Ep 8: Climate Tech Investing 101: How is Europe’s biggest climate tech VC deploying high-risk capital to undo the climate change crisis?

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'?

For a momentous & thrilling episode on understanding the successful approach of high-risk tech investing in combatting the climate change crises, our host at Waheed Rahman (@iwaheedo) 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

Follow our host Waheed Rahman (@iwaheedo) for more updates on tech, civilizational growth, progress studies, and emerging markets.

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 clean tech

(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

Read the episode transcript here

Shownotes :

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In the spring of 2017, Project Drawdown released its inaugural body of work on climate solutions with the publication of the New York Times bestselling book Drawdown.

"Drawdown has become a seminal text on climate solutions, drawing on humanity’s collective wisdom about the practices and technologies that can begin to reverse the buildup of atmospheric carbon by mid-century."

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