The Climatetech Founder’s Podcast

At 300,000 dollars, the world’s first lab-grown meat burger may have been the most expensive piece of meat ever produced. That was in 2013 – it proved that we can grow meat in a lab, but the cost, engineering, and biological challenges meant that cultivated meat was a far cry from being a viable alternative for supermarkets.10 years on, that’s all changed. For the first time, the science behind cell cultivation has progressed to the point where mass production and consumption of meat from cultivated cells is possible at a price point that’s on par with traditionally farmed meat.An Israel-based biotechnology company Pluri, is at the heart of this transformation. In 2022, Pluri established a joint venture with Tnuva, Israel’s largest food producer, Ever After Foods, to utilize Pluri’s technology to create a pathway to bringing cultivated meat to the consumer market. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A warm welcome to the 40 new subscribers who have joined since the last edition! If you haven’t subscribed, sign up below to join a network of over 2,850 climate tech entrepreneurs and investors. The Green Techpreneur (GT) is a comprehensive platform with a marketplace and magazine to help your climate startup raise funds and gain the actionable insight you need to make your mark on the planet.Investors take note!! We have a fantastic opportunity for you below to make money while making a real difference in empowering Sustainable Finance, Trade, Energy, Money & Community. Find out more below.In tough-to-disrupt industries, going for size and scale can sometimes be the only way to truly rewrite norms and shake up supply chains that are at odds with people and planet.This was the realisation that green techpreneur Boris Wullner Garces, CEO at Green Coffee Company (GCC) – Colombia’s largest producer of Arabica coffee – came to in 2021 when he set out on a scale up journey: “value share is very important for us: everything we do, we are not only doing for us as a company, we are also doing it for the coffee growers. We’re getting away from intermediaries and going directly to the consumer so we can pay a better price to farmers. But to do this, you have to have scale.”Despite the coffee sector acting on sustainability initiatives, commercial practices still often exploit farmers with only 10% of coffee’s total value staying in the countries of origin. The coffee market is largely steeped in a power imbalance where coffee farmers are disempowered by intermediaries who control access to buyers and take the majority share of profits, while the coffee farmers are often left struggling to pay for education and healthcare. “If you can buy green coffee at $1.09 per pound, and the roasters are selling you a bag of roasted coffee in the U.S. at $12.99 in the supermarket and it is only 12 ounces, who’s getting the money? Not the growers and they’re the ones doing everything,” says Boris.In six short years since it’s founding in 2017, Columbia-based Green Coffee Company has not just grown into one of the largest coffee producers in the world, it has been on a fast-track growth journey to cut out intermediaries, disrupt, reshape, own and green every aspect of its supply chain. “We’re thinking completely outside of the box: we are being disruptive at every step of the chain, from the nursery to the dry and wet milling to the roasting. We’re reducing our operating costs all across the chain….we’re attacking all the old parts of the chain that normally are not tackled by growers. Today, GCC has more than 12.5 million coffee trees. Its size and scale gives it the bandwidth to successfully disrupt an often exploitative industry and its proving that the green economy is also better for business.It implements cost-saving, cutting-edge technologies to green its supply chain and is a circular economy pioneer, adding new product lines by repurposing coffee cherry waste to produce ethanol (used in gin/vodka) and cascava flour. “The company generates something very important in the agricultural sector: a mirror effect,” explains Marcela Urueña, Colombian government chief advisor for coffee affairs."I see them as an 'anchor producer' that sets the coffee business dynamics in the area …from delivering information about technologies to centralising purchases of fertilisers to get better prices for all producers around the region, sharing these economic benefits with all the small producers and coffee farmers around GCC. It is a truthful generator of enriched social networks that should lead to social and economic stability in the region where it is located."GCC has already raised a total of $65 million of equity, and is currently seeking $65 million of institutional debt capital to execute expansion plans. By 2026, the company projects it will be in a position to launch a U.S. IPO exit.Here’s a look at what it took to scale up and transform supply chains to put social and climate justice into the heart of your next brew. How did you first get involved with GCC?I'm a biological systems engineer. I've always been involved with agriculture. I spent over a decade working in the Colombian flower business, primarily in sales and marketing. Following that, I led Invest in Bogota, a startup incubator focused on bringing international business to the region. Before joining GCC, I held a position at a university as the Vice Dean for Biological Systems Engineering. I also took on consultancy roles and helped the Colombian palm oil industry improve their sustainability efforts.When I was invited to join GCC in 2020, we talked extensively about the transformative changes they envisioned for the industry, I thought, ‘this is what I've been waiting for.’ We discussed the goal of becoming a highly profitable yet inclusive company. It seemed like the only way to change the culture in Colombia and provide growers with a sustainable income. These past 3.5 years with the company have been nothing short of amazing. We've accomplished so much.How are you disrupting norms in coffee production? We own the entire supply chain, the roasting, milling, byproduct and harvesting processes and then we go direct to consumers into mass market supermarkets in the U.S. and around the world. We've been completely reimagining our approach to production. When we first embarked on this journey, the wet mills in the coffee industry felt like a trip back in time to the 1910s and 1920s. Today, we have state-of-the-art mills, fully optimised with cutting-edge technology. This transformation ensures not only profitability but also consistency, which we've incorporated into every step of our supply chain. We're disrupting the nursery process, we're disrupting wet milling, and we're even disrupting dry milling.Sophisticated processing machinery in GCC’s wet mills recycles water so it uses just 0.3 liters of water per pound of green coffee compared to 20 liters per pound used in traditional processes.We reuse coffee waste to create new product lines We take a close look at every point where waste is generated and explore ways to turn that waste into an additional industrial benefit or reduce its environmental impact. To produce one kilogram of coffee, you typically need five kilograms of cherries. Out of these five kilograms, approximately 2.5 kilos are considered waste or Cherry Cascara. We ferment and press the Cherry Cascara to extract cherry juice, which is rich in sugars. Through fermentation, we produce pure neutral ethanol. This ethanol will be available for commercial use next year, potentially in the form of spirits like vodka or gin. We also use the cascara to produce baking flour.We’re exploring using the waste from our fermentation process; drying the waste material and subjecting it to a pyrolysis system, which would allow us to create biochar and generate energy.Worker benefits100% of our workers are formally employed with benefits and health insurance and they only work five days a week, 40 hours - not 7 days a week like all other growers in the area. Cutting out intermediariesOur journey began with internal sales to exporters in Colombia. Later, we expanded our reach by selling directly to U.S. importers. Last year, we introduced our green coffee brand to the European market, started a pilot programme to sell our specialty coffee brand online, and we're making steps to offer white-label products in the U.S.. We now have complete control of the supply chain and expect to sell millions of pounds of roasted coffee by year-end.What’s ahead for your supply chain expansion plans?We're diligently working on the necessary preparations to sell roasted coffee in the US: including hiring a sales representative, establishing a delivery structure, and ensuring we have all the right resources in place to sell directly to supermarkets.We're taking a deliberate and careful approach to prevent any disruptions in our relationships. Building and maintaining strong relationships, especially with supermarkets, is crucial. We want to ensure that when we establish these relationships, we have a seamless supply of products without any hiccups. Our strategy involves careful planning, relationship building, and steady growth as we continue to expand our presence in the coffee market.What has been the hardest part of the innovation journey?In Colombia, coffee growers are not accustomed to using a centralised wet milling facility. Instead, each producer has their own small, technologically dated wet mill, resulting in low efficiency. Convincing them to sell their cherries to a central facility to improve traceability, consistency, and quality was initially challenging because they weren't prepared for such a change. It took two years of training and teaching. This process has involved a complex cultural shift, as we needed to explain our approach and change how we communicate information to these growers. Changing established cultural practices has been a challenging aspect of this endeavour, but it's ultimately proving successful.Change requires audacity What drives me and our team is determination, particularly when it comes to leveraging technology and adopting a circular economy approach. As a biological systems engineer, I have a knack for identifying ways to transform one thing into another. When I spot opportunities, I act swiftly, but it requires a strong sense of determination. Our company culture thrives on constantly seeking ways to improve and disrupt the norm. What does the future hold?We weigh in on the cost of an investment, but if we see a compelling opportunity, such as the distillery project, where we're investing $8 million, it's a no-brainer investment because we anticipate recovering our investment in less than two years. For us, it's about seizing these opportunities and moving forward.Our ultimate goal is to create a fully automated roasting process. This project represents a significant investment, totalling around $25 to $26 million.Whats your mantra or life philosophy?My faith as a Catholic deeply influences my approach to life. I believe in striving for excellence in everything I do. My motivation comes from my desire to lead a life that aligns with my faith, aspiring to be a better person and ultimately seeking a place in heaven.In my professional endeavours, I always aim to do my very best, delivering the highest quality of work possible. As a family man, I endeavour to be the best husband and father possible. When I was a kid, my Father always told us – and he was a very good guide – that regardless of your role, even if you're a garbage collector, always strive to be the best at what you do. This principle has become my personal mantra. I approach life with passion and give my absolute best. ………………………….If Boris could teleport himself into the future, and be anywhere, doing anything he’d be “doing the same thing, putting all my effort into what I have been fighting for – shared value – giving the community back what they are giving to me.”Further Reading:Harmony is Finally Coming to the Carbon Markets: How This Marketplace Platform Delivers ClarityMeet the College Graduates Bringing Breakthrough Solutions to End Fast Fashion Waste.How to Scale a Niche Product While Navigating Being Business and Life PartnersMake a ConnectionWhether you’d like to find a mentor, an employee, a job, a business partnership, or just meet someone new over a virtual coffee who’s just as passionate about building greentech businesses – hit the button below and I’ll post a shout out for you in the next newsletter.Thank you for reading and listening to The Green Techpreneur.Have a great weekend! 🥂#SparkTheTransition,MarianneP.S. If you enjoy reading the GT, please share this article to help spread the word! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegreentechpreneur.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A warm welcome to the 60 new subscribers who have joined since the last edition!If you haven’t subscribed yet, sign up below to join a network of 2,730 climate tech entrepreneurs and investors. The Green Techpreneur (GT) will provide you with the actionable insight and connections you need to make your mark on the planet with your business!In this Green Techpreneur episode, I spoke to the Co-founders of Gimme Seaweed to share how their journey of infusing passion, love, and a personal touch - connecting with customers as you would with friends and family - became keys to growing a household name brand that’s both delicious, nutritious and good for the planet.“I’ll never forget that feeling I had, in the early morning, it was 6 a.m., I was 35 and at the farmers market and feeling like I was in charge of my life and about to go on this very refreshing journey. And that became Annie Chun’s and the start of all that transpired. It was based on really wanting to be myself and sharing the love and experience that I have. Based on this, I always make sure to connect with myself, who I am, and what I have learned.”Annie Chun is the pioneer of an organic seaweed US snack brand, Gimme Seaweed, that has shifted what was a niche product into the mainstream market. She immigrated from Korea as a young woman in 1976 - but it was in selling homemade produce at a farmers market in 1991 that she found her North Star as a green techpreneur. At the time, she would never have imagined that her humble outdoor market beginnings would lead to building a household brand name.So how did she beat the odds to build an exceptional business from the ground up?“You're not really calculating, I'm going to put that into the US market, I did it truly as a friend, as a neighbour, one by one. And by doing so, I learnt a lot about what American culture is, how they connect, what they like. It just came to me naturally through that experience, and I think that's the base of our reach to our market and our buyers.”Along the way, she met her husband and co-founder, Steve Broad. They launched Gimme Seaweed in 2012, where Annie brings her Korean roots to the US with the introduction of seaweed as a snack. Together, they created the world’s first USDA Certified Organic, non-GMO Project Verified seaweed snacks.“I couldn't have built the business by myself,” says Chun. “It was almost like that was the path we had to walk together.”Seaweed is the underrated story of our time – it’s the ultimate regenerative crop – and along with shellfish, it’s one of the few farmed foods with a net positive environmental impact. In a world of water scarcity, it provides valuable nutrition without use of freshwater, and if farmed organically, it helps keep the oceans clean and fights climate change. Seaweed farms sequester carbon and improve water quality: one ton of seaweed can sequester over 1 ton of CO2 annually – a stark contrast to the heavy toll traditional agriculture takes on the environment. But it’s also a commercial success story: since 2018 the seaweed category has grown by 63% with strong double-digit growth YOY.Today, Gimme is on track to double its business sales since 2021 and deliver 40% year on year growth. It’s the #1 organic seaweed brand leading the way in online channel sales with a 60% category share on Amazon and can be found at major US and Canadian retailers including Wholefoods, Kroger, Publix, Target, Safeway, Sprouts and HEB. What sustainability practices does Gimme Seaweed employ?Annie: Our commitment to sustainability starts in the ocean, Gimme was the first US company to offer organic, non-GMO seaweed.  We worked closely with seaweed farmers in South Korea and in close cooperation with the Korean National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives to develop the standard for organic, non-GMO seaweed that is widely used today by the industry.It was a lot of work for us to coordinate between the Korean Control Union and the USDA and then to find a supplier – because organic wasn't in the vocabulary in Korea, nor non-GMO, and it took a lot of time. In recognition for helping transform the seaweed industry we received a Supplier of the Year Award for Organic Commitment from Whole Foods Market. We use 250 tons of dried seaweed a year which requires 2,500 tons of wet seaweed, this absorbs 4,265 tons of CO2 per year.How were you able to take a niche product and introduce it in a mainstream market?Steve: Understand what you have as a product and understand where the consumer is and what they're seeking and how you bring that together.* What helped us was starting at the farmers market and directly speaking to the consumer as opposed to just looking at a data story and then figuring out what needs to happen.* Then you create the brand with the values you embody to create that consumer love that's really where the magic happens. * We built a brand that was more mainstream than the seaweed market had previously been.Annie: It's been a great journey. Finding myself, connecting with people, and sharing my passion and love. The customers teach me a lot as well. It's just a cycle of learning.Where there key moments that were pivotal to your success?Steve: It took luck meets hard work opportunities to get it going.Annie: When we first started, I was the creator, and Steve was a business partner. I was also the salesperson making cold calls. There are times when it is very challenging to persuade the buyer even if you know you're doing the right thing. You get a lot of rejections and then you run into someone who just helps you right there. If I didn’t walk this path, I would not have had the break. You encounter a lot of rejection and failure, but it’s not failure, because you just get up and keep walking that path again and again – it may take you four or five years, but then the door opens for you. Here's what I learned: no matter what happens, you need to walk on that path, then you will have a break, and failure is not a bad thing because you make your situation much better from that learning.How do you navigate being both business and life partners?Annie: It's essential to have a common goal. You almost have to be one person even if you're two separate people. You have to ask if beyond marriage and beyond business, just as individuals, ‘can we walk this path together if we have a common goal?’It certainly hasn't been easy but we've known each other for 35 years now, we have two beautiful grown up kids – young adults - and two businesses. So one can only imagine lots of ups and downs and tears and sweat but it's important to see that light at the end of the tunnel, and that is the goal that you have, and then we can just walk the path together. And we're actually best friends, we think alike.        Steve: It’s certainly love and mutual respect and we also have complementary skills, it’s bringing these things together where the genesis happens.What do you love most about what you do?Annie: Seeing people enjoy the product is a blessing. It’s also amazing to see the wide range of ethnicities that enjoy the seaweed and how it makes a difference in bringing healthy nutrition into American diets – especially for children. What advice would you give to other green techpreneurs?Steve: Make sure you're in touch with what the actual economics are of what you're trying to do and ask, ‘what's that market going to look like?’ It's easy to jump in and then all of a sudden you're spending money and then you don’t have an understanding of what the future is, where you're trying to be, or what you need to accomplish. That economic/financial piece is always tricky. Also knowing what kind of capital you bring in and how it might support you or not after you put in so much hard work to get to a certain place. Have the answers, but without trying to constrain yourself, because you know what the answer is, if you don’t get started.How would you describe your journey in 3 words?Steve: Amazing, challenging, rewardingAnnie: Dream, visualise, work hardWhat’s your mantra or life philosophy?Steve: Work hard, respect others, listen and learn constantly. Appreciate others, from your suppliers to your employees to your customers.Annie: In the past seven years or so, through my journey, I had to learn to be patient and try to take the higher road.Do you have any daily rituals that keep you grounded?Annie: I normally play with my dog – she makes me run around and throw balls on her walk. I try to walk every day and I remind myself ‘I’m good in this moment’, and I just focus on this moment and on now.……………...if Annie and Steve could teleport themselves into the future and be anywhere, doing anything, they’d be in Italy or Hawaii; “we’d have a difficult time choosing one or the other,” says Annie, “I’d learn to cook, learn to surf, learn to paint. I love how warm and hospitable people are, I’d love to share that and learn about their cultures and I’d love to explore…we haven’t gone to New Zealand or Australia yet.”The proof is in the pudding:Thank you for reading and listening to The Green Techpreneur.Have a great weekend! 🥂#SparkTheTransition,MarianneP.S. If you enjoy reading the GT, please share this article to help spread the word! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegreentechpreneur.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A warm welcome to the 50 new subscribers who have joined since the last edition!If you haven’t subscribed yet, sign up below to join a network of 2,600 climate tech entrepreneurs and investors. The Green Techpreneur (GT) will provide you with the actionable insight and connections you need to make your mark on the planet with your business!If you’re a climate tech startup raising funds, we can connect you with a global investor database of 2,000+ proven climate tech investors. Learn more here and contact us today!In this Green Techpreneur edition I spoke to Going Green Media to share their insight on how to effectively communicate your climate innovation with the world and gain customers and loyal followers!For climate tech businesses that want to connect with consumers and inspire action, creating compelling stories online is a crucial marketing tool. Going Green Media is a growing media platform that does just that.Founded by a creative duo –Ben Brown and Ciara Doyle – the project boasts over 200,000 Instagram followers and creates inspiring films that showcase innovative green projects around the world.Like many Green Techpreneurs, Ben founded the business out of a frustration with the status quo: “I was a student of architecture and getting really frustrated with lecturers talking about modernist designs with no sustainability credentials. So I bought a second hand camera and travelled to locations to film sustainable building projects, in the hope it would encourage the lecturers on his architecture course to teach the principles of environmentally-friendly construction.”Little did he know the initiative would change the course of his life – “it became a viral hit on Youtube, and I realised it wasn’t just the architecture space that needs to get up to speed on environmental innovation, it’s the whole world.”Ciara joined Going Green Media in 2020, and the brand has since steadily grown, working alongside organisations as varied as the WWF, Mastercard and The Olympics.“We film green projects that inspire action,” says Ciara, “we go visit climate tech projects and allow them to tell their story. We translate often very high-tech projects and make the average person understand them and get excited about them.”Winning followers and fans online is especially important for climate tech startups that want to connect with Gen Z and Millennials: according to a 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center, this demographic is far more likely to care about environmental issues than previous generations. They’re also more likely to engage with sustainability content on social media: some 56% of Gen Z reported seeing at least two posts on climate action during their weekly scrolling, with 45% of respondents in that age group engaging with the content.Ben and Ciara share what it takes to communicate effectively and build community in a virtual world.What are the goals of Going Green Media?Ciara: Our tagline is: ‘We film green projects that inspire action’. We are fortunate enough to find incredible green solutions from around the world, whether it’s an organisation or an individual who has come up with a solution to a big climate problem and help them tell their story using video.The second part of our business model is to inspire people to take action for the environment in their own lives and get involved in their community in any way they can.Ben: We feel like a lot of the climate news out there is so negative. That’s why all the content we produce is hopeful and inspiring. And that’s why we feel we’ve been able to have this success so fast, because people want to see content that makes them feel hopeful and like a better solution is possible.What’s a project you’ve worked on that stands out?Ciara: One big moment was back in early 2021. We went to visit a small greentech startup called NotPLA. They were making plastic alternatives from seaweed.It was a really small team at the time. They were in a little office but they were so knowledgeable. Fast forward to the end of 2022, they won the Earthshot prize, which granted them a million pounds toward their project.It’s those incredible startup transformations and journeys that are so amazing, and we hope we played a part in that.What are your tips on creating content and growing online?Make your content personable and accessibleBen: The most successful climate tech startup stories that we’ve seen have made their content personable and accessible. So, taking a wider perspective and looking at ‘what is the problem we’re trying to solve? And then relaying that by breaking it down for people, making it easy to understand, so it’s not in this complex language.Connect your service or product to an individual personCiara: Put a person behind [your product] and say: ‘this is how I use it in my daily life’, or, ‘this is what it’s done for me’. Make that connection to how the product benefits the individual.Collaborate as much as possibleCiara: I think collaboration is undervalued. If you have a niche, find someone else who is doing something similar. That collaboration obviously isn’t only good for reaching new audiences and reaching new people, but also puts you in touch with more like minded people.Ben: People in this space tend to be so welcoming; everybody’s working towards the same goal. We all want to make the biggest impact possible: reach out to other companies, influencers or content creators that are in these niches and collaborate on content and cross-promotion.Passion and enthusiasm matter more than perfectionBen: The first videos I created connected with people, I didn’t have the production quality, but they saw the enthusiasm was there. People connect with passion more than perfection in content.Make the algorithm work for youBen: Follow the trends that are happening on social media. The algorithms are constantly changing, so you have to make them work for you. If you’ve been posting images for a long time and you’ve not seen it working, stop and change that. Reels on Instagram are just blowing up for both creators and businesses right now.Build community through consistency and mutual engagementBen: Make sure you’re active on your stories – share the real aspects of your life to build connection and community.Ciara: Building a community around your brand is so important, whether you’re an individual or a huge team. Engage with your followers, if they comment, respond, start a conversation.What’s the biggest mistake you see startups making on social media?Ben: The biggest mistake is making things too complex in explaining your topics, or not putting a person behind a story.Ciara: Keeping it simple is the most important thing. As a creator, or as a business on social media, you have to create the type of content that you yourself would want to see or that you would want to take action from.Do you have a mantra or life philosophy you follow?Ben: Leave the earth better than you found it.Ciara: We don’t need ten perfect, sustainable people doing absolutely everything they can for the planet. We need millions and millions, and billions of people living sustainably but imperfectly.We’re human, we’re imperfect. It’s about having that little voice in the back of your head pushing you to be a little bit more conscious in your day-to-day life that makes such a difference long-term.What daily rituals keep you grounded?Ciara: We fortunately have a park in our neighbourhood. At the end of a really long day, even if we have a million things that we have to do, we take 15 minutes to go outside. We have a favourite bench that we like to sit on. So we’ll go back to the bench, just breathe a little bit and then come back to it.What does the future hold?Ben: I’d love to get into documentary filmmaking and long form content, maybe getting into Netflix and the biggest streaming services.Ciara: Our dream is to be that point of reference for people, if they’re having a bad day, or they’re feeling really weighed down by not just the climate crisis, but the news in general. We’d love to be a place where they can get some inspiration and feel hopeful again.💥 Find out how you can stand out to attract enquiries & investors…For details visit...becomemorevisible and book a call.Check out these pre-vetted startups seeking investmentINVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY – From The Green Techpreneur MarketplaceGreentech Innovators has already secured $10 million in phase II funding, they are now asking for 750,000 Euros in convertible loan note to match grant funding of 750,000 and a tax grant of 19%.PRODUCT: We use food waste to produce a growth media used for fermentation for production of micro-algae high in omega-3 oil and protein that can substitute fish oil. We act as a service provider for waste companies and charge a gate fee for the raw-material we use. Learn more here.Ourobio is a synthetic biology and circular economy company. We're using fermentation to turn agricultural byproducts into low-footprint biodegradable plastic resins and colorants. We are currently looking for partners interested in adopting more sustainable materials and waste management practices and investors for our current and future round(s). Please check out our site and reach out if you are interested in learning more!Further reading:Failure is not Failure, but being Foolhardy can be Your DownfallThe Green Techpreneur is Partnering with Climate Marketplace to help Climate Startups FundraiseFollow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.If you enjoy reading the GT, please share this article to help spread the word!Thank you for reading and listening to The Green Techpreneur.Have a great weekend! 🥂#SparkTheTransition,Marianne This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegreentechpreneur.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A warm welcome to the 112 new subscribers who have joined since the last edition!If you’re reading this and haven’t subscribed, sign up below to join a high-value network of 2,300 climate tech entrepreneurs, industry leaders and investors.The Green Techpreneur (GT) will provide you with the tools, resources and connections you need to make your mark on the planet with your climate tech business! Every other week, I interview extraordinary climate tech entrepreneurs, investors and sustainability experts to share practical advice on how to build, grow, and thrive. Follow the GT podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.As an architect from Syria, Anas da Kassas, Founder and CEO of INOVUES, has come a long way. His journey into green techpreneurship took him from Damascus to Dubai where he worked in architectural facade engineering and manufacturing before moving to Boston to get a Master’s degree in architecture. Along the way, Anas caught the entrepreneurial bug. He wanted to create scaleable solutions for buildings that could help tackle the climate crisis: “the problem for me was that you invest several years in every project, but it's a one-off prototype. You go to the next project and you face the same challenges again.He was staring out the window of his apartment, brainstorming ideas that could have a big impact, when the window itself became his source of inspiration: “I thought, ‘what if there was a way to transform these windows into smart systems without having to remove or replace anything at all? I was thinking about ideas from my multidisciplinary experience in architecture and facade engineering.”That was the day INOVUES –  innovative views – was born. Anas’ idea has since grown into a multiple-award winning startup that has already participated in several accelerators including Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy and is ready to take on a global $9.5 trillion market opportunity for more energy-efficient buildings. It's the only patented solution in its class that can transform building facades with the latest energy-saving and smart glass innovations without rebuilding or replacing any parts. INOVUES retrofits a second window pane to existing windows using adhesive structural material, creating a 10x cost reduction compared to existing methods, and reducing energy inefficiency of buildings by up to 40%. And with the push of the energy crisis and inflation putting pressure on energy costs and the strong pull of incentives from the US’ Inflation Reduction Act or the European Green Deal’s energy efficiency directive which requires EU countries to collectively reduce energy consumption by 9% by 2030. Anas is bringing a right place, right time, solution to conquer a real estate retrofit market that’s largely untapped.How does your solution work?We don't use mechanical fasteners in our system, we rely on structural glazing materials. The system integrates with the existing facade and does not require drilling or altering anything. It's a very clean and easy installation process, we can add a window to create double pane windows.We use 70% fewer materials compared to existing methods and prefabricate the system off-site so installation costs are cut by up to 80%, reducing the total cost of window upgrades buy up to 10 times.We’re pushing the boundaries of facade engineering on many aspects…transparent photovoltaic or dynamic tinting or vacuum insulated glass. All of these now can be available for existing buildings at a fraction of the usual cost. There’s no disruption, and no need to replace anything. How big is the market opportunity?Experts estimate that about 40% of all US buildings still have single pane windows and a lot more have low performing double pane windows, so 70% of existing building stock is in need of an upgrade. Globally, there are estimates that this is a $9.5 trillion market opportunity. The potential impact on the climate and carbon reduction is huge because windows account for up to 40% of the energy loss in buildings.Through our installations, we're reducing carbon emissions by 100 tonnes annually, and the potential impact, at scale, is close to half a giga tonne to a giga tonne of reduced emissions.These efficiencies means we can disrupt the built environment which has been painfully slow to retrofit ageing infrastructure in commercial real estate. INOVUES has already installed upgrades for leading industry players like Saint-Gobain, 3M and the University of Minnesota. 2022 was our breakout year. We finished some major pilots and got $50 million of potential projects in our pipeline. What were the make or break moments you faced in getting started?I had quite my job in Boston and moved to Houston so spend 1 year doing my architectural Master thesis on the INOVUES idea. That got me a year to devote full-time to it, but I was not making any money. We moved in with family to cut costs to almost nothing. But after a year, I told my wife: ‘if by the end of the next month, we don't secure any funding, I'll stop and put this on the back burner and find a job.’ At that point, I was ready to give up, although it's not part of my personality or nature to do that, but it was too challenging to continue alone without any sort of funding. My wife was fully supportive of this, it made me able to push through these tough moments. She acted as my co-founder in the early days, she was the primary person I would talk to about any challenges or pain points.The first 2-3 years was purely R&D on a shoestring budgetThere was literally blood, sweat and tears at almost every step of the process of the R&D phase. It was on a very, very tight budget, almost bootstrapping. There where moments where you spend a year or more of work then know that everything could fall apart because the next few tests are very important. And if I failed in the test, I didn’t have the money to repeat the tests. And that would’ve been a kill switch to the entire thing. Imagine devoting time, resources and everything you have for two years, and then there's this key test that you're waiting for. And if it passes and succeeds, we're moving forward, if not, I’m going back to finding a job in the industry and starting over. There were a lot of these moments.How did you first secure funding?Being a foreigner who came to the US, I didn't have the network here. My English is much better now than it was a few years ago, but imagine trying to explain what you're trying to do as a foreigner asking people to trust you and give you money. It was very hard and we started small. I went through the Cleantech Open accelerator programme and one of the advisors wrote our first check and then more people followed him. He’s on our board of directors now and has invested five times. I tell him ‘you’re a true angel investor in the literal meaning of the word.’ Because without that first check, there would be no interview today. It was a $50,000 check that enabled me to fund the next few months and build the first system and pass the first test and then get the funding from other angel investors. And then we won the International Award from Cleantech Open which gave us more validation.How do you keep your team engaged and focused on the mission as you grow?TransparencyIt's very important to keep everyone involved in everything that is happening in the company and tell them where we are, what kind of challenges we have and how everyone's role make a significant impact on the overall mission.TrustTrusting people to be leaders in their roles and giving them authority and ownership of what they're doing. What’s ahead for INOVUES?We're looking to raise a $10 million Series A in the next few months to scale up our team and operations so we can execute on multimillion dollar projects in our pipeline. We're excited about 2023 and 2024.What’s your mantra or life philosophy?I'm an eternal optimist. I believe in the Law of Attraction, so I'm always positive. I belief that with hard work and dedication anything is possible.What daily rituals help to keep you grounded?Meditation and exercise. These are very, very important to me on a daily basis. Without them, I wouldn't be able to push forward.Is there a mentor or role model who has been highly influential?My Dad was a true entrepreneur and I watched him push forward on new ideas and new solutions and new businesses throughout his life. And I worked with him in multiple phases, so I experienced exactly what it takes to bring ideas to fruition.If you could teleport yourself into the future and be anywhere, doing anything, where would you be and why?I want to leave an impact on the built environment world and have the resources to work on a few things related to my home country, improving education and improving the situation in Syria to make things better for future generations.Would you like to support the GT and place an ad?Consider becoming a GT Patreon for just $100 a year or $10 a month.Further ReadingIn case you missed it, check out these recent fascinating GT interviews…An Inside Look at How Flashfood Revolutionised the Grocery Shopping IndustryWhy Imperial College Launched a Climatetech Pre-acceleratorHow to Work With Sustainability InfluencersAnd here’s one from my Forbes column:Going Global: 4 Considerations for European Climatetech Startups Seeking Media Coverage in the US Check out the latest climatetech jobs from our friends at Work in GreenThank you for reading and listening to The Green Techpreneur.Have a great weekend! 🥂#SparkTheTransition This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegreentechpreneur.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A warm welcome to the 53 new subscribers who have joined since the last edition!If you’re reading this and haven’t subscribed, sign up below to join a high-value network of 2,200 climate tech entrepreneurs, industry leaders and investors.The Green Techpreneur (GT) will provide you with the tools, resources and connections you need to make your mark on the planet with your climate tech business! Every other week, I interview extraordinary climate tech entrepreneurs, investors and sustainability experts to share practical advice on how to build, grow, and thrive. Follow the GT podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Hello there 👋🏼Before we launch into today’s episode, I wanted to share a couple of ways The Green Techpreneur can help you:We can help you with: * personalised support and coaching to help you prepare for and find investors * a website makeover/upgrade. Or a new website, if you need one.* amplifying and growing your LinkedIn presence – get a personalised and easy-to-implement strategy or buy our LinkedIn for Sustainability Leaders course here. * telling your founder story – nothing connects people more strongly to your business than hearing about where you came from!* place an ad on The GT website and newsletter by purchasing GT membership.* We’ve put together a checklist to help you assess if you’re investment-fit:GT Collaboration OpportunityWe’re looking platform sponsors who want to get in front of the climatetech startup/investor ecosystem to collaborate on content and promotions over a 6-month period. It would suit a climate tech investor, accelerator, or a B2B climate tech business. Get in touch at: marianne@thegreentechpreneur.uk Flashfood is on Fast Company's annual list of the world's most Innovative Companies for 2023, coming in at first place for Social Good. The Canada-born startup tackles food waste with a digital marketplace and app that alerts consumers to discounted and near end-of-date food products. Customers can buy bargains directly through the app and then do a same-day pick up from a Flashfood designated store zone. Within 7 years since inception, the concept has spread to 1,600 stores across Canada and the US.Flashfood founder and CEO, Josh Domingues, had always wanted to tackle environmental issues; “you turn on the TV and there's just a different city under water or there’s a horrible storm. Whatever I was going to spend my time on through my working career, it was going to have to be something with the environment.” But it was after he heard about an incident at his sister’s workplace that his journey as a Green Techpreneur began: “My sister was a chef, she called me after a catering event and said ‘I just threw out $4,000 worth of food.’ I started laughing; ‘Polly, you idiot. Why would you do that?’ She said, ‘oh, this feeling sucks, my boss was over my shoulder making me do it.’“So I started reading about food waste and I learned that if international food waste were a country it'd be the third leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions behind the US and China.“That led me to talking to store managers in Toronto and I learnt they're throwing out fresh food that still has two or three days of shelf life because consumers won't buy it. The idea I had was if there's a way for the store to mark the price of the food down and send me a notification so I could see the deal on my phone, pay through my phone, and pick up from the store the same day – people would shop like that all the time.”As it turned out, Josh was right: as prices surge today, his idea has helped many thousands of people navigate the cost of living crisis. To date, saved shoppers over $150 million on grocery bills, and diverted over 65 million pounds of food from landfill.“We're still so early in our journey in terms of what we can accomplish, it's really humbling to think about,” says Josh.“I don't want to come off as if it was easy the whole time. This was basically impossible, this has been so hard to do at so many different levels. And even to be named in Fast Company’s list of most innovative companies…this was just an idea seven years ago and now looking at where we're at, it's just a wild journey.”How does the Flashfood app work?The Flashfood app shows which grocers in your area have partnered with the startup. It enables consumers to browse deals – directly from their phone – to save up to 50% off high-quality items nearing their best-by date, such as meats, dairy, seafood, produce, bakery items and more. When retailers partner with Flashfood, they enter into a revenue sharing agreement.How did you first market the app and gain early adopters?We offered free pizza to studentsWe got our first set of users by organising an information session and offering free pizza to students. Sometimes the simplest marketing tactics can be the most effective, especially when you're just starting out.We leveraged local Facebook groupsI leveraged local Facebook groups to promote the app. It was a great way to reach potential customers in our target market and establish a presence in the community. I went into hundreds of local Facebook groups and said “I'm Josh, we're building this company that's trying to solve food waste by partnering with your local store.” I had to keep changing the location on my Facebook to be accepted into the groups. That’s how we got lots of our early users.Apps can be a saturated market, what gave you the conviction that the idea can work?Prior to this, I was a management consultant and we did a project for a demolition company and all these companies were bidding $12 or $13 million to bring down a building. My company bid $3 million, got the job, and by the time they resold all the precious metals because there was so much copper in the walls, they made $20 or $22 million. That got me thinking there's value in waste.The value proposition is just so meaningfulAnything that drives the customer into a grocery store is valuable for the grocery store, and on the backside, the customer can save 50% off groceries, I just thought that value prop on both ends is so obvious if you can get this to scale.We didn’t go into it thinking ‘we have to have so many downloads,’ it's just make this process simple and easy and valuable to the end-user and it should theoretically work and fortunately that's been the case. What are your top tips for other Green Techpreneurs?Keep asking why your idea won’t workYou have to be so bloody honest with yourself, especially in the early days. You have to come at it from the lens of ‘this thing's not going to work. I shouldn't do this.’ In the earliest days, we got people to poke holes in the business from so many different angles to make it better, and ultimately, the value prop stayed strong enough. Money has to flow to a stakeholder in a meaningful way for environmental companies to take off. It's unfortunate, but it's still capitalism, somebody really has to benefit financially.Refer back to your mission and vision dailyEarly in my journey, I thought mission statements were just fluff. Now we're at 100 people and the mission of the company is to reduce the environmental impact of food waste and feed families affordably. You need to refer back to these things daily, especially with remote working, for people to remember why we're doing what we're doing. Authenticity and belonging brings people along for the journeyWhen I sit down with grocery executives, I show them nobody cares more about this than we will on behalf of their company. When it's authentic and you want to make an impact, that comes through and people want to be a part of the journey, everybody wants to feel like they're belonging to something.What were the elements of luck that made the business work?Every time you hear about an entrepreneur speak about building a business, it often comes back to…’a few things just worked out in our favour’ and I believe in luck and that you have to work to build your own luck. I got a chance introduction to a former executive at the biggest grocery chain in the country. That was just happenstance. I told her the exact same story I'd been telling everybody else for three years and she decided to give us a chance. We started with a three-store pilot and it turned into a massive opportunity to scale up the business and expand to 400 stores in just 5-6 months. It's a testament to the power of networking and being ready to execute on opportunities when they arise.If that introduction didn't come and that executive didn't take a chance on us, we would have never been talking today.Did you ever feel like giving up?Oh yes, like everyday. Every day in my life is the best day of my life and every day in my life is the worst day of my life and it's just based on what email comes in. You just have to be even keel at all times and never get too high, never get too low. What’s kept me going is the knowledge that if we don’t pull this off, nobody will.I like seeing what our shoppers have said. One of our shoppers is a young mother with three kids. Her husband got laid off during COVID and she wrote us that without Flashfood she couldn't afford to feed her kids. For Christmas we were able to get her kids a whole bunch of candy stocking stuffers and they didn't expect to have anything, and their faces just lit up. What does the future hold?We have several innovations in the Flashfood app. The app is now accepting snap and EBT as a payment method, which are digitised food stamps in America. This is a significant development for the app's partners as it expands their customer base and makes it easier for people to access affordable food.Secondly, the app is ingesting data around dynamic pricing and progressive markdowns, which will help retailers understand what price points are most effective in different markets. This information will enable retailers to make more informed decisions about what products to stock and how to price them. This could also help reduce food waste by identifying products that are not selling and adjusting prices accordingly.The app is gaining the trust of retail partners, which is opening up opportunities to connect them with other circular economy services over time. We have global ambitions to tackle food waste and help people save money on their food.What daily rituals keep you going?Exercise. If I don't focus on challenging myself physically once a day at least, than over a span of 2-3 days, everything else gets worse, I’m more edgy. I don't listen as well.Do you have a favourite quote or life philosophy?Yes. It’s tatooed on my arm – hold on to happiness.My sister-in-law passed away after battling cancer for a few years. She had a playlist that we listened to in her last days and one of the songs was ‘Hold on to Happiness’. You'll have ups and downs, there're going to be good times, there’re going to be awful times, but you decide the outlook you have in any situation and even when things get really difficult with the business; take a step back. Remember that we're trying to do a really hard thing and we're trying our best. And in the back of my mind, I remember to Hold on to Happiness and do what makes you happy because we don't have a lot of time.Would you like to support the GT and place an ad?Consider becoming a GT Member for just $100 a year or $10 a month.Further ReadingIn case you missed it, check out these recent fascinating GT interviews…Why Imperial College Launched a Climatetech Pre-acceleratorHow to Work With Sustainability InfluencersHow to Crowd fundraise and Build CommunityAnd here’s one from my Forbes column:A Marshall Plan for Building Back Green in UkraineCheck out the latest climatetech jobs from our friends at Work in GreenThank you for reading and listening to The Green Techpreneur.Have a great weekend! 🥂#SparkTheTransition This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegreentechpreneur.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A warm welcome to the 40 new subscribers who have joined since the last edition!If you’re reading this and haven’t subscribed, sign up below to join a high-value network of over 2,100 climate tech entrepreneurs, industry leaders and investors.The Green Techpreneur (GT) will provide you with the tools, resources, and connections you need to make your mark on the planet with your climate tech business! Every other week, I interview extraordinary climate tech entrepreneurs, investors and sustainability experts to share practical advice on how to build your business. Join us for connections, advice, ideas, and mentors. Follow the GT podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.GT Collaboration OpportunityWe’re looking for a sponsor with an aligned mission and vision to collaborate on content and promotions over a 6-month period. It would suit a climate tech investor, accelerator, or a B2B climate tech business. Get in touch at: marianne@thegreentechpreneur.ukImperial College has just had a star-studded lineup with Bill Gates and Rishi Sunak helping to kick off the climate tech accelerator Undaunted which is for full-time founders ready to run with their ideas. But it's got another first-of-its-kind programme that has just launched for students with brilliant entrepreneurial ideas who want a chance to sharpen these ideas in a supportive environment.For pre-accelerator Co-founders Filippo Varini and Elliot Queisser de Stockalper, a passion for protecting nature came from life experiences that were close to home. While growing up in Geneva, Switzerland, Elliot saw ecosystems, quite literally, melt away: “watching the snow, the glaciers, the little details from my home region dramatically changing, it made a difference. It pushed me to address these problems and these unmet needs in a tangible way.”In Italy, Filippo had always been in close contact with the sea as a sailor, fisherman and a free diver; “I witnessed it firsthand – the depletion of the sea – which brought me to start to look for solutions into the area of biodiversity and climate change.”“It was so nice to find each other because we had this passion that was so raw for everything climate, sustainability and entrepreneurship,” says Elliot.They developed the idea for the pre-accelerator programme last summer after noticing that many students who wanted to make a difference and help solve climate change had entrepreneurial ideas that died on the vine: the pressures of needing to find work and repay student loans immediately after graduating meant many would-be founders never got started. Their solution? Provide students with a complete support system for validating and testing their ideas, building a team and network, and pitching to institutional investors – a pre-accelerator.“We wanted to set up something that will be heard,” says Elliot, “but also something that will inspire people and give clear opportunities and possibilities at the end. That's how we came up with the pre-accelerator to help student founders get investment-ready and validate their idea.” How do you help student founders validate their ideas at the pre-accelerator?Elliot: We give student founders every tool in hand to propose either an MVP at the end of a programme, or at least a solution that has the possibility to become a startup in the future. We have programme sponsors, collaborators, mentors and partners on board to help in shaping the idea. We’ll have a series of workshops, challenges and pitching days and we’ll finish with Demo Day, where teams will present in front of investors and partners, show what they are addressing, and how that idea compliments a gap in the market sector. It’s an opportunity for them to speak about something they’re deeply passionate about at their first pitching event and build on these capabilities in the future.How many student founders are in your first cohort?Filippo: We’ve had 200 applications and have launched our first cohort with 100 students – from PHDs to undergraduates – after opening up applications to students from universities including Cambridge, MIT, Oxford, the Royal College of Arts and LSE. Half of the people we selected already have a team and idea they will want to work on and half of them are unsure about what to work on and need to find a team. We have a multidisciplinary cohort because we believe something great happens when you mix perspectives from different backgrounds.What are the benefits of starting young as an entrepreneur? Filippo: I think the benefit of starting young is that you have energy and you also have the beginner mindset that lets you approach a problem with a new perspective and sometimes that can lead to authentic solutions.However, you don't have experience and your network or skillset can't compare with people that already have experience. But it depends on the personality, if you can learn by doing and you're a resilient person, those qualities can help you succeed. Obviously, you will need help from mentors and a good dose of enthusiasm to learn everything as you go along, but it’s totally doable. Elliot: One of the advantages is that in our outlook or perspective, we're allowed to be very spontaneous, very creative, and we can just come in and propose something and the pressure and judgment is less heavy because we are trying our best and aiming to tackle something at a young age that is very close to our heart.Is this an idea you see spreading to other universities?Elliot: it’s one of the things we’ve talked about – my motto is Carpe Diem. I think the pre-accelerator has the potential to shape the entrepreneur journey for lots of students and be able to touch a wider community, not only in London but across the UK. We’ll take things step by step, but there are all the ingredients for it in the future to be implemented on a wider scale.Who are your role models?Elliot: Jacqueline Novogratz is certainly one of my role models. She's the founder of Acumen and what I respect in her journey and her ethos is the intersection between entrepreneurship, activism, inspiring people and the power of speech. Speech can unlock lots of doors and it has something very subdued, it can really touch you emotionally – the gestures and also the words can make the difference. Filippo: the first one is my Grandfather because his life and connection to nature are an inspiration for me, and the second person is Astro Teller, the Captain of Moonshot X, which is part of our summit. I look up to him and his company’s mentality of radical creativity and disrupting current technologies with a beginner's mindset. It’s something I've always believed in even before hearing about him. I recommend people look him up because it inspires people to be creative and find radical solutions to problems.Do you have a favourite quote or a life philosophy you follow?Elliot: Being able to enjoy the present moment. Reflect on the past and have good objectives for the future, but I feel like time is the modern-day missing piece. I think it's how you can accomplish all your goals in life – understanding that in the present moment there's so much happening and you don't have to overthink, sometimes you just have to go with the flow.Filippo: More than a quote, I have a story, which is from a book by Paulo Coelho. He talks about a voyager who goes into a Master’s castle to learn about the secret of life. The Master gives him a spoon with water and tells him to explore the castle. The castle is amazing and he runs around and comes back and asks again about the meaning of life, but now the spoon is empty.And so it says the meaning of life is to enjoy the beauty of the castle without losing the water in the spoon. That resonates with me, because I think there are so many important things in life, that you should always be balanced and not lose sight of what is right in front of you.What do you do when it’s time to unwind and relax?Filippo: I love surfing, so I never miss an opportunity to surf. I enjoy free diving as well, which is something you can do in London. Elliot: I love to read and it's something that really shaped me as a person. Given the literary background of my Mother, I'm very sensitive to the arts, thanks to her. I also enjoy handball and windsurfing.If you could teleport yourself into the future and be anywhere, doing anything, where would you be?Filippo: I’d be working on ocean conservation and restoring marine biodiversity and global biodiversity. It’s a problem that I fell in love with many years ago and it's something that still intrigues me to solve.Elliot: I’d like to be somewhere where lots of different questions and problems are addressed; being able to unite people around the power of discussion, communication and awareness-building around different themes and proposing concrete solutions for it. I've been always very interested by the intersection between life science and diplomacy; that's something I will be considering in the future…and I hope to still be the person I am today. Would you like to support the GT and place an ad?Consider becoming a GT patron for just $100 a year or $10 a month.Further ReadingCheck out these posts from my Forbes climate tech column:A Marshal Plan for Building Back Green in Ukraine?Through Pandemic and War: the Inspiring Story of How a Belgium Scaleup Brought Net-zero to Food RoastingThank you for reading and listening to The Green Techpreneur.Have a great weekend! 🥂#SparkTheTransition  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegreentechpreneur.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A warm welcome to the 50 new subscribers who have joined since the last edition!If you’re reading this and haven’t subscribed, sign up below to join a high-value network of over 2,100 climate tech entrepreneurs, industry leaders and investors.In The Green Techpreneur (GT), I interview extraordinary climate tech entrepreneurs, investors and sustainability experts to share practical advice on how to build your business. Join us for connections, advice, ideas, and mentors. Follow the GT podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.GT Collaboration OpportunityWe’re looking for a sponsor with an aligned mission and vision to collaborate on content and promotions over a 6-month period. It would suit a climate tech investor, accelerator, or a B2B climate tech business. Get in touch at: marianne@thegreentechpreneur.ukIn 2022, influencer marketing was a $16.4 billion industry and it’s due to 5x to reach $84.89 billion by 2028. This phenomenal growth is down to just how effective it is; influencer marketing content delivers 11X better ROI than traditional marketing tactics. Why? 92% of consumers trust influencer marketing over traditional advertising.So for climate tech startups that need to make every dollar count, quickly spread the message and attract clients, a carefully targeted ‘guerrilla’ influencer marketing approach could deliver more and cost less than a PR campaign.Influencer marketing expert Gordon Glenister is the author of Influencer Marketing Strategy and a columnist on influencer marketing for the London Evening Standard. He stumbled into the industry “by accident” – “I couldn’t find a book that explained influencer marketing, so I wrote one and started the UK influencer industry with my business partner.”In this Green Techpreneur episode, he breaks down how to select and work with influencers as a climate tech startup.How do you judge whether an influencer is a good match?Look for shared values and engagementWhat’s important to your business? Does that reflect well in the type of content that you're seeing from that individual?Another thing to look for is their level of engagement. How responsive are they to their followers? And are they good at creating a conversation and growing their audience?Look into the relevance of their followers, where they're coming from, it's not about numbers, it's about quality.Are they working with your competitors?The last thing you want to do is work with an influencer who's working with all of your competitors day in day out. That's not going to make you feel special within your own brand.Ask for their media deckThe first thing you should do before engaging them is to ask for their media deck which is equivalent to a CV, you want to know how they've grown their audience, what their level of engagement is, what type of campaigns they've worked on before.Focus on long-term collaborationUnderstand what sort of success criteria you want, but also what the influencer wants. There's a reason we use the word collaboration because that's exactly what it is. It's about actually joining at the hip because there are two things that an influencer wants: one is a reward for the work that they've done, and also anything that sustains and grows their audience. So look for how you can create and help them with exclusive content, opportunities to come to your events, or something where you could bring them onto a panel.The more you brief the influencer and help them with understanding the markets in your area, the better. You wouldn't hire a salesperson and say ‘off you go and do your best,’ you would properly brief them.Don’t think transactionalDon’t think transactional, like ‘should I employ an influencer for one post?’ Think about the bigger picture and be creative and involve them. Think about ‘how can I help you? We're a startup we don't have huge amounts of money, but what I could do is I have this, I have that, and I have this’ and the influencer may say ‘wow, that's super cool. I can do some really good things with that.’How can you co-create an immersive experience?Oxfam brought influencers to one of their big hub centres and showed them the entire back office system of what they do when clothes come in the recycling centre. They gave them a complete, ‘behind-the-scenes’ experience, and that got huge amounts of engagement on the influencers content and on Oxfam's engagement as well.“I believe in immersive content. If you're talking about climate change, can you go somewhere together? Think about the impact you want from this. You can do some amazing things with influencers.”What types of content campaigns benefit from using influencers?* Co-created content* Podcasts* Inviting the influencer onto your podcast* Sponsored posts and videos* Competitions and contests* Tik Tok has been great for challenges* Tutorials and reviews of your products/services can be really successful* Social media takeovers - hire an influencer to work with you on your social media campaign* Anything where there’s a sense of momentum, and it encourages others to get involvedHow do I measure the success metrics of an influencer engagement?Set your goals and objectives right at the start. Influencer marketing is not a silver bullet, sometimes people think, ‘I'm gonna work with this influencer and pennies are going to come down from heaven’. That’s not the case if their audience doesn’t know your brand, and that is why long-term partnerships can be a really effective way to engage with influencers.What advice would you give to climate tech startups on growing their own audience?Go for slow, consistent growth and authentic contentWe engage with emotion, more than any other attributes. So you want your customers or your target prospects to really feel that that you give a damn about this.Slow, consistent growth and relevance in your content is hard. Don't get me wrong. It's harder to build an Instagram following right now than it ever was before. But if you are consistent in your posting, if you use reels and video content, if you bring your authentic self to the channel so people can really feel, you’ll see growth.Look at the content that works for your competitorsDeliver content based on what you know works, not what you think works. Before you accelerate your content plan for 2023, look at 10 of your competitors that are in a similar industry to you.Look at their last 10 posts on whatever channel you want – LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook – look at the type of content and note down what reaction they're getting, put that into an Excel spreadsheet. Do that with 10 posts with 10 competitors and look at what is working best.Who is your role model?My biggest influence is Sir David Attenborough. Articles are important, but in a multimedia world, podcasts, videos, photos, those are ways to really grab emotion and draw the audience in a bigger way. It's those moments, those images, those metaphors that grab emotion that are going to create influence.Do you have a favourite quote or motto?Your brand is what people say about your business when you’re not in the room.What do you do when it’s time to unwind after work?Badminton is my passion when I get a moment and I enjoy having dinner with friends. I live close to 5 lakes which is a bird reserve, which is lovely to walk around on a lovely day. It’s so important to keep positive and do different things.If you could teleport yourself into the future, and be anywhere, doing anything, where would you be and why?When I was in my early 20s, somebody said I should be on stage. I love presenting but I've never worked in theatre or on a film and I'm getting closer and closer to that space now, so I think the future is going to be something in television or in film.Would you like to support the GT and place an ad?Consider becoming a GT patron for just $100 a year or $10 a month.Further ReadingCheck out these posts from my Forbes climate tech column:Nets, Plastic, Underwater Crime - How to Stop Ocean Pollution5 Steps to Effective Storytelling as a Climate Tech Startup3 Fast Growth Climate Tech Startups to Watch in 2023Thank you for reading and listening to The Green Techpreneur.Have a great weekend! 🥂#SparkTheTransition This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegreentechpreneur.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A warm welcome to the 86 new subscribers who’ve joined since the last edition! The Green Techpreneur (GT) is here to help you thrive as you build your business. Subscribe if: 👉🏼 You're interested in business growth and attracting investors 👉🏼You want connections, community, inspiration, ideas, and mentors. Click below to join a high-value network of over 2,000 sustainability leaders; subscribe to the GT podcast on Apple Podcasts. GT Collaboration OpportunityBefore we launch into today’s episode, I wanted to share an opportunity to partner with The Green Techpreneur as a platform sponsor. We’re looking for a sponsor with an aligned mission and vision to collaborate on content and promotions over a 6-month period. It would suit a climate tech investor, accelerator, or a B2B climate tech business. Get in touch at: marianne@thegreentechpreneur.uk “Investing in equity and entrepreneurs was this really hard to access, illiquid asset class which has been the bastion of the elite, and that hadn’t really changed in over 100 years: somebody who wanted to invest in ships to import spices would go to Mayfair and find an investor. 100 years later, an investor looking to fund their startup would go to Mayfair. “With the invention of the internet, there was an opportunity to open the market up, and now 12 years later, the world looks somewhat different,” says Jeff Kelisky, CEO of Seedrs.Seedrs - is an equity crowdfunding platform that enables investors of all shapes and sizes to invest in ambitious startups, its helped startups raise a total of £2.3 billion, with 1,870 deals funded so far.To get started as a crowd fundraising platform, Seedrs faced the challenge of needing to get cooperation from industry incumbents: “investing is very different in the sense that it defines in some ways coopetition. A lot of the founders get funding from multiple sources from the big institutions to the retail investor. So we participate alongside private equity and alongside angels, so we needed to be accepted as an equal or value add platform.“There was this tarnished view of crowdfunding because it was retail investors, and not necessarily professional investors, so building credibility was one of the fundamental hurdles to overcome and that took time because it was reliant on relationships which were reliant on proof.”Today, Jeff says, climate tech is Seedrs’ fastest growing investment vertical - clean energy saw 40% more investors on Seedrs in 2022 compared to 2023: “that news spreads each of those investors becomes a storyteller to their network so that will only accelerate.Jeff believes in 2023, we’ll see an investment growth trend in all forms of EV’s - cars, bikes and boats as well as in renewable energy.What type of startups succeed on the platform?There are over 17 different sectors represented, from climate tech, data analytics, consumer products and food and beverage, and there isn't any one sector that represents more than about 12% of the total. That said, the fastest growing sector right now is climate tech – energy, and sustainability as a category.How do companies benefit from using crowd fundraising?They want to use the opportunity to create brand ambassadors, to actually turn customers into evangelists of who they are, and in some cases, to also acquire new customers and bring on board new members of their community. That community dimension becomes an important part of making a round successful. Be creative about how to harness your networkWe had a small group of founders who put together a business around ice cream. They'd recently won a contract with Waitrose, but it's a small business, and so there was no way they could actually see how that contract was rolling out across all the Waitrose stores in the UK. So they gave their investors a mission; ‘next time you go to your local Waitrose, please take a photo of the ice cream on the shelf, because we'd like to know that it is on the top shelf, and the label is facing forward, which is part of the contract.’ Three things happened: they got photos, their community of investors and customers felt connected to the business, and the third thing is, they probably bought the ice cream!Is Crowd fundraising better for B2C or B2B startups?It's definitely easier as a B2C business to tell your story in a way that's understandable and as something that consumers can relate to. That being said, B2B represents 40% of what we do, so it is absolutely not exclusive. We've had very successful software accounting companies raise capital. One thing to look at is how what you’re doing has a strong emotional connection. Increasingly, investors are millennials and Gen Z, and are making investment decisions which connect to who they are, their values, the things they're passionate about. But whether you’re B2B or B2C, you need to tell your story well.What are your top 5 tips for effective storytelling?* Show us your roots - The most endearing stories are those that give us that moment of inspiration and/or personal experience. For example, the story of Mr Lee’s Noodles (a healthy pot noodle business) told investors of the Founder’s inspiration for healthier noodles following his battle with cancer where he craved for healthy comfort food.* Align your vision with your community - consider how your business’ beliefs, mission and values align with the community’s desires. For example, Ripple, which enables households and businesses to part own large scale wind farms and (in the future) solar parks, met many people’s desire to be part of something greater and make an impact.* Translate your mission creatively - A brand’s creative can be done on a shoestring and still hold a powerful role when it comes to connecting with an audience. It can visually create an immediate emotional response and a consistent and unique visual brand identity, illustration style, and even brand ‘characters’ help cement space in people’s minds from day one. Look at the sustainable hygiene B-Corp Cheeky Panda - their logo and style is instantly recognisable.* Make them feel involved, bring them on the journey - This is key to forming an exceptional brand experience. Developing key touch points through newsletters, social media channels and events are effective ways to get closer to your audience and make them feel engaged as you scale.* Be known for openness and transparency - Be open and transparent about your company’s culture, realistic for your valuations and give insight into how the company performs that is clear and easy to understand. Don’t be afraid to talk about your failures. Most of our successful entrepreneurs are “phoenix founders” on their second or third startup. Being open about the difficulties you’ve faced and the learnings is a critical part of telling your entrepreneurial story.Do you have advice for startups on building community?Connect with your existing networkFirst, it’s about connecting with the founder's existing network, it’s very much about the story being told and how to do that and then getting introductions to the right groups to do that. So if you're in a particular space, who are the institutions that would also be interested in joining and anchoring around that?It's about honing your story for different audiences. And again, that sounds perhaps an obvious step that all founders have to do anyway. But you're doing it in the context of a broad crowd and therefore it needs to be consumable at scale. Build Momentum Build momentum in a campaign. There's a lot out there for people to invest in. There's a lot out there for people to be distracted by, especially in a social media context, so getting attention is something you should manage. And while it takes a lot of effort, the construction and sequencing of a campaign is important.Have you seen a decline in investment due to the recession?Last year, we saw over 141,000 individual investments in 324 campaigns and just over half a billion pounds raised. We served more entrepreneurs last year than we did the year before.The biggest challenges were less from the direct retail audience, it was more that institutions were more timorous. So that reduction in the institutional side or anchoring side was where we saw a difference; it wasn't the retail participation.Uncertainty Breeds EntrepreneurshipThere's one common truth and that is uncertainty breeds entrepreneurship.It is often when entrepreneurs are born. In some cases, they're born because they have something they want to do and say and they see a problem, and sometimes it’s because necessity meets opportunity. We've seen the birth of more entrepreneurs during difficult times.We've seen it with the Ukraine war, the outpouring of communities looking to solve problems, and get behind founders who have solutions to some of those problems. So that gives me hope, entrepreneurship is not in decline.Who are your role models?It's hard not to answer that question without bringing both my parents into that answer. My Mother, who passed away many years ago, will be very happy that we are having this conversation. She was absolutely a woman of nature, of the environment, supporting ecology. The fact that my professional life is intersecting with something that she spent so much time putting her love into probably fills me with enough energy to go through most obstacles. I started my career in a corporate context in IBM. At the time it was a 50,000 employee organisation and it was going through turmoil. In the early 90s, it declared the largest ever loss by a company, which was $53 billion. And a new CEO came in by the name of Lou Gerstner and he solved that problem of saving IBM. It was an impossible task, because the only thing you could do was to break it up into small units, and I got to see his work from the inside. To see someone wrestling with an almost impossible corporate challenge was phenomenal to watch. He was very much about, ‘we need to harness the power of all the parts of IBM to do something nobody else can do’, rather than take the easy path which is to break it up into separate units and everybody does their own thing. Communities came together and integrated to become stronger, so he was someone who inspired me.Jobs in Climate TechBelow are some job opportunities from our friends at Work In Green – there are 6,000 job opportunities listed on the global job board, so check them out if you’re job hunting.Based in EuropeOctopus Energy is looking for a Commercial Finance DirectorOctopus Energy Group is made up of 10 businesses spanning 6 countries across 3 continents, including: Octopus Energy Retail, Kraken Technologies, Octopus Energy Generation, Kraken Flex, Octopus Electric Vehicles, and the Octopus Centre for Net Zero.CarbonChain is looking for a Lead Product DesignerCarbonChain enables companies to track, report and reduce their supply chain emissions, covering the most carbon-intensive industries and products (metals and mining, oil and gas, agriculture). Fluence is looking for a Marketing AssociateFluence is the leading global energy storage technology and services company, created and backed by Siemens and AES, two industry powerhouses and pioneers in energy storage. Fluence unites the scale, experience, breadth, and financial backing of the two most experienced icons in energy storage.Based in USNatron Energy is looking for a VP of Product EngineeringNatron Energy is the world's leading developer and supplier of high power, long life, and low cost Prussian Blue Sodium Ion battery solutions for critical power and industrial applications, including data center UPS systems and electrically-powered materials handling equipment.Climax Foods is looking for a Chief Marketing OfficerClimax Foods is a data science company innovating the future of food. It has developed sophisticated machine intelligence tools to unlock smarter paths from plants to products, creating a new generation of plant-based foods that will out-compete animal-based predecessors.If you’re looking for help with obtaining your goals and growing beyond expectations in 2023, I’ve got a great opportunity for the right climate tech company to receive support and leadership from an executive with over 25 years experience in: technology, cleantech, funding, earn-outs, M&As, angel investors - series A, legal, sales.I can personally vouch for his exceptional people management skills and passion for helping climate tech businesses succeed. If you’ve got a fast-growing business and need someone to help with management in a non-executive role (part-time), request an intro and I’ll connect you! An experienced Account Executive, Joe Chandler, is seeking a role to help a climate tech company grow their client base. Reach out to him on LinkedIn.Would you like to support the GT and place an ad? Consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $100 a year or $10 a month.Further ReadingCheck out these posts from my Forbes climate tech column:Meet the Startup Tackling the $22 billion super pollutant - nylon The World Would be 25% Hotter if the Ozone Layer Hadn’t RecoveredThese Next Generation Wind Turbines Double up as EV ChargersDo you have a job or an investment opportunity you would like to advertise?Get in touch and we’ll publish it in The Green Techpreneur.Where ever you are, have a great weekend. 🥂 #SparkTheTransition This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegreentechpreneur.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Merry Christmas, dear Green Techpreneur readers and a warm welcome to the 93 new subscribers who have joined since the last edition.If you’re reading this and haven’t subscribed, sign up below to join a high-value and fast-growing network of over 1,900 climatetech entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders.As we wrap up one year and move into the next, The Green Techpreneur remains ready to help you in 2023 and beyond:For entrepreneursGet practical advice on how to build your business and find funding through interviews with climatetech entrepreneurs and investors. It’s insightful, actionable and fun to read or listen to.Boost your visibility & get the connections you need to succeedSign up to become a paid subscriber to The GT ($100 for 1 year) for an opportunity to place an ad in The GT – whether you are looking for investors and want to advertise your fundraise, or you just want to tell the climatetech community about what you do and how you can help!For climatetech investorsThe Green Techpreneur publishes lists of pre-vetted startups seeking investment. Subscribe to be the first to know.Dear Santa,I don't need toys and I don't need sweets. I would just like a lamp that stays on when there is no electricity." 🎄- boy in Ukraine at NGO Care in Action's creative Hub writing to St. Nicolaus.It's been 25 years since my parents first set foot in Ukraine to start Care in Action, the team pivoted quickly since the war - helping vulnerable children find safe homes, continue education, and overcome trauma.For this Christmas special edition, I spoke to Maria Boiko, the Director of ‘Turbota V Dii’ - the Ukrainian branch of Germany-based Care in Action.For Maria Boiko, this will be a Christmas unlike any other. Like millions of Ukrainians, her life was turned upside down at Russia’s shock invasion.“And a lot has changed since February 24th. We work with children in care and with foster families and vulnerable youth. But within a week of the war starting, we expanded our work to support internally displaced people. Many, many people have come to L’viv since the war, one of the reasons is because it feels safe as it's the most western part of Ukraine. And the other reason is that it’s a cultural hub, and it has a lot of opportunities. “From March onwards we started renting out beds in hostels to accommodate people who had to leave their homes. Sometimes we would accommodate 200 people at a time and we added new services for internally displaced people. Because after the shock, the main thing people needed was a secure place and food. “Many people needed psychological support, because they mentally refuse to believe that the war will last for a while, and they didn't want to look for a job. Like ‘why would I look for a job. If I'm not going to stay here. I will go home back home soon.’ So we got a psychologist to help people recover. We hired a social worker in July to accompany families to help them with a range of needs, like legal advice, medical treatment, getting needed documents with a certificate of internal displaced person or getting a child into school. Some people decided to emigrate as refugees and we helped them with transfers to the border. We also started a care centre, which provides 20-30 beds for women and children,” says Maria.But despite the tragedy of war, the chaos of blackouts, and living through an energy crisis where the country has lost 40% of it’s electricity due to Russian attacks on the grid, Maria says Ukrainians remain determined to celebrate Christmas in style:“On Christmas, we traditionally have 12 dishes.”In honour of the 12 disciples, the traditional Ukrainian Christmas lays a feast with 12 dishes; verenyky (dumplings), Holubtsi (rolled cabbage), compot (dried fruit compot), fish, borsch, pancakes, pyrizhky (hand pies), Kapusniak (sour cabbage soup), Kutia (sweet grain pudding), peas, Pampushky (yeast bread)…“We also put Didukh…wheat stalks on the table - it symbolises the spirit of our ancestors,” says Maria.“Children go Christmas carolling, they sing for their neighbours and its a chance for them to earn some sweets and coins. We also have a nativity skit tradition, where a crew dresses up and goes door-to-door to perform.“For believers, the most important thing is to go to church. There are some Christmas services that last all night."To keep our spirits high, Ukrainians don’t want to give up traditions which make us happy, and celebrating will be a sign that Ukrainians are unbreakable.”What impact have the energy grid attacks had on Ukraine?Let's start with the bigger picture. It’s had a big impact on business, and some businesses had to stop. Others had to learn how to survive, and maybe they had some shortages in the companies or had to raise prices, because now it's big expense to buy generators or other things to make it work. And I was reading an article, that one big company which works with in the metallurgy sphere, they had 5,000 employees, and now they have 20.It is expected that by the end of this year, 30 % of the population will be without work.We have regular scheduled power cuts. And power cuts often last for four hours – sometimes you can have at least eight hours a day without electricity. But sometimes there are also emergency power cuts which are unexpected. So sometimes you have 16 hours a day without light, it affects hot water and cooking.There are some buildings that don't have a gas supply and they fully depend on electricity, electrical stoves, and heating – so they would not have heating or be able to cook so people come up with alternative solutions like a portable stove. I guess when there are many children in a family, it's really difficult to do everything within the four hours of having electricity. A lot of children have long-distance education, and it’s really difficult to keep up with school because of the power cuts – you don’t have WiFi, you don’t have heating.How has your personal life been affected?In my personal life, at the office, we are able to work because we always have light. There are some rumours that there is a court office or something important nearby. We have a creative hub with a daycare for children so it's not affected.But I live just three minutes walk from here, and we have power cuts and my husband works remotely teaching English so when we have power cuts, he can't work at all. He would be out of work, but luckily, because we have WiFi at my office at Creative Hub, when there is some space here he comes here.Our heating depends on the light, we tried to put an electrical heater when there is heating so because the gas heating doesn't give much warmth. And also we just sleep under a huge warm blanket, so it's warm under the blanket, but if I just touch the top of my head, I can feel how cold it is. How have you been supporting people through the winter?We’ve been providing people with warm blankets, sleeping bags, and camp lights which can last up to 24 hours when there is no light, and it’s really helpful. I use it to cook, read, and when I go to the bathroom or have a shower. Just this Monday I travelled with a colleague to family-style orphanages to bring a displaced family a generator. A family is starting again here after their home and the hospital and schools were destroyed in Mykolaiv. They don’t intend to go back - there are no prospects for the children with the school completely destroyed.The Father is an electrician so they made a plan for how to make it work at home with the generator. The generator will help the kids to keep up with their education, because the power cuts impact education a lot, and they have several teenagers. One of the teenagers is taking an English course which will give her access to take part in an exchange programme in the US. So for her it's also highly important to do that course and learn English, so they were very happy. What’s the best way for readers to help with donations?You can check our Care in Action website, and donate via bank card or through Paypal.Karolina Ottspodina, Founder of We Do Solar, is a Ukrainian entrepreneur based in Berlin. She is on a mission to make home grown renewable energy available to everyone – whether or not you own a home. The We Do Solar kit consists of 8 solar panels that can be installed on your balcony, they’re super lightweight and thin and they’re easy to install. We have an app where you see how much CO2 you’re saving and how much electricity you’re producing.“We launched in February this year. It was a complete coincidence that the war broke out at the same time. It definitely was a super hard time because I also have family, and a lot of friends in Ukraine. I was going to the borders, picking people up, developing my product, talking to investors, and it was just a completely crazy time. But now it's a bit easier because I know that everyone is at least safe,” says Karolina.“Right now, we’re shipping to 24 countries in Europe and we will have the UK on that list very soon. There is huge demand for the product and of course, when the war broke out, our demand went up.”Is this a solution that could help people in Ukraine? Absolutely, in the future. We are in contact with the government in Ukraine and can launch in Ukraine when the time is right. Right now, what is needed in Ukraine is generators which are off-grid. My solution works when the grid is there. How much of a cost reduction do people get with your balcony-installed solar solution?It depends on how much you can install in your home and every single country has its own regulation on how much you can install by yourself without an electrician. So for example, in Germany, it's 600 watt and this is what our set currently provides. It's 600 watt, and that can reduce up to 25% of your electricity bills. Of course, if you want to install more and you have the space also to install more, you can do so with the help of an electrician.How will you be celebrating Christmas?I do celebrate Christmas of course, but it's nothing big. It's more having a meal with your loved ones, rather than anything else. So I guess for me, it's just calling my family and making sure that they're okay and just having a conversation. And because of some of my beliefs, I don't have a Christmas tree. I have a palm decorated in my home because we don't need to cut down trees I think for this holiday. I hope that many people will change their ways as well and will realise that it's not really about having a tree in their household, but it's more about family and just being together. And that's what's most important, not to harm our planet but to do something, which is good for the soul.Looking for investorsSoltiles developed an aesthetic, highly efficient and affordable solar roofing tile with curbside appeal, that generates 40% more power than comparable and with Li+ battery. It provides energy 24/7.BIPV is expected to reach a market value of nearly US$100 billion by 2031 - PV Tech the building-integrated PV (BIPV) market is expected to reach US$94.4 billion by 2031, up from US$11.7 billion recorded in 2021.Most researchers agree that Climate Change is a crisis that will have severe effects on earth starting 2030. The $500Billon annual damages currently will increase to $2.0+ Trillion in 2030. Putting solar roofs on every home will reduce GHG by 38% and UP TO 55% if we power all electric cars via our roofs.The opportunityQuasi Equity/ for product certification Institutional capitalInstitutional capitalTotal10,000,000$ 95,000.000$ 95,000,000$200,000,000$1. Offer: Soltiles is selling Preferred quasi-equity shares in manufacturing its solar roofing tiles. Investors will receive all profits before any other distributions are made.2. Request: Soltiles is requesting scaleup investments of 10M€ to 85€++ quasi-equity, it will be matched by an institutional fund after product certification.3. Financial Benefits: The Investors will receive at least 5 bottom line benefits: 1) 18-40% return on equity investment,2) 946 Million tons of Green House Reduction,3) Created over 1,500 job equivalents (direct, indirect and induced jobs) 4) Creating 4.6€ Billion economic growth5) Meets Fiduciary Golden standard.6) Awarded Solar Impulse Foundation Economic Soundness Award. 7) Awarded Two H2020 Grants4. Market Drivers for 250MW manufacturing facility in France and USA:a. 30% Manufacturing investment Tax Credit for solar and LI-Ion batteryb. 100% finance for solar products made in France at 0% interest ratec. 100% waiver on electricity tax for our customersd. 100% waiver of social security tax for manufacturing up to 200€M in revenuee. 80% of French people want to make their OWN electricity according to a public survey.f. Request: Soltiles is requesting scale-up investments, it will be matched byinstitutionals.g. Europe has Green Deals for converting society to 100% fossil free by 2045. h. Moderate business risk offset by favourable energy transition market.5. SOLTILES IN THE LEADSolar remains a favorite target for negative commentary and doom and gloom pundit predictions, however, the company remains stubbornly successful overall. It's had a couple of ... days, but its valuation remains above $350Million.Soltiles has a first-mover's advantage that's hard for rivals to challenge, let alone beat. It has positioned itself as the Ultra High efficient solar tiles market leader at a time when a historic pivot from Fossil Fuels to solar power and batteries looks extremely likely in the near future. It has a very prominent name despite having close to zero advertising budget, and it is proposing investing in two factories aimed at meeting surging demand, and likely to help capture market share once the electric metamorphosis "takes off."News out of Europe indicates approval for certification and demonstration will come in the immediate future, with Soltiles third generation Tandem cells built starting in Fall 2024 and Level 4.0 automated manufacture ramping up from there. In the US, another vast potential market, planned expansions likely to soon increase this to another 250MW to 500MW. Soltiles, where it recently relocated its headquarters, is a facility expected to come online by 2024's beginning, which will supposedly be producing 250MW to 500MW annually.6. Soltiles roof system includes a Breakthrough new battery chemistry that we have added to our product. We present a low risk high reward IMPACT investment opportunity that is 2x more efficient than standard Li-ion battery.Contact Soltiles about investing at: tfaust@soltiles.net This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegreentechpreneur.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.