New Wave.

Today on New Wave Weekly:

Sightline Climate just released the Globalization in climate tech report (download it here). I sat down with Julia Attwood, Head of Research at Sightline, to chat about the key takeaways for European investors.

👉 Europe is committed to climate tech, but still missing the big checks

Europe matches the US in number of deals and early-stage activity… so why are growth-stage rounds 31% smaller? Are we losing momentum at exactly the wrong moment?

👉 Policy is Europe’s superpower

From the EU ETS and CBAM to the Clean Industrial Deal, Europe is quietly building the world’s most durable decarbonization incentives. Is this the “carbon price flywheel” moment?

👉 Project deployment: Europe takes the lead

55% of the global announced green cement capacity is in Europe, and 70% of what’s actually under construction. Industrial decarbonization is becoming a real market.

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 Hampus Jakobsson, Partner at Pale Blue Dot, longtime founder, operator, and one of Europe’s most prolific early-stage investors.

In this episode, we dive into what it means to be a “five” in agency, how great teams form, why climate became unavoidable for him, and how Pale Blue Dot built an unconventional fund model that actually works for founders.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why The Astonishing Tribe scaled from six friends to 180 people across the world

→ The traits Hampus looks for in the first 10 hires of any startup

→ How extreme agency became his superpower, and occasional liability

→ The personal story that shaped his worldview on care, speed, and craft

→ Why climate wasn’t obvious at first… and then became the only rational choice

→ How Pale Blue Dot balances “three solo GPs” inside one fund

→ What founders consistently misunderstand about VC

***

Supported by:

Accelerating Impact - an independent non-profit advancing impact finance by mobilizing capital toward sustainable development and running free accelerator programs for emerging fund managers (ICFA, ISFA). Join for expert coaching, training, financial support, and a strong peer community. Apply here.

***

Listen now:Apple // Spotify // YouTube

Connect with Hampus:

Hampus on LinkedIn

Pale Blue Dot

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

This week on New Wave Weekly:

👉 Why chip cooling is becoming a climate story

Data centers are hitting thermal limits. Nvidia says liquid cooling is inevitable. Is cooling the hidden bottleneck of the AI revolution?

👉 How to actually diligence deep tech

From techno-economic models to hyperscaler roadmaps, Maxi, Jordan, and Jake break down how investors separate real breakthroughs from nice demos.

👉 Europe’s deep tech moment

Is Europe better positioned to build the next climate mega-companies than in the software era?

***

Wave Makers:

Maxi - HV Capital

Jordan - IQ Capital

Jake - Voyager Ventures

Hugo - New Wave

***

(00:00) Introduction

(01:15) What chip cooling has to do with climate

(03:15) Corintis and the future of liquid cooling

(10:40) Selling to hyperscalers without dying

(16:49) Gen 1 to Gen 3: crossing the valley of commercial death

(18:25) How to assess “good deep tech”

(27:03) Why deep tech valuations are high

(32:29) Europe vs. the US: who wins the deep tech race?

(37:03) Advice for generalist VCs entering deep tech

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

How two founders turned a decade of building too-early ideas into a climate investment thesis for the next industrial wave.

We’re joined by Maex Ament and Philip Stehlik, co-founders of two unicorns (Taulia and Centrifuge) and now founding partners at Earth, a new European climate fund investing across the industrial stack.

In this episode, we dive into how being “too early” became their edge, what it really takes to sustain a 20-year co-founder relationship, and how ex-founders think differently when they start backing the next generation of climate entrepreneurs.

In our conversation, we covered:→ Why great co-founder relationships are like marriages (and how to make them last)→ Why being too early can be a founder’s superpower, if you can survive it→ How ex-founders approach venture investing differently→ Why climate investing is the new industrial revolution (not just a cause)→ What “climate dynamism” really means, and why green premiums are dead

***

Supported by:

☕ Climate Coffee:

Max Bray

and his co-founder have been building a fast-growing community and series of meet-ups connecting founders, investors, operators, and scientists in climate tech across Europe. Read more here.

***

Connect with Maex & Philip:

Maex Ament

Philip Stehlik

earth.now

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

Today on New Wave:

Altrove just raised $10M to reinvent how new materials are discovered, using AI and robotics to replace the world’s rarest elements.

This week, I sat down with Thibaud Martin, Altrove’s co-founder and CEO, to unpack:

👉 AI Meets Material Science

Altrove just raised $10M to accelerate the discovery of new materials that can replace rare earths - a mission that could redefine global supply chains.

👉 From Serendipity to Systematic Discovery

For centuries, new materials were found by accident. Now, with AI and robotized labs, Altrove is inventing never-before-seen substances in weeks, not decades.

👉 Europe’s Supply Chain Awakening

With China controlling 90%+ of rare earth refining, Altrove’s tech could become a pillar of European sovereignty - one recipe at a time.

***

Wave Makers:

Thibaud Martin - Altrove.ai

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

This week on New Wave Weekly:

👉 How LPs really select climate funds

From 500 decks to a handful of checks, LPs reveal how they go about screening and selecting funds at the top of the funnel.

👉 What due diligence really looks like

The invisible marathon: deep dives, and months of follow-ups. Here’s how to keep momentum alive until the check lands.

👉 Impact vs. Returns: Can you have both?

Ferd, Carbon Equity, and Aurum Impact all say yes, but the road to proving market-rate climate returns is long, patient, and full of nuance.

***

Wave Makers:

Anniken - Ferd

Bas - Carbon Equity

Jan - Aurum Impact

***

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:24) Selecting Climate Funds

(07:30) How to Get a First Meeting

(13:45) LP–GP Fit

(19:24) Common Mistakes

(22:55) Building an Edge

(26:54) Impact vs Returns

(33:20) Branding and Strategy Drift

(38:45) Market Sentiment & Returns

(41:11) Due Diligence Behind the Scenes

(47:41) Getting the First Commit

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 Fifth Swell Has Arrived

What does circularity really look like when the hype fades?

I sat down with Guillaume Gras, Investment Director at ECBF and former Innovafeed co-founder (raised over €250M), to unpack how climate VCs think about circularity, and what truly drives growth and resilience.

In this episode, we explore what circularity means beyond buzzwords and regulation, and how founders can build scalable businesses that turn waste into value without losing sight of economics.

***

Connect with Guillaume:

ECBF.VC

Guillaume Gras | LinkedIn

Or ask me for an intro!

***

🌊 Next Up on The Swell

An interview with former co-founders of two unicorns now turned climate VC…

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:

👉 The case for “boring” industries

Why old-school sectors like steel, cement, mining, and logistics may be the best places for climate founders to win (if you can crack GTM and avoid CapEx traps).

👉 Product vs. commodity: know your fight

If you’re selling into consolidated commodity markets with decade-long relationships, how do you build venture-scale outcomes?

👉 Market growth vs. GTM speed

Should you chase TAM growth blindly or go for large markets where urgency is spiking?

***

Wave Makers:

Matthew Blain - Voyager Ventures

Hampus Jakobsson - Pale Blue Dot

***

(00:00) Introduction

(00:51) The Case For “Boring” Industries.

(19:30) Market growth vs. GTM Speed.

(26:00) Recruiting Talents.

(28:08) Wrap-up

***

✨Leave a review

Apple Podcasts - https://shorturl.at/HIDcg

Spotify - https://shorturl.at/yDTfR

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

Supported by:

Accelerating Impact - an independent non-profit advancing impact finance by mobilizing capital toward sustainable development and running free accelerator programs for emerging fund managers (ICFA, ISFA). Join for expert coaching, training, financial support, and a strong peer community. Apply here.

***

🌊 The Fourth Swell Has Arrived

Today, we’re joined by Laura Fox, Streetlight Ventures founding partner and the operator who scaled Citi Bike to ~$120M ARR.

She’s now backing the next wave of city-scale climate builders, in mobility, logistics, energy, water, waste, and adaptation.

We dig into why adaptation is finally investable, how to build where the payer = beneficiary, and Laura’s anti-FOMO framework for spotting what actually matters in climate.

***

My 5 takeaways:

Cities = Climate’s Front Line: Half the world lives in cities, which generate ~70% of global emissions. Cities also control the capital, infrastructure, and policy that shape everything else. We won’t solve climate change without solving for cities.

The Cost of Adaptation: Extreme weather is already a balance-sheet issue: the WEF estimates $4T in corporate P&L losses from climate impacts. Above 90°F (32°C), productivity can drop by 50%. Climate resilience becomes critical to operating.

Utilities in Permanent Crisis Mode: U.S. utilities spend $100B+ a year on disaster recovery, and still face more outages per capita than any other developed nation. Reliability is the new frontier for climate innovation.

The Adaptation VC Filter: Laura’s test for what’s VC-backable is simple: the payer and the beneficiary must be the same. If the customer directly benefits (less asset loss, safer operations, lower costs), it’s investable. But when the benefits are public or shared (like cooling a whole city block), the model breaks. That’s where government, not venture, has to lead.

Laura’s Anti-FOMO Investing Playbook:

Does it matter? Is the market big enough? Is the customer pain urgent? And does the solution drive real climate impact? If those hurdles aren’t met, the conversation doesn’t move forward.

Can they do it? Founders must show industry fluency, ideally firsthand experience with the problem, or deep learning through research and customer discovery. Laura looks for founders who can tell a clear story, sell across stakeholders, and attract early believers.

Can it scale?

Feasibility (proof from early pilots)

Desirability (validated customer insights and pipeline)

Viability (a credible path to margins and scale)

***

Connect with Laura:

Streetlife Ventures

Laura Fox | LinkedIn

Or ask me for an intro!

***

🌊 Next Up on The Swell

A deep dive with Hampus Jakobsson, General Partner at Pale Blue Dot.

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:

👉 Stegra and the Billion-Euro Gap

Sweden’s Stegra (formerly H2 Green Steel) raised €6.5 billion to build Europe’s largest green-steel plant, then the FT called it a “funding crisis.” Is this media clickbait, or is Europe’s gigascale model showing cracks?

👉 All Aboard: The Collaborative Fund Movement

A new US initiative is pooling $300M from top VCs to de-risk first-of-a-kind climate projects. Should Europe follow suit, or is public capital our real advantage?

👉 AI as a Climate Catalyst

From DeepMind’s fusion simulations to data centers that run on nuclear-scale power, could AI become the unexpected accelerant for decarbonization?

***

References:

Swedish green steel firm Stegra seeks another $1.1 billion in financing | Reuters

SHS Raises $2 Billion for Green Steel Project in Germany - ESG Today

Stegra announces agreement with Microsoft - green steel - Stegra

Laurie Menoud on scaling climate-tech

Flagship green steel start-up in funding crisis

All aboard a game-changing initiative

The real reason Google DeepMind is working with a fusion energy startup

FAST by Patrick Collison

[Book] - Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future” by Dan Wang

“AI Infrastructure: Trojan Horses for Climate Infrastructure”

What Denmark’s Hippie Teachers Can Teach Us About Financing Climate Tech

***

Wave Makers:

Jonny Everett - Marble

Maxi Pethö-Schramm - HV Capital

Yair Reem - Extantia

***

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:05) VC Money. Infra Problems.

(29:29)  The First Collaborative Fund?

(41:46) AI for Fusion?

***

Leave a review✨

Apple Podcasts - https://shorturl.at/HIDcg

Spotify - https://shorturl.at/yDTfR

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