startups. He explains the unique combination of venture investing and coaching to foster maximum development and growth of the companies they back. He sheds light on the guiding principle of 'seven generations' that guides their investment ideologies, drawing from the philosophy of the Iroquois nation, looking at the long-term impact on future generations and leaving a positive legacy . He also acknowledges the daunting challenge climate change presents but emphasises the significant investment and innovation opportunities that come with attempting to solve it.

Contact Jake
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00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:15 The Purpose of the Solo Episode
00:34 The Importance of Climate Tech
02:04 The Role of Venture Capital in Climate Tech
02:38 The Focus on Digital Climate Tech
03:16 The Story Behind 7 Generation Ventures
11:04 The Power of Coaching in Venture Capital
18:03 The Philosophy Behind 7 Generation Ventures
20:45 The Urgency of Investing in Climate Change Solutions
23:05 The Future of Climate Tech Investing
25:45 Conclusion and Farewell

If you enjoyed this episode please subscribe to our channel and leave a review.

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Today we have Sameer Singh with us and he is the create of Breadcrumb VCs. Which is a coaching and investment specialists into network effects.

Sameer is a startup advisor and early-stage investor focused on network effects. "Creator" of Breadcrumb.vc and Applied Network Effects (one of the highest rated courses on Maven) — both are globally renowned resources to learn about network effects. He is also part of the Atomico Angel Program, where he invest in early-stage startups with network effects.

He has 14 years of experience in the technology ecosystem — distributed between technology startups and investing. For much of this time, he studied technology business models and network effects in a professional capacity and via independent projects. Previously, spent 5 years at App Annie, a Sequoia-funded, late-stage startup during its hypergrowth phase. There, he led a global, cross-functional team, working across product, marketing, and sales. Advised leading tech companies like Spotify, Shpock and Trainline. Before that, he was an early-stage investor focused on commerce businesses.

We Discuss;

The Power
The Tripfalls
The Consequences
How Sameer got here
Intersection between network effects
What network effects means to start ups
The Impact on climate change

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@attis.earth, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
Linkedin Jake Wombell-Povey

Episode recorded November 9, 2022

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Today's show is our introduction to the Venturing into Sustainability podcast and is a discussion between your co-hosts Jake Wombwell-Povey and Max Middleton where we delve deep into the IPCC report that's just been released this week and what it means for this space.

It is unequivocal that human infrastructure has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, widespread changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. So began the most recent IPCC report on the state of climate change..

Max is an investment partner at Vala Capital where he has overall responsibility for the Vala Sustainability Funds. Max is an experienced VC investor with a track record of supporting businesses building a more sustainable future. Max joins Vala after several years at the Ingenious Group, where he served as Investment Manager for the Ingenious Infrastructure Ventures EIS Service, focusing on the ‘infra-tech’ (energy, mobility, built environment, resource efficiency) arena. Prior to his time at Ingenious, Max worked at EcoMachines Ventures, a specialist VC focussed on high-growth opportunities in hardware, industrial high-tech and resource efficiency. Max is a CFA charter-holder and with an MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from Vassar College in New York.

Jake is an investment partner at Vala Capital where he leads Vala’s Sustainability efforts. He is also the founder of Attis Ventures, a specialist sustainability investor and accelerator. Prior to his work with Attis and Vala, Jake was the founder and CEO of Goji, a digital financial services platform that digitalises the asset management industry. Jake is a qualified accountant and has a BSc from the University of Manchester.

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded August 13, 2021

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Today's guest is David Stevenson

Today our guest is David Stevenson who is an experienced investment writer and commentator for publications such as the Financial Times where he has been writing in the adventurous investor column for a number of years, providing insight across a range of emerging trends in the investment markets typically across tech, he has now co-founded the future food finance blog and platform which is a relatively new platform focusing on the food tech revolution.

In this episode we will cover:

Why our food systems are ripe for innovation
Trends David is tracking most closely
How food tech can drive forward the sustainability agenda.

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddleInstagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleaderemail at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

This podcast is kindly sponsored by Vala Capital.

This episode was recorded on the 5th August 2021

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Today's guests are Hannah Leach & Johannes Lenhard

Today as guests we have Hannah Leach from Houghton Street Ventures where she is one of the founding partners, and Johannes Lenhard from Cambridge University where he is a lecturer and researcher specialising in ESG.

On todays episode we've got them on as founding members of venture ESG which in a new community built around a mission to help the VC sector recognise and upskill itself as to the importance of ESG and provide the resources and guidance so that the VC community can really step into this new ESG world.

In this episode we will cover:

Why Hannah and Johannes decided to start Venture ESG
why data is necessary
Just what we mean by ESG in a venture context
Why VC’s are starting to get serious about implementing ESG principles in their processes
why you should be called out if you are not running and ESG fund
Robert Kohn - Impact

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

This podcast is kindly sponsored by Vala Capital.

This episode was recorded on the 23rd July 2021

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Today's guest is Adrien Vincent

Adrien is the Ocean Lead at SYSTEMIQ, he is in particular closely involved with the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (www.oceanpanel.org). He is one of the co-authors of the report "Towards a sustainable ocean economy", commissioned by the Panel.

Adrien is also Programme Director for Seaweed for Europe, a new coalition that aims to accelerate the scaling of a sustainable and innovative seaweed industry in Europe. Seaweed for Europe gathers innovative seaweed start-ups, investment funds, research institutions and international organisations to achieve this goal.

SYSTEMIQ is a new kind of enterprise, created specifically to tackle system failures by mobilizing talent and capital to cultivate, incubate and scale solutions that accelerate system change and deliver improved economic, environmental and social value. We identify and originate opportunities in the energy, land use and circular economy space, deploy talent and capital to projects, de-risk investments and accelerate growth.

In this episode we will cover:

Adrien’s journey to becoming a sustainability leader

The world of seaweed and submarine aquaculture.

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

This podcast is kindly sponsored by Vala Capital.

This episode was recorded on the 26th March 2021

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Today we will be speaking to Tracy Barba who is executive director, Global stakeholder engagement and head of ESG at 500 startups.

500 start-ups are one of the most active and prolific early-stage investors in the world with a pretty unique model when it comes to VE investment having backed over 2400 startups in 75 countries which is a phenomenal impact on the start-up space.

In today’s episode we cover:

Journey to becoming an ESG leader,
What we mean by ESG in a venture context
How 500 start-ups are leading the industry

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

This podcast is kindly sponsored by Vala Capital.

This episode was recorded on the 19th March 2021

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Matthew works as Director of Research and Senior Lecturer at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, within the University of Strathclyde’s Business School.

His research examines the policy and market conditions necessary to accelerate low-carbon energy technology and business model innovation in both new and old systems. He is a co-investigator on UKRI’s £10m EnergyREV consortium on smart, locally-led energy systems, and the UK Energy Research Centre’s Community Energy Finance project.

Matthew has published ‘Financial Times 50’ ranked journal papers, written a book on accelerating low-carbon innovation. His work has received international prizes, been referenced in Parliamentary reports and covered by mainstream media.

He also hosts the 'Local Zero' podcast where he explores the opportunity for having a sustainable impact in your own home or community.

In today’s episode we cover:

State of UKs Net-Zero Ambitions
Key Policy Challenges he Proceeds Emerging from Climate Crisis
New Business Models Led by Local Authorities & Communities
Bringing Power Back to the People
Important Trends he's Following

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

This podcast is kindly sponsored by Vala Capital.

Episode recorded 12th January 2021

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Today guest is Richard Templer Director of Innovation at the Grantham Institute

Richard holds a joint appointment with the Department of Chemistry and the Grantham Institute. He is the Director of Development for Chemistry and the Director of Innovation at the Grantham Institute: Climate Change & Environment. He has worked at the Imperial College of London for 32 years and is the current Hofmann Chair in Chemistry. He is a member of the London Sustainable Development Commission and advisory body to the Mayor of London.

Richard has spent the last decade supporting students, innovators and entrepreneurs addressing the challenges and opportunities of climate change through the creation of cleantech businesses. He co-founded the Climate-KIC in 2010 (stood down in 2015) and more recently has been working on a plan to create a cleantech innovation cluster in London.

In today’s episode we cover:

Training, Coaching & Funding of Start-Ups
Innovation = Ideas Easily Applied
Broadness surrounding Innovation
Government Actions
How we can change the discourse
Buying Decarbonisation & Carbon Credits

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded 24th April, 2021

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Today's guest is Charlie Blair, Managing Director @ Gravitricity

Charlie Blair has been an Innovator in Energy Systems for 15+ years. He always works with technologies that are on their way to major market growth and disruption in the power and heat sectors. He now acts as Managing Director of Gravitricity Ltd, pioneer of underground grid-scale electricity storage.

At Gravitricity they are developing a novel storage technology that offers some of the best characteristics of lithium batteries and pumped storage. Grid-Scale electricity storage spend is projected to grow from around $3 billion per year today to over $50 billion per year by 2040.

The Gravitricity technology operates in the 1MW to 20 MW power range and enables existing grid infrastructure to go further in a renewable energy world and are currently building/built a 250Kw, 50 tonnes, Concept Demonstrator in Leith, Edinburgh.

In today’s episode we cover:

If this works in one place it works everywhere
Energy Storage in 10 years
Storage and moving electricity and fuel
Transition is on

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded 9th April, 2021

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Today's guests are Olly Jones, & Luke Gavin Co-Founders @ Elmo

Instagram - @elmodrive

Twitter - @elmodrive

Elmo is led by founders Oliver Jones (Angel Investment Network; Startup Microdose Podcast) and Luke Gavin (Octopus Energy; Element Energy); and supported by a senior team including CTO Eamonn Gahan (VP Engineering at Acre & Drover) and performance marketer Rod Richmond (exited founder of CleanDigital marketing agency).

Elmo is the world’s first Net Zero electric vehicle subscription platform integrated with the energy ecosystem. Consumers and SMEs can access electric vehicles with no deposit, on flexible monthly contracts, including everything needed to run the car - from insurance to charging.

With Elmos flexible, convenient and digital-first platform, they are accelerating the transition to EVs and reimagining the €384BN EU leasing industry to align with the needs of modern consumers.

After an exciting 2020, they are beginning to scale in 2021, and capitalise on a golden market opportunity to become Europe’s leading electric vehicle subscription service.

In today’s episode we cover:

We always go back to our mission
The mission is to get 10,000 people into an electric car
The Green Dream
Why Cars are actually an expensive way of reducing carbon
How we have to radically change how we live
Making people act on Climate change

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded 2nd April, 2021

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Today's guest is Chris Goodall, Author of 'What We Need To Do Now'. Former chair at ChargePoint Servs, bought by Engie and Investor in cleantech.

Chris Goodall is a businessman, author and climate change and new energies expert. He is the author of different publications; Articles and Analysis, Sustainability: All that Matters, How to Live a Low-carbon Life (2nd Edition), Ten Technologies to Fix Energy and Climate, Green Guide for Business, The Switch and most recently What We Need to do Now (Jan 2020)

A consultant and adviser to investors and companies across the fields of low-carbon energy and the circular economy - Chris works with big NGOs and companies and gives his best advice on how they can become more energy efficient. He had advised Marks and Spencers on community energy and even Helped green peace with the possibility of a 100% switch to LED in the UK. He now invests in young companies in the low carbon world.

He publishes Carbon Commentary, a website and newsletter on energy efficiency and advances in renewables. His most recent publication ‘What we need to Do Now’ offers a clear plan for getting the UK economy to Net Zero within a few decades and looks in turn at each of the main challenges.

Goodall is a strong believer in research and is an optimist about the energy future.

In today’s episode we cover:

The progress we’ve made on convincing people of the urgency of climate change
The Sense of Importance of Climate Change
What Needs to Change to Tackle the Climate Emergency
Policy Changes - Including Carbon tax
The switch to renewable hydrogen by traditional industries

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded 30th March 2021

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Today's guest is Naveed Chaudhry, Co-Founder and Head of The Greenhouse at the Centre for Climate Change Innovation

Naveed Chaudhry is an Investor, Venture Accelerator and has a wide background in the Academic Space. He has made a number of impactful initiatives in the venture and Impacts Investing Space. He now works at the Centre for Climate Change Innovation. Where he co-founded and heads the greenhouse project a climate-focused accelerator, leads climate launchpad, is an advisor to tech nation, A trustee at National energy foundation and is an expert advisor to EU innovation fund and now a partner at Global Accelerator Ventures.

Recently, Naveed co-founded and now runs The Greenhouse, an early-stage (pre-seed) climate-focused innovation programme. At its core, The Greenhouse is a 12-month innovation programme for climate positive technology startups that offers early-stage ("pre-seed") entrepreneurs access to business coaching with experienced professionals, a range of masterclasses, free workspace at our new headquarters in Mayfair, and up to £40,000 in equity-free grant funding.

In today’s episode we cover:

OXGAV
The Greenhouse
Taking Conservation out of Academy into the Commercial Space
Chris Davies
MEP
Commercial Opportunities in Conservation & BioDiversity

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded 25th March, 2021

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Today's guest is Will Wells, Founder & CEO @ Hummingbird Technologies

Follow

Facebook - @TechnologiesHummingbird
Instagram - @hummingbird_technologies
Twitter - @TechHummingbird

Will Wells a previous investment analyst had a vision during a two-year fight with cancer. Now happily recovered, Will is realising that vision through his company Hummingbird Technologies.

Hummingbird Technologies is an artificial intelligence business using drone and satellite technology with the most advanced machine learning and computer vision techniques to deliver actionable insights on crop health. The technology detects and learns changes in crop health, by taking aerial images from drones mounted with custom-made multi-spectral sensors. Resulting in actionable insights into crop health being sent to farmers via an app.

The company is backed by investors including James Dyson and Horizons Ventures and has won numerous awards including the CogX Best AI AgTech Product and the 2019 KPMG Best British Startup.

Enjoy the show!

In today’s episode we cover:

Measuring sustainability from space
Core customer is big business with exposure to farms
Trying to solve huge macro-supply chain problem
Advances in space technology
Monetising sustainability - 4 Years ago
How to raise more money than you need

You can find us on;

twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded 21 March 2021

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Today's guest is Jevan Nagarajah, Co-founder and CEO @ Better Dairy

Jevan Nagarajah has experience across banking and tech. Studying at Imperial College he holds a Mathematics BSc (1st Class Honours) and he has executed retail partnerships at Rocket Internet, building European ops for Ritual.co. He is now the Co-Founder and CEO at Better Dairy a London based start-up developing animal-free dairy products which has recently secured GBP £1.6m (US $2.1m) in seed financing toward RTD costs ahead of its commercial launch planned for early 2022.

Better Dairy uses synthetic biology and yeast fermentation to produce dairy products following a similar process to brewing beer. Their products, make the move to replace traditional dairy products in existing recipes and supply chains seamless. They have taken to the lab and already produced their first results.

Enjoy the show!

In today’s episode we cover:

Dairy isn’t inherently flawed - it's the production process
Dairy 2.0
Opening up the world
How dairy can complement plant-based mylks
VC Sustainability appetites

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded March 19th, 2021

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Today's guest is Jack Wrangham, Founder of Drone Ag
(@dronesforag)

With more than 10 years of drone experience, Jack founded Drone Ag on his family farm in 2015 with the aim of looking at how drone technology could help farming.

Drone Ag enables more productive and sustainable farming through practical drone automation and AI systems.

Drone Ag delivers the Skippy Scout drone-based scouting programme. Fast, efficient, automated scouting & reporting - Skippy Scout uses farmer’s smartphones to fly a drone and collect data at key points in their fields. Then it creates field reports on crop health, problems and progress in minutes.

We're going to be exploring Jack’s journey towards becoming a sustainability leader, dig into the world of agtech and drone-enabled business models, and learn about Drone Ag’s own unique value proposition.

Enjoy the show!

Episode recorded 12th March 2021

In today’s episode we cover:

How measuring soil and plant health is key to modern agriculture.
What Farming will look like in 5 / 10 years
Why we need farmers and scientists to come together on AgTech innovation.
The changing value proposition on farms and the challenge of getting farmers to engage with them
RTK GPS
More info + better decision making
Profit and sustainability
Employment in agriculture
Rewilding

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddleton
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

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Today's guest is Juan Pablo Cerda, CEO & Founder @ Zeigo

Twitter @zeigoenergy
Instagram @zeigoenergy

Juan Pablo is the founder of Zeigo, a London-based technology company at the forefront of renewable energy. He has 15 years of experience working within the energy and environmental sector.

Juan Pablo believes in disrupting the corporate procurement of renewable energy to accelerate the green revolution and contribute to a sustainable future. As an entrepreneur and business founder, he has the vision to achieve a fully decarbonised energy system around the world sooner than 2050.

Zeigo, is a renewable energy platform powered by data & smart technology. It provides companies across the world with a one-stop-shop for all their renewable energy needs from PPAs to short term contracts.

Working to improve efficiency through automation to create liquidity in the market, Zeigo has built an extensive network of renewable energy generators and suppliers. By focusing on scale, they aim to democratise the renewable energy market for companies of all sizes and bring simplicity and transparency to the market.

Zeigo raised £800,000 in its Seed Funding Round led by Naruhisa Nakagawa, founder of Caygan Capital. Zeigo also attracted a second round of investment from new and existing angel investors.

In today’s episode we cover:

The current state of the UK electricity generation market
What are Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) and how can they help the UK decarbonise electricity generation
How Zeigo is revolutionising the PPA market
What the future of electricity generation might look like

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded February 18th, 2021

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Today's guest is Paul Miller, OBE, the Founder and Managing Partner of Bethnal Green Ventures (@rellimluap)

Paul Miller is the CEO and Managing Partner of Bethnal Green Ventures.

Prior to BGV, Paul was an entrepreneur (startup to improve adult education system) and policy advisor. He also currently serves as Chair of Trustees for GoodGym, a non-profit running organisation that combines regular exercise with helping our communities.

Bethnal Green Ventures are Europe’s leading early-stage tech for good VC. They back ambitious founders using technology to tackle big social and environmental problems that aim to radically improve millions of lives. Take 6% of shares for companies going through their accelerator program.

8 years of experience and track record
127 tech for good ventures backed
£80m of follow on investment raised by portfolio
12.3m users of BGV portfolio companies’ products and services
362 people employed by portfolio companies (46% of which are women – well over double tech sector average)

In today’s episode we cover:

Who are Bethnal Green Ventures and what is Tech for Good?
How Bethnal Green works with its startups and its accelerator?
How investing in purpose driven organisations is no longer charitable - they are better businesses, better employers, better value providers
The BGV Investment Thesis
The BGV Portfolio, including how some businesses have thrived through the covid pandemic.
How institutional capital is slowly making its way into the space
How diversity might not be as easy as it looks, but that it should be easier than it is

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Bethnal Green Ventures
Big Society Capital
Dr Doctor
Piclo

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded January 25th, 2021

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Today's guest is Kelsey Lynn Skinner, Partner @ IP Group Plc (@Kelsey_innovate)

Kelsey Lynn Skinner has been a partner at IP Group plc since 2018. Prior to joining IP Group she had acted as a Board Director in a number of venture, tech and angel funds. She spent a decade in Silicon Valley as a venture investor for early-stage and growth technology companies.

Kelsey is a graduate of Stanford University/School of Business Graduate. Kelsey also has a BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering & Thermodynamics from Stanford University, where she played fullback for the National Champions rugby team.

She is honoured by recent awards including "Investment Woman of the Year" from Investment Week and selected as Top 5 "Best Board Director for a Private Company" from the UK Sunday Times.

Kelsey works at IP IP Group Plc is a leading investment manager specialising in commercialising intellectual property by evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into world-changing businesses. IP Group Plc was founded in 2001 and has also launched Offices in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

IP Group has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in approximately 80 early-stage to mature businesses across three main sectors -- Life Sciences, Technology, and Cleantech. The Company is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the code IPO FTSE 250 index with market capitalisation exceeding £1B and Turnover of £1.7B.

IP Group plc is evolving great ideas into world-changing businesses. It addresses some of the world’s most pressing challenges through the companies it backs including @nanopore @FLFusion @CeresPower

The Group provides access to business building expertise, capital, networks, recruitment and business support. Their strength lies in managing this process from finding suitable intellectual property to commercialise to either helping develop businesses and create value out of them, or identifying and establishing appropriate commercial partnerships to do so.

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddleton
instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded February 8th, 2021

In today’s episode we cover:

The difference between the Cleantech 1.0 of the 2000’s and the 2.0 wave of the 2020’s
How venture capital investors think about IP heavy, and asset heavy investments
How boards and NEDs can work with founders to support and challenge them
How diversity helps us to bring more diverse thinking and views to the table, and deliver more empathic impacts
Some of the companies Kelsey has invested in, including Aqdot

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

AQDot
IP Group

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Today's guest is Peter Bachmann, Managing Director and Fund Manager @ Gresham House Plc.

Peter Bachmann is the Fund Manager on the £300m British Strategic Investment Fund with a focus on sustainability infrastructure - infrastructure which helps us live more sustainably.

Prior to joining Gresham House, Peter was at Scottish Equity Partners where we helped deliver a 3x return by investing in promising British Tech scale-ups and infrastructure players.

Gresham House plc is a London Stock Exchange quoted asset manager with £4bn in AUM providing funds, direct investments and tailored investment solutions including co-investment, responsibly and sustainably, across a range of differentiated alternative investment strategies.

Gresham's expertise includes forestry, renewable energy, housing and infrastructure, strategic public and private equity. Gresham House is committed to taking the long view in delivering sustainable investment solutions that will continue to be a growing factor in the strength of our market positioning.

In today’s episode we cover:

Gresham House’s Sustainability Focus and the opportunity for Sustainable Infrastructure
Scaling Infrastructure Investments
Angel investing in the Sustainability space
The importance of Sustainability Outcomes alongside any metrics and disclosure

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Gresham House
Scottish Equity Partners
Woolf University
My Wardrobe HQ
AI.Drivers
Bower Collective

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded January 25th, 2021

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Today's guest is Ben Patten, the CEO and Co-founder @ Good Club Twitter: @BenPatten99

Ben has set up a number of businesses, including Farmdrop. His interests are in sustainability, food and the power of technology to create solutions. He lives in Brixton with his young family and loves healthy eating and swimming in the local lido.

Goodclub offer a zero-emission delivery, zero-waste, ambient goods (think cupboards and pantry) via a monthly membership, online only offering.

GoodClub’s mission is to make sustainable living accessible to everyone. GoodClub believes it's vital to make sustainable products accessible to everyone. Goodclub aims to shorten the supply chain and cut unnecessary overheads so they can improve the access of sustainable goods.

In today’s episode we cover:

Ben’s sustainability journey
The origin’s of GoodClub and their mission to bring sustainability to everyone
How shopping habits are changing and how the big grocers aren’t keeping up
Why now is the time to launch a zero waste offering
The challenges facing retailers and consumers in quantifying sustainability

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

GoodClub
Farmdrop
Loop

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests

Episode recorded December 8th, 2020

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Today's guest is Pippa Gawley, Founder & MD @Zero Carbon Capital (@ZeroCarbonCap)

Pippa is Founder and Managing Director at Zero Carbon Capital, on a mission to address climate change through deep-science, hard-tech innovation. Pippa has a long history in this space and spent the last 4 years as a clean-tech investor in the US and UK. She is an active and passionate member of the impact investing world in the Bay Area, the UK and beyond.

Zero Carbon Capital launched the Zero Carbon Fund (ZCF) in 2020, to bring her experience and thesis to the early stage UK venture scene. ZCF invests in ambitious teams with breakthrough deep-tech ideas that can scale to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least half a gigaton per year. This target helps Pippa’s team filter for businesses that can have the biggest impact towards mitigating climate change - the single biggest challenge of our time.

The team’s vision is “an earth where a good standard of living is enabled for everyone, safely and affordably, with zero carbon emissions; reliable electricity, healthy food, comfortable buildings, responsible industry and effective transportation”

Zero Carbon Capital’s current portfolio comprises 9 diverse startups, several having gone on to raise follow on funds from some of the biggest names in Cleantech, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures in the US.

In today’s episode we cover:

Pippa’s own journey to becoming a climate-tech VC
The complexities and nuances of working with deeptech, IP intensive businesses
The reason Zero Carbon Capital use a half-gigaton emissions reduction hurdle when evaluating startups, and how this works in practice
How the team evaluates and manages a diverse portfolio of teams and technologies
Some of the trends Pippa is excited about, and the ideas Zero Carbon Capital are backing

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded December 8th Jan, 2020

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Today's guest isTessa Clarke, Co-Founder & CEO @OLIO (@TessaLFClarke)

Tessa is CEO and Co-Founder of OLIO, a peer-to-peer food sharing app preventing waste by connecting neighbours in hyperlocal communities. Tessa has been featured in Vogue and listed as a Forbes Top 50 Female Sustainability Leader.

OLIO was born out of a frustration shared by the two Co-founders, who couldn’t understand why it had to be so difficult to avoid sending perfectly good food to landfill. This frustration became a call to action when they began to dig into the problem, and understood what a huge market failure this really was. Between 33-50% of all food produced globally is never eaten, and half of that food waste takes place in people’s homes. With 8.4m people living in food poverty in the UK alone, this just seemed incomprehensible.

OLIO set out on a mission to build a more sustainable future where our most precious resources are shared, not thrown away. The ambition of OLIO is that by 2030 we can halve the food waste in people’s homes and the local community.

OLIO’s food sharing platform empowers users to share surplus food, accelerating the sharing economy mind-set while building local communities.

Since it was founded in 2015, OLIO has signed >2,600,000 users across 49 countries, and is the largest peer-to-peer food sharing network in the world.

In today’s episode we cover:

Tessa’s own journey to becoming a sustainability leader
The complexities and nuances of the global food waste challenge
How OLIO managed to identify users, create a community, and leverage their platform to create sustainable change
OLIO’s own business model, and the challenges faced as well as advantages enjoyed by impact-driven teams
COVID’s effect on food systems and peer-to-peer sharing in the UK, and how OLIO kept its community intact, and even strengthened over the course of 2020

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded December 22nd, 2020

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Today's guest is Jasper, Founder and Managing Partner of Vala Capital.

Jasper has overall responsibility for the Vala Capital Portfolio and typically leads the firm’s efforts to mentor and support the companies they invest in.

He is an entrepreneur who has founded and invested in many companies in the media, technology and engineering sectors. Previous ventures include: Static2358, Electra Entertainment, Optimistic Entertainment Plc, PlayJam, PlayStack and Arksen. He has generated a number of highly successful exits, creating significant shareholder value along the way.

Vala is a group of entrepreneurs who put our heart and soul into helping visionary founders grow their ventures. Vala provides early stage finance to companies that have potential to achieve scale quickly.

They invest in various industries, with a special interest in funding innovation that could make a big difference to sustainability challenges.

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded December 8th, 2020

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Today's show is our introduction to the Venturing into Sustainability podcast and is a discussion between your co-hosts Jake Wombwell-Povey and Max Middleton.

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

Twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
Instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
Email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded December 8th, 2020

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Today's guest is Mike Penrose, Founder @ The Sustainability Group (@PenroseMike)

Mike is Founder and Chief Executive of the Sustainability Group.

Mike set up the Sustainability Group to make sustainability and social purpose a core part of how businesses and investors plan for the future.

Mike currently advises a number of large businesses, family offices, sporting organizations and financial institutions on how to make sustainability and social purpose an integral part of their business and investment strategies.

Their goal at The Sustainability Group is to bring to life a word that means different things to different people and make sustainability tangible. Their vision is to enable businesses and philanthropists to achieve real social impact whilst also being successful.

Prior to setting up the Sustainability Group Mike was Executive Director of Unicef UK, CEO of Action Contre Le Faim in Paris and Global Humanitarian Director at Save the Children.

Mike has a well-established track record in the commercial, humanitarian and development sectors, with 25 years’ experience working in aid and development as well as risk, crisis and disaster management in more than 60 countries.

Mike’s experience of crisis and emergency response is extensive and has included consultant deployments as Head of Operations for the UN WHO in Banda Aceh for the Tsunami response, Crisis Management Advisor for the Torino Winter Olympics, UK Government Department For International Development Operations advisor in numerous emergencies, including Iraq 2003 and the Pakistan earthquake in 2005, and as the Evacuation Team Leader for the inter-governmental civilian evacuations of Lebanon 2006, Guinea 2007 and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2007. Mike has also advised many large commercial organisations on how to operate effectively and ethically in fragile environments.

A former hostage, having been Kidnapped in Chechnya in 1996, Mike also occasionally works as a trauma councillor for other former hostages and their families.

In today’s episode we cover:

What Sustainability means to Mike and what it should mean to business leaders
How embracing Sustainability is not only the best way forward, but the only way forward
How Sustainability is about more than just measurement…but about a culture which needs to be embraced and embodied at the very top of organisations
How, when things change when, capital is contingent upon it and customers demand it - sustainability is currently that change and so the future may be brighter than we fear

Enjoy the show!

You can find us on;

twitter @Jwombwellpovey or @mhmiddle
instagram @venturingintosustainability and @_theconsciousleader
email at jake@venturingintosustainability.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded December 11th, 2020

Venturing Into Sustainability: Recent Episodes

Jake Wombwell Povey & Max Middleton