We kicked off New York Climate Week with a live podcast recording with Kim Zou and Sophie Purdom, co-founders of CTVC. CTVC’s data-driven insights have been featured in channels including NYTimes, Bloomberg, Reuters, Financial Times, and TechCrunch.

Kim serves as the CEO of CTVC. She was previously a climate tech investor at Energy Impact Partners. Prior to joining EIP, Kim was part of JPMorgan's Tech M&A investment banking team and graduated from Johns Hopkins University.

In addition to her work with CTVC, Sophie Purdom invests in and supports early-stage climate tech founders and their companies via her venture capital fund Planeteer Capital. Prior, Sophie launched an ESG fund at a major endowment, learned to make pretty slides at Bain & Co., published a book on sustainable investing, and helped found an agricultural technology company that makes carbon-negative ammonia fertilizer.

Special shout-out to everyone who came out to the live recording, and to our hosts at P&T Knitwear for lending their beautiful space in the Lower East Side. Enjoy the show! 

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:33] How Kim and Sophie met and the early days of CTVC
• [6:37] Kim's background 
• [10:14] The pair's early venture experience
• [13:22] Sophie's background
• [17:05] The origins of Planeteer Capital 
• [20:18] CTVC's evolution into a market intelligence company 
• [25:42] CTVC's Climate Tech Capital Stack: https://www.ctvc.co/the-sophisticating-climate-capital-stack/
• [28:51] Early stage dry powder
• [31:36] Project finance and infrastructure financing 
• [36:56] Public funding and philanthropy 
• [40:06] Trends in philanthropic catalytic capital 
• [43:45] Corporate strategics
• [46:34] The role of banks
• [50:08] Insurance 
• [51:18] Sophie and Kim's predictions for the market in the near term

Get connected: 

• Kim Zou X / LinkedIn 
• Sophie Purdom X / LinkedIn
• Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
• MCJ Podcast / Collective / Instagram

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on September 18, 2023 (Published on September 25, 2023)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant