Today I'm joined by Tess Dury, Director of Impact and ESG at Extantia, a deep tech climate fund, known for not shying away from hardware tech, as well as first of a kind industrial investments. At Extentia Tess works with investors in climate startups to support them in the difficult journey of both designing and delivering sustainable growth that is part of the solution, not the problem. Today's episode is honestly quite surprising for me because not only did we explore the usual personal journey into sustainability and impact, but Tess managed to uncover so many difficult and interesting questions around colonial history and how it should be interconnected with a general systems approach, which I found particularly fascinating, and she did not shy away also from approaching power and relationships in venture capital.
In this episode, we dive into:

• Colonial History & Systems Thinking – how her Belgian-Portuguese background and family history in the Congo shape her understanding of capital, systems, and justice
• Power & Relationships in Venture Capital – the dynamics between investors, founders, and LPs, and how trust and relationship-building help navigate tensions
• Navigating Complexity & Impact Frameworks – insights into balancing systemic thinking with practical decision-making
• Contrarian View on Capital – Tess argues that climate tech doesn’t just need more capital, but less extractive capital, emphasizing fairness, non-exploitation, and systemic responsibility

Episode Breakdown:Welcome – 00:00:00Origin & Perspective – 00:02:13The Relationship at the Core – 00:10:35Tensions, Lessons & Tools – 00:13:04Contrarian Thoughts – 00:26:13Your go-to person – 00:29:44Flash Round – 00:32:41