New Wave.

🌊 David Ferguson on pilot-to-scale partnerships.

Why corporate-startup partnerships fail and how to design the ones that actually work.

We’re joined by David Ferguson, Head of Innovation (UK) at EDF, a 20-year energy veteran working at the intersection of climate, technology, and large-scale infrastructure.

In this episode, we dive into why corporates love pilots but struggle to scale them, and unpack what it really takes for startups and big utilities to build collaborations that survive beyond the proof of concept.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why most climate pilots die before reaching scale

→ How to design a trial that stands on its own (not a fake path to procurement)

→ The four real ways corporates can work with startups, beyond selling

→ Culture clash: speed, risk, incentives, and decision-making

→ Why corporates need startups as much as startups need corporates

→ What EDF actually wants from climate startups right now

→ Why flexibility and long-duration storage are the next big battlegrounds

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

🌊 Marc Lechantre on industrial decarbonization.

We’re joined by Marc Lechantre, Partner at Axeleo Capital’s Green Tech Industry Fund. After 15 years in the automotive industry, Marc now backs the founders building the factories, materials, and energy systems that actually move the climate needle.

In this episode, we dive into industrial climate tech, and unpack what it really takes to finance, scale, and de-risk hardware-first startups in Europe.

We covered:

→ Why software alone won’t solve climate change

→ The real funding gap in industrial climate tech

→ How to de-risk industrial investments

→ Why Europe still has a shot at re-industrialization

→ What VCs often miss about hardware risk, and why it’s different, not worse

→ Why “green premiums” are over, and climate solutions must now win on cost

→ What investing actually looks like when you’re building physical infrastructure

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

Sam Goodall on Europe’s Climate Tech “Supercluster”

In Paris, I sat down with Sam Goodall, CEO of Cambridge Cleantech and co-founder of the Climate Tech Supercluster.

We unpacked a question I kept hearing:Why does Europe lead in climate innovation, but fall behind on scale?

Sam’s take is refreshingly clear: Climate tech is spread too thin. We miss an obvious “Silicon Valley” to go to.

That’s why he created the Supercluster approach: a series of events across Europe (London, Paris, Amsterdam) that increases the collision rate, and let smart people collaborate.

Here’s what we covered:

→ Europe’s superpower: the research base (TRL 1-3)

→ Where the system breaks: scaling post-TRL 7 + “value leakage”

→ The missing link: capital that matches deeptech timelines

→ Why corporates are the de-risking engine for FOAK

→ 2026+ opportunities: industrial decarb + data center energy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

Makesense just closed its €25M pre-seed fund:

So we sat down with Marion Schuppe to unpack what it really takes to build an impact-first VC from a nonprofit DNA.

👉 Fundraising: fun, exciting.. exhausting

What does it take for a nonprofit-rooted team to win over LPs and triple their fund size? More trust-building, cooperation, and resilience than most people think.

👉 Why pre-seed impact investing needs small funds

Marion explains why “bigger is not better” at pre-seed, and why Makesense is doubling down on inclusive circular business models as the most resilient path to economic, social, and environmental value.

👉 The hybrid model: NGO mindset, VC discipline

Incubation programs. Operating support. European subsidies. A 10% NGO investment pocket. Makesense is quietly building one of Europe’s most innovative capital stacks.Is this the future of early-stage impact investing?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

This week on New Wave Weekly:

👉 Why food & ag still scare generalist VCs

Despite being a $8T industry employing more people than any other, exits are small, timelines are long, and the science is heavy. So why does capital hesitate? And what are they missing?

👉 Where the real opportunities are in food tech

From ingredients with 1% inclusion rates, to functional foods, to GLP-1 alternatives, to sugar-free sweet proteins, which models actually scale in venture timelines?

👉 Food as Medicine: the next multi-billion category?

GLP-1 drugs reshaped consumer behavior… but can food do the same? We explore peptides, functional mushrooms, sugar replacement, and why nutrition may beat pharma at its own game.

👉 The investment memo for food tech — across stages

What does “good” look like at pre-seed? Seed? Growth? Revenue thresholds, market entry strategy, brand vs B2B ingredients, regulatory cycles, and why biotech in food still needs ~15 years and $100M to get to market.

👉 Do brands or ingredients win? The great debate

Lavie, Beyond Meat, Oatly, challenger brands vs. enabling technologies, and why doing “both biotech AND brand” almost never works.

***

Wave Makers:

Nadine - World Fund

Gil - Flora VC

Fabio - Zintinus

Hugo - New Wave

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

🌊 The Excellence of Machines, Inside Aris Machina’s $10.7M Pre-Seed

How do you build an agentic operating system for manufacturing, and why now?

We’re joined by Siddharth “Sid” Khullar, Co-Founder & CEO of Aris Machina, the company building an agentic OS for complex manufacturing, starting with batteries. Sid previously led Software & AI at Northvolt, where he experienced firsthand the success and failure of the company as well as the manufacturing complexity that inspired Aris Machina’s creation.

In this episode, we dive into what industrial super-intelligence really means, and what it takes to build software that can reason across tens of thousands of parameters, bridge the gap between human operators and AI agents, and transform modern manufacturing.

In our conversation, we covered:→ How Northvolt’s collapse shaped Europe’s next wave of industrial founders→ Why modern factories drown in data but starve for insight→ The “aha” moment: a catastrophic yield problem that no dashboard could explain→ What an agentic OS actually is, and why it’s not “just an LLM”→ How Aris Machina avoids becoming a consulting company→ Why battery factories are the ideal proving ground→ How Sid raised a ~$10M pre-seed after 300 investor nos→ The long-term vision: an app store for manufacturing

***

Links:

Sid on LinkedIn

Aris Machina

Or ask me for an intro!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

Thank you to this week’s sponsor:

Accelerating Impact - a non-profit advancing impact finance by mobilizing capital and running free accelerator programs for emerging fund managers. Join for expert coaching, training, financial support, and a strong community. Apply here.

***

🌊 A New Swell Has Arrived

Inside Better Society Capital’s approach to returns, impact, and the next gen of funds.

We’re joined by Dougie Sloan, Head of Venture at Better Society Capital, the UK’s largest social impact investor and a cornerstone LP across 120+ impact-driven funds.

In this episode, we dive into how an LP actually evaluates venture funds, and what it really takes to raise from an impact-oriented institutional investor. Dougie breaks down portfolio construction, return expectations, impact methodology, and the LP role in shifting European VC.

In our conversation, we covered:→ How Better Society Capital selects funds → Why impact doesn’t imply concessionary returns→ Why Europe needs more specialist funds→ Where impact actually drives commercial performance→ The state of liquidity in venture across the world→ How LPs assess team, repeatability, and firm-building→ Practical fundraising advice for GPs raising today

***

Links:

Douglas on LinkedIn

Better Society Capital

Or ask me for an intro!

Impact as a driver of value.

Join the Impact VC community

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

This week on New Wave Weekly:

👉 Aris Machina lands a monster “pre-seed”

Founded by two former Northvolt leaders — including Peter Carlsson — Aris Machina wants to build the agent OS for manufacturing, unifying messy factory data into a global optimization layer. But can you really standardize manufacturing when every plant is different?

👉 AI for Manufacturing: hype cycle or real inflection?

Europe and the U.S. saw multiple rounds this week alone — Aris, Forges, Drift — as investors wake up to $8T in manufacturing inefficiency. But are we funding the next Palantir… or just fancy consulting with better branding?

👉 Is China already at “nine sigma”?

A live debate: Are Western factories actually decades behind? Some say China’s battery plants have already cracked near-zero-fault manufacturing — so what does that mean for European AI startups betting on yield optimization?

***

Wave Makers:

Jonny Everett - Marble

Matthew Blain - Voyager Ventures

Yair Reem - Extantia

Hugo Rauch - New Wave

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

We’re joined by Alex Bakir, Partner at Norrsken Evolve, an operator-turned-investor who has built and scaled companies across Silicon Valley and Europe before launching one of the continent’s most distinctive early-stage climate funds.

In this episode, we dive into why Europe’s climate tech story needs a new foundation, one rooted in productive capacity, supply-chain sovereignty, and operator-led support for founders, and what it really takes to convince LPs in today’s market.

In our conversation, we covered:→ Why climate cycles repeat, and why this one is different→ What Alex actually sold to LPs (and why he was oversubscribed)→ The real gap at pre-seed: sophistication, not capital→ Momentum as the new signal: how Norrsken Evolve picks winners→ Why resilience ≠ defense, and what Europe misunderstands→ The role of regionalization and the end of “global by default.”

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

This week on New Wave Weekly:

👉 Einride’s $1.8B IPO: A look inside the price

The Swedish freight-tech giant is heading to the NYSE via SPAC at a 40× revenue multiple. Is the market ready for a Tesla-for-freight, or is this déjà vu of the SPAC boom?

👉 Vertical integration vs. “just pick a lane”

Einride builds hardware, software, autonomous systems, logistics optimization, everything. Too much stack risk, or the only way to make TCO work in freight?

👉 Europe’s climate champions keep listing abroad

Another European climate-tech leader chooses the US public markets. What does this say about the European markets and the long-awaited EU-INC?

***

Wave Makers:

Craig Douglas - World Fund

Julia Attwood - Sightline Climate

Hampus Jakobsson - Pale Blue Dot

Hugo Rauch - New Wave

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com