'Founders need to sacrifice those final 10 or 20 percent' – Zero Carbon doubles down on hard science impact firms
27 jan. 2025
09:00
VC firm Zero Carbon Capital is all about harnessing the power of hard science to tackle the climate crisis. After closing a first fund focused on the UK, Zero Carbon's second fund of more than €20m is expanding across Europe with the aim of finding hardware companies that can take industries closer to net zero.
Impact Loop interviewed Max Werny, a venture associate at Zero Carbon Capital, to discuss:
→ Zero Carbon's wish list for climate tech investments in 2025
→ Why the firm is feeling 'cautious optimism' despite Trump pulling out of Paris Agreement
→ Why scientist-founders need to let go of 'perfectionism' when running a startup
Impact Loop interviewed Max Werny, a venture associate at Zero Carbon Capital, to discuss:
→ Zero Carbon's wish list for climate tech investments in 2025
→ Why the firm is feeling 'cautious optimism' despite Trump pulling out of Paris Agreement
→ Why scientist-founders need to let go of 'perfectionism' when running a startup
Pippa Gawley founded Zero Carbon with her husband Alex Gawley after returning to Europe from Silicon Valley, where she spent time as an angel investor. Since launching in 2019, the venture capital firm's focus has been clear: investing in hardware companies that can "move the needle" when it comes to reducing carbon emissions. The firm only considers technologies that are backed by hard science and have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 0.5 gigatons per year at full-scale deployment.
Zero Carbon's first £20m (€24m) fund focused on UK companies and closed last year, while its second fund of a similar size is taking in startups across Europe –– mostly at the seed and pre-seed stage.