This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit climatecowboys.substack.com

Arjun Jairaj is an investor at noa, a London-based VC firm focused on early-stage ventures in the built environment across North America and Europe. With experience spanning private equity, startup founding, and advisory roles, Arjun has worked in India, the UK, and beyond, including founding a shared economy startup called Plonk. At noa, he focuses on real estate, construction, energy, and mobility, with a strong emphasis on sustainability and climate technology.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit climatecowboys.substack.com

Today we have the opportunity to interview one of the most energetic and inspiring people in climate tech. Liz Dennett, the CEO and Founder of Endolith.

If you recognize the name Endolith, it may be because we had Moji Karimi of Cemvita on for episode 200. Endolith recently spun out of Cemvita to form its own independent company.

They are solving a huge problem in the electrification puzzle — copper extraction.

By 2050 we will need more copper than in the history of mankind due to the electrification of industry and developing countries. If we don’t solve this, it could lead to geopolitical conflicts.

Endolith’s technology uses microbes to eat crushed rocks and poop out copper (I mean, I did say explain it to me like I’m 5). They add this to existing mining operations to increase output by ~10%.

Solving this problem will help us get closer to meeting the rising copper demand. And this is a good thing for many reasons. Not the least of which is, as countries gain reliable access to electricity, women and children are the primary beneficiaries. That’s a world I want to work for.

In today’s conversation, we’ll cover:

* The role of copper in electrification

* Her journey to CEO of Endolith

* Why copper could be the thing wars are fought over (not water)

* The innovation behind microbial mining

* The balance between generating hype and focusing on scientific advancements

Let’s dive in. (Full topics at the bottom 👇)

📺 Watch on YouTube | 🍎 Apple Podcasts | 🎧 Spotify | 🗣️ Join the Slack Channel

(PS: if you want to see her adorable dog — go watch on YouTube — SOOO CUTE! 🐶)

If you’re a free subscriber, get the full (and uninterrupted) episode by upgrading to paid today.

Every ClimateTech Entrepreneur needs a reliable partner for their legal needs. Why settle for less than the best? 💪🏽

Reach out to Goodwin Law today; the law firm of choice for hundreds of ClimateTech Entrepreneurs worldwide. They have you covered from funding docs to offtake contracts to IPO and M&A support. GoodwinLaw.com  (and tell them CleanTechies sent you!)

Topics:

* 00:00 The Importance of Coppe

* 02:49 Liz's Journey to Endolith

* 06:06 Microbes and Metal Recovery

* 08:49 Deep Tech Startup Challenges

* 12:11 Spinning-Out of Endolith from Cemvita

* 14:53 The Impact of Copper on Society

* 18:04 Geopolitics and Copper

* 20:57 Electrification and Global Outcomes

* 25:40 Speaking Truth to Power

* 28:26 The Complexities of Clean Energy Access

* 30:44 Areas to Decarbonize Mining

* 32:36 Partnering with Mining Incumbents

* 35:55 Balancing Hype and ‘Doing Science’

* 40:39 The Role of Politics in Green Mining

* 45:11 Recycling & the Future of Minerals

Links

* Liz Dennett | Endolith

* Connect with Somil on LinkedIn | Connect with Silas on LinkedIn

* Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn

* @Silas & @Somil_Agg on X 

* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

A while ago, we released a survey to collect people's feedback on NY Climate Week 2024. Well… the results are in! And we are here to recap them. 

If you want to know…**What people thought the best events were (and why) **As well as the worst… (namedropped… 😬) and why **Favorite topics **Topics people want to see more next year**What everyone’s goal was, and did they achieve it? **What people will do differently next year**And takeaways from your favorite CleanTechies hosts

We enjoyed making this, and we think you’ll enjoy listening. Let us know how we did!Topics 0:00 Introduction to the NY Climate Week Survey Results1:03 Highlights of Favorite Events2:31 Factors Contributing to Event Success3:53 Least Favorite Events8:08 Key Topics Discussed11:51 Goals of Attendees20:30 Broader Feedback and Suggestions for Improvement23:19 Takeaways 

LinksConnect with Somil on LinkedIn | Connect with Silas on LinkedInFollow CleanTechies on LinkedIn@Silas & @Somil_Agg on X 

This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit climatecowboys.substack.com

Arjun Jairaj is an investor at noa, a London-based VC firm focused on early-stage ventures in the built environment across North America and Europe. With experience spanning private equity, startup founding, and advisory roles, Arjun has worked in India, the UK, and beyond, including founding a shared economy startup called Plonk. At noa, he focuses on real estate, construction, energy, and mobility, with a strong emphasis on sustainability and climate technology.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit climatecowboys.substack.com

NOTE: if you’re a free subscriber, you can get the full ~50-minute conversation by upgrading to paid today.

🌎 Welcome back to CleanTechies

The #1 Podcast For ClimateTech Entrepreneurs

* Discussions 2x / week 🎙️

* Bonus content on many episodes 🙋

* Monthly show with Somil & Silas 🤓

* Community 🤝

ClimateTech Investor? Entrepreneur? Maybe an aspiring one? Service p…

Bucket List: - Do a live podcast recording ✅

Thanks to Extantia, one of THE leading ClimateTech funds in Europe, we recorded our first live podcast with Co-Founder, Partner, & LinkedIn Top Voice Yair Reem.

It was FOAKing awesome.

And no, it wasn’t awesome just because we got to do a live podcast, but because so many of you showed up to listen!! Shoutout to all of the CleanTechies that came through; we’re sufficiently motivated to do another 🚀.

No frills this time, the pizazz was in the recording, here’s the info you need:

In today’s recording of our live discussion, you can hear us break-down everything regarding FOAK financing for hardware climate tech startups:

* Intro to Yair

* What the F**K is FOAK

* How to “Do FOAK”

* How offtake agreements are game-changers & the largest open-source offtake directory

* Finding commercialization talent

* The danger of spinning out deeptech too soon

* How founders and investors can break through the noise

Every ClimateTech Entrepreneur needs a reliable partner for their legal needs. Why settle for less than the best? 💪🏽

Reach out to Goodwin Law today; the law firm of choice for hundreds of ClimateTech Entrepreneurs worldwide. They have you covered from funding docs to offtake contracts to IPO and M&A support. GoodwinLaw.com  (and tell them CleanTechies sent you!)

While you listen, here’s some links for ya:

* Connect with Yair

* Follow Extantia

* Check out the last episode we did with Extantia

* Connect with Somil & Silas

* Follow us on LinkedIn

* Subscribe on YouTube

* Upgrade to Paid

And before you go, here’s one more photo for ya:

See y’all at the next CleanTechies Live Podcast Recording ☕️

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe

NYCW 2024 was a DOOZY…filled with plenty of good and crazy times that we equally don’t really remember. It went by in a blur, but so much happened in the week that we need to break it down with all you CleanTechies out there.

Listen to the ep to hear about:

* What events we liked — Third Sphere, Political Risk Event, Climate Capital Summit, New Climate Futures

* The events we didn’t like — VC hangouts & loud bar meetups

* Our biggest takeaways — There needs to be better collaboration across events; and the UNGA & NYCW are competing for the best climate talent

* Our biggest gripes — Too much posturing and getting stuck in echo chambers; too much noise — not enough signal

* What we are going to do differently next year — hosting more of our own events / attending fewer ones & finding places where the real debates are happening

* Our hot takes 🔥:

* FOAK financing isn’t real

* Dealflow isn’t an alpha for VCs anymore

* Startups need to pursue generating PE-quality returns to succeed

👉 AND…last but not least, stay tuned to hear the recording of our first live podcast (coming later this week)…👀

👉 If you’ve made it this far, you must really be interested in a better NYCW experience…fill out the post-Climate Week survey

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe

Hey Everyone!

We're excited to share two big announcements. 🚨🚨

First, CleanTechies is doing its first-ever live podcast! 🎙️🎊

We are partnering with Extantia, one of THE leading ClimateTech VCs in Europe, to do our first ever live podcast recording. 🎉

* When: Wednesday, Sep. 25th @ 4 pm Sharp (be early)

* Where: Register for address

* Register for 1 of 15 CleanTechies tickets here: https://lu.ma/n8gteqtm

Second, we are hosting a soccer game for CleanTechies ⚽

* When: Friday, Sep. 27th @ 5:30 pm

* Where: Near Sunset Park in Brooklyn (final location shared if approved)

* Register here: https://lu.ma/duovm34k

We’re very excited to see you all there 😎!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe

NY Climate Week is ####ing insane — event after event after event.

If you’re not careful, you’ll waste an entire week of work and sleep — and get nothing out of it.

We are here to give you our two cents… or rather, 35 min of advice on how to get the most out of your climate week experience.

This is for you regardless if this is your first or fifth climate week.

We broke it down into:

* Before - How to prep

* During - What to keep in mind during the chaos

* After - Mastering the follow-up

Have a listen and comment with your advice for all the other CleanTechies.

🚨🚨🚨 ALSO… here is the list of events we’re attending during NYCW. Don’t be a stranger — we’ll be more excited to say hi than you can handle.

Good luck out there!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit climatecowboys.substack.com

🌎 Welcome back to CleanTechies

The #1 Podcast For ClimateTech Entrepreneurs

Free subscriber? Get the full ~52-minute conversation by upgrading to paid today.OR, unlock your free post today. OR, check out the free ~32 min version. (so many choices!)

You get:

* Full-length & Bonus episodes 🎙️

* Monthly(ish) show with Somil & Silas 🤓

* Community 🤝

ClimateTech Investor? Entrepreneur? Maybe an aspiring one? Service provider?If what you do touches early-stage ClimateTech, this is the place for you. 🤝

Today, we are talking to Jonathan Tan from Coreshell.

Yo yo yo! 🪀 (I must have had too much caffeine today)

We are back with another kick-ass episode with a kick-ass founder building kick-ass battery technology.

There may be feelings hurt today when you hear what Jonathan has to say about the lack of genuine innovation in battery tech over the past ~20 years.

We get into a LOT of things.

But before that, you gotta know more about Jonathan.

After completing his undergrad at UC Berkeley in Chemical Engineering he spent many years developing membrane technology at Membrane Technology and Research Inc.

He was spending a lot of time in wastewater treatment. It’s there he realized that the major driver of that adoption, above regulation, was economics. They wanted to utilize all of the things they could to increase profitability.

Then in 2017, he and his co-founders got sick of their jobs and wanted to found a company. They originally met in college and had worked in the thin film membrane industries. Roger worked in CleanTech 1.0 with thin film solar.

Today, they are scaling up production in Germany with a partner. For that reason, we feel quite confident in Jonathan’s ability to speak about the do’s and definitely don’t do’s in this space.

(continued below)

Every ClimateTech Entrepreneur needs a reliable partner for their legal needs. Why settle for less than the best? 💪🏽

Reach out to Goodwin Law today; the law firm of choice for hundreds of ClimateTech Entrepreneurs worldwide. They have you covered from funding docs to offtake contracts to IPO and M&A support. GoodwinLaw.com  (and tell them CleanTechies sent you!)

Okay — so what are we talking about today, partner? 🤠

* By focusing on luxury market, EV makers have emphasized range over price. This is in contrast to China’s EV market, which has now drastically lowered the cost of EVs when compared to the rest of the world.

* How Coreshell’s tech will allow the EU and US to stop relying on China’s monopolistic control over the global graphite market (they currently produce ~76% of the world’s graphite supply).

* Why Trump should be pro-investing in climate if he’s actually all about American independence?

* How the EU treats battery recycling and why they are jealous of the US’s policy achievements.

And quite a few other things.

📺 Watch on YouTube | 🍎 Apple Podcasts | 🎧 Spotify | 🗣️ Join the Slack Channel

Future guest suggestions or topics? Leave a comment!

📝 Show Notes:

Topics

* Dinner with Peter Singer

* Jonathan’s Story

* Founding Coreshell

* The Technology

* Reliance on China’s Graphite Monopoly

* Advice to the Next Presidential Administration

* Mass Production Cost vs 10x Moonshots

Paid Version Starts Here

* Battery Industry in a Trump Admin

* Range Anxiety vs Charge Anxiety

* Economics Incentives on the Battery Industry

* The US & EU’s Battery Tech Policies & Incentives

* Battery Recycling & Traceability

Links

* Jonathan Tan | Coreshell

* Connect with Somil on LinkedIn | Connect with Silas on LinkedIn

* Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn

* @Silas & @Somil_Agg on X 

* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.