Scaling Deep Tech in Climate: Pippa Gawley (Zero Carbon Capital)

For the final episode of series six, I was joined by Pippa Gawley, a founding partner at Zero Carbon. They are investors in early-stage companies that are on a mission to fix climate change through deep science innovation. They look for hard-tech solutions that have the potential to make half gigaton-level reductions of CO2e at scale; and have vision-aligned, ambitious teams to go with them.
Across this series we will be discussing the challenges around scaling deep tech solutions within climate. I’ll be speaking to Investors, Founders, Venture Builders and other key ecosystem players all focused on scaling and commercialising groundbreaking, deep tech innovations.
We will explore how to prepare for the challenges that deep tech companies often face around fundraising, scaling, team building and commercialisation; and we’ll hear from stories of those who have successfully scaled to Series A and beyond.
www.zerocarbon...
2:02 - How did you come to investing from engineering?
7:47 - What was the state of the ecosystem in climate tech and investment in the UK when you started out?
10:45 - What differences have you noticed between the US and the UK. Given that you’ve lived in both places?
13:02 - What is your investment thesis and has it changed over time?
14:27 - How do you assess a startup’s potential impact when they are still so early-stage?
18:03 - Is there a timescale that you expect companies to be able to prove their impact?
19:35 - What common threads do you see across your portfolio companies that made them a good investment proposition and made them successful?
22:37 - Do you support companies with building out their team to ensure they have the skillset needed to progress?
24:40 - What key challenges do you see deep tech companies face?
27:55 - Do you feel the needed infrastructure is there to take these companies beyond seed-stage?
30:29 - Is there more that corporates could or should be doing to engage at early-stage?
31:56 - What do you think prohibits corporates from getting involved?
36:39 - What solutions within deep tech climate are most exciting to you and where do you see big potential?
39:22 - How to contact Pippa and Zero Carbon Capital.
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