Tech and Trees

Hello and welcome to the Tech and Trees podcast. My name is Pascal Mies and on Tech and Trees I talk to ClimateTech founders, investors and operators to learn about how we build better ClimateTech companies and how we build more of them faster. In this episode I talk to Josh Romisher, co-founder and CEO of Holocene. Holocene invests in African pre-seed climate-tech start-ups and aims to accelerate the development of the African ClimateTech-Scene and community. Josh has all the credentials to be the right person for this job. After having had success on Wall Street, he moved on to be an operator at two African solar start-ups for whom he raised $250Mn collectively. So Josh knows a thing or two about building start-ups. In this episode he shares what made him move to Africa, how he assesses opportunities and risk, what opportunity he is chasing with Holocene and where he wants to move the ecosystem over the next years. Before you start listening just a short heads up, we did have to change locations after some issues with the internet connection, midway through there will be a bit more of an echo, so apologies for that, but the content should make up for it. Plenty of fresh perspectives and frameworks here, so listen to Josh Romisher, co-founder and CEO of Holocene. Check out Holocene, they are awesome: https://www.holocene.africaReach out to Josh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaromisher/Reach out to me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascal-mies/

Hello and welcome to the Tech and Trees podcast. My name is Pascal Mies and on Tech and Trees I talk to ClimateTech founders, investors and operators to learn about how we build better ClimateTech companies and how we build more of them faster. On this episode I talk to Jakob Bitner, co-founder and CEO of VoltStorage. Jakob co-founded VoltStorage straight out of university. The company started out manufacturing home energy storage systems. Since then, Jakob has led the company through a massive pivot. VoltStorage is now developing Iron-Salt batteries that will compensate the fluctuations in renewable energy supply - meaning large scale energy storage. We talk about how Jakob led the company through their pivot, the importance of energy storage in a grid that mainly relies on renewables and the company’s aim to generate €800Mn in revenue by the end of this decade. There is a lot to learn here about the world of energy storage and batteries, so listen to Jakob Bitner from VoltStorage. Check out VoltStorage: https://voltstorage.com/en/?lang=enReach out to Jakob: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakob-bitner-b02a6696/Reach out to me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascal-mies/

Hello and welcome to the Tech and Trees podcast. My name is Pascal Mies and on Tech and Trees I talk to ClimateTech founders, investors and operators to learn about how we build better ClimateTech companies and how we build more of them faster. On this episode I talk to Caitlin Wale, the founder of Kinjani. This conversation takes us back to the African continent. With Kinjani Caitlin aimes to catalyse African nature-based and industrial decarbonisation solutions. Through a mix of program support and investment, she wants to support African science-driven entrepreneurs, bring them together with commercial co-founders to produce a wave of African ventures driving climate positive growth. Kinjani has just opened applications for their first cohort which will start in Cape Town in August. If you want to build a climate company in Africa, there are probably few if any better places to do so. All necessary links are in the description. Now, listen to Caitlin and her view on why Africa provides a unique feeding ground for climate-focused start-ups. Check out Kinjani: https://www.kinjani.comReach out to Caitlin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlin-wale/Let me know what you thought: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascal-mies/

Hello and welcome to the Tech and Trees podcast. My name is Pascal Mies and on Tech and Trees I talk to ClimateTech founders, investors and operators to learn about how we build better ClimateTech companies and how we build more of them faster. On this episode I talk to Natalia Dorfman, founder and CEO of Kita. Kita is an insurance start-up from the UK that focuses on insuring carbon. Buying carbon credits comes with a lot of risk. This risk keeps large players with deep pockets from buying high quality carbon credits. This is hurdle to scaling projects and technologies that can contribute to slowing climate change. Insurance plays a big role in derisking carbon markets and turning them into an effective measure to fight climate change. I was looking forward to this conversation as I know little about insurance and I knew that we were about to get into the technicalities of the carbon markets. So listen and learn from Natalia Dorfman from Kita. Enjoy.Check out Kita: https://www.kita.earthReach out to Natalia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalia-dorfman/Let me know what you thought: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascal-mies/

Hello and welcome to the Tech and Trees podcast. My name is Pascal Mies and on Tech and Trees I talk to ClimateTech founders, investors and operators to learn about how we build better ClimateTech companies and how we build more of them faster. On this episode I talk to Casper Rasmussen, Co-Founder of Monta. This company from Copenhagen has built a central platform that facilitates the charging process of electric vehicles, making the charging process easier for everyone involved..Thereby, they speed up our transition to electrified mobility system. Casper and his team have raised $130Mn in a little more than three years. To find out how they achieved this and hear about the challenges they faced on the way listen to Casper Rasmussen from Monta. Check out Monta: https://monta.com Reach out to Casper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casper-h-rasmussen-63b13922/ Reach out to me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascal-mies/

Hello and welcome to the Tech and Trees podcast. My name is Pascal Mies and on Tech and Trees I talk to ClimateTech founders, investors and operators to learn about how we build better ClimateTech companies and how we build more of them faster. On this episode I talk to William Pelton, Co-Founder and CEO of Phytoform. Phytoform is a British ClimateTech Start-Up that contributes to making agriculture sustainable by helping to grow the next generation of future proof crops. Phytoform makes minimal changes to plant DNA to grow crops that can feed the world’s growing population in a sustainable manner. To find out how the underlying technology works, how it is different from controversial GMOs and how to go about selling to the agriculture market continue listening William Pelton from Phytoform. Check out Phytoform: https://www.phytoformlabs.com/technology Reach out to William: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-pelton-12813b56/ Reach out to me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascal-mies/

On this episode I talk to Florian Hildebrand, Co-Founder and CEO of Greenlyte Carbon Technologies. Greenlyte is direct air capture company that draws down carbon from the air while producing hydrogen. They have raised ten million in capital and want to grow as fast as Tesla did. Ambitious goals but if we want to fight climate change we need people thinking big. Continue listening to find out how Florian wants to reach Tesla-scale success with Greenlyte Carbon Technologies. Check out Greenlyte Carbon Technologies: https://www.greenlyte.tech Reach out to Florian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-alexander-hildebrand/ Reach out to me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascal-mies/

Hello and welcome to the Tech and Trees podcast. My name is Pascal Mies and on Tech and Trees I talk to ClimateTech founders, investors and operators to find out how we build better ClimateTech companies and how we build more of them faster. In this episode I talk to George Darrah, a principal at the ClimateTech-VC Systemiq Capital. George has a past in the mining and oil industry before he started building and investing in ClimateTech-Startups. So I talk to him about the mindset at oil companies and what it takes to change them as well as what companies we should be building today to clean up the damage they have done. Like some other people on this podcast, George suggests that we should be more open to geoengineering solutions. So there is definitely food for thought here. Personally, I like it when we can talk about controversial topics and I hope you do too. Enjoy. Check out Systemiq Capital: https://www.systemiqcapital.earth Reach out to George: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgedarrah/?originalSubdomain=uk Reach out to me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascal-mies/