Live from New York Climate Week with My Climate Journey and CTVC
Live from New York Climate Week with My Climate Journey and CTVC
For many within the expansive climate community, the spectacle that invades the city during Climate Week NYC is the apex of annual gatherings. This year, MCJ kicked off the week of events with a special live podcast recording. In the early days of MCJ, Jason had the privilege of meeting some of our featured guests in person, but it had been a while since we assembled a live audience for a conversation in such a public setting. Thanks to our friends at Future Climate Venture Studio (FCVS) and our gracious hosts at P&T Knitwear, we brought the My Climate Journey podcast to life on Monday, September 18, 2023.
On stage with our My Climate Journey co-host, Cody Simms, were none other than Kim Zou, CEO and Co-founder at CTVC, and Sophie Purdom, Kim’s co-founder at CTVC and Managing Partner at Planeteer Capital. For those less acquainted with CTVC, Kim and Sophie crafted and expanded a climate innovation newsletter and strategic data platform to a staggering 50,000+ subscribers. CTVC’s data-driven insights have been featured in the NYTimes, Bloomberg, Reuters, Financial Times, and TechCrunch, among others. It's a valuable resource for anyone immersed in the climate sphere and set the stage for an enlightening conversation not only about CTVC's origin and evolution into a B2B market intelligence business, but also Kim and Sophie's career journeys, their visions for the short and long-term future, and the ever-evolving climate capital landscape.
Without further ado, here are some key takeaways from our discussion:
The CTVC journey is a testament to perseverance, serendipity, networking, and a dash of fortuitous timing. A central message we gleaned is that building a business takes time, and the organic path to discovering your purpose and destination is often the most rewarding. Kim aptly summarized it:
“One of the recurring things with both Sophie's and I's story is there's been a lot of happy accidents throughout both of our journeys.”
We need to unpack the climate capital stack to extend the conversation to include other financing formats in addition to VC. Creating physical infrastructure and large commercial projects comes with substantial costs. One of the key differences between Cleantech 1.0 and today’s climate tech landscape is the diversification and maturation of funding sources, beyond VC, that can fuel a company's growth.
Bridging the gap between early-stage climate tech and bankability where commercial debt and lending become viable, is going to be critical. CTVC categorizes project finance and infrastructure into three buckets: emerging infra, growth infrastructure, and mature infra. Each category represents different levels of risk and willingness to invest in early-stage tech. Kim elaborated:
The challenge we particularly faced is traditional project finance and infra investors… they don't want to fund early-stage climate tech. TRL isn't even in their language… They're thinking about project readiness level. You have to be already off the spectrum of TRL for them to be even thinking about you.
Public funding plays a monumental role. The DOE's approach to supporting climate tech commercialization is multifaceted and encompasses funding for clean energy demonstrations and first commercial projects, which catalyze private capital investments in the space. The UK and EU have similar initiatives to support this cause.
Corporate strategics and asset owners are not only investing but also engaging in co-development and facility build-out. These projects are strategic for corporates’ balance sheets, which makes them important partners and even potential acquirers of climate tech startups. Sophie explained:
We see that the top two largest categories of acquirers, so exits for climate-backed venture businesses, are into the energy sector and into the financial services sector.
We want to make climate tech boring. The goal is to make climate tech "boring" in a positive sense, akin to solar and wind energy. It should no longer be seen as high-tech risk but as a dependable and established industry.
Banks are starting to put climate at the forefront, and it’s not just marketing speak. Teams are either directly investing in climate themselves or they’re thinking about how they can start to play in the space. Examples include HSBC, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs.
Optimism and excitement about the future pervade the space. While there is room for improvement and an urgent need for increased funding, we were left with hopeful messages. Sophie concluded:
It's easy to start companies, and it's easy to start funds. It's hard for both of them to shutter... I don't think we've seen a majority of companies shut down. Folks find net new homes, hopefully in even stronger places, like in the climate ecosystem with business models that are more set up for the long term.”
As co-hosts of this special event, entrepreneurs from FVCS’s latest cohort took the stage following the podcast segment to pitch their climate solutions to the audience. FCVS is a climate tech startup studio created by R/GA Ventures, the University of Connecticut, and CT Next.
Winson Wong presented his company, Afterlife Ag, dedicated to creating circular mushroom farms using mycelium, converting food waste into fresh, local mushrooms and sustainable biochar.
Jeff Coleman discussed how Eli empowers contractors to make electrification affordable for all.
Makoto Eyre shared Homeostasis's innovative approach to transforming CO2 into essential carbon materials for batteries.
David Kim covered Monterra’s software solution for EV charging installers to help project developers speed up the process of deploying commercial EV charging projects.
Miguel Miranda brought forth an instant-paying climate insurance pitch for disaster recovery through Raincoat, which was fitting for the rainy NYC day.
Nakita Devlin showcased her platform, Ric, designed to assist individuals and communities in recovery efforts following floods.
Finally, you can’t kick off NY Climate Week without creating an opportunity for folks from all walks of the climate spectrum to network. At MCJ we’re all about breaking knowledge siloes and facilitating connectivity. We concluded the evening with a convivial happy hour, where everyone from investors and founders to engineers, policy advocates, marketers, and more mingled in P&T’s carefully curated bookshelves.
Special thanks to our MCJ NYC community hosts, Melissa Zhang and Yago de Quay. If you’re in the area and would like to stay up to date on the latest MCJ happenings, get in touch with Melissa and Yago on Slack.
Want to listen to the entire discussion? Tune in on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform! Find more information on our website here.
If you have burning questions for Kim and Sophie that weren't discussed in the podcast, please join us for a special MCJ Ask Me Anything event on October 5th, starting at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET. Kim and Sophie will be answering member questions for 24 hours on the #c-mcj-ama channel. Can't make it, or want to ask a question anonymously? Submit your question here, and we'll ask on your behalf!
🍿 The Lean Back
Rollie Williams covers the The Brainwashing Of America's Children in the latest Climate Town.
🎙️ My Climate Journey Podcast
💸 Jason talked to Fabian Heilemann, founder and CEO of AENU, about the firm’s core principals, how they got going, and where Fabian sees AENU heading in the future. Tune in to the Capital Series here.
👩🏭 Yin invited Mary MacPherson on the show who serves as a program manager in the Office of State and Community Energy Programs at the DOE. Mary and Yin delve into residential energy efficiency training programs, tackling key workforce challenges like an aging labor force and educational barriers. Listen to the Skilled Labor Series here.
👩💻 Climate Jobs
For more open positions, check out the #j-climatejobs channel in MCJ Slack as well as our MCJ Job Board.
Pilot Plant Manager at Air Company (New York, NY)
Accountant at BlocPower (New York, NY)
Analytical Lab Technician at Charm Industrial (San Francisco, CA)
Sustainability Strategy & Operations Lead at Climate Club (Remote)
Logistics Lead at Crusoe (Denver, CO
Corporate Inventory and Decarbonization Manager at Planet FWD (Remote)
Software Engineer, Cloud Services at Quilt (Redwood City, CA)
Laboratory Facilities Coordinator at Solugen (Houston, TX)
✨ Community Highlights
🗓 Climate Events
🇨🇦 MCJ Toronto Climate Series - Regenerative Agriculture Unearthed: Interested, curious, or passionate about climate? Join us for networking, learning, and a night full of fascinating conversations! (Oct 5)
💡 MCJ Monthly Idea Jams: These sessions provide a chance for MCJ members to get help with roadblocks, meet co-founders or future employees, connect with investors, or people working on similar topics. (Oct 6)
👩💻 MCJ + Climate People Climate Career Advancement Meetup: Join us for an enlightening session with Drew Wilkinson, climate activist, community organizer, and co-founder of Microsoft’s 10,000 member sustainability community. (Oct 11)
📚 MCJ AMA Anshuman Bapna - Terra.do: Anshuman is a serial entrepreneur. Terra.do is on a mission to get 100 million people to work on climate this decade. Get your questions ready or use our form to submit them in advance. (Oct 18)
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