Cleantech Venture Day searches for the most interesting 16 companies across pre-seed, seed and Series A stages, across a range of cleantech areas. In this week’s episode Sylvie Russell, COO of Cambridge Cleantech shares details of the day, the industry and the new Cleantech Super Cluster.
We also hear from two of the founders who pitched on the day:
Sarah Blake, Commercial Director and Co-Founder of Minimass – a construction tech company focussed on reproducing beams in a more sustainable way - tells us about her startup experience and the funding journey they have been on.
Chloe So, CEO and Co-Founder of Pulpatronics – a RFID company who are simplifying the production of tags and revolutionizing sustainability with chipless, metal-free, paper RFID tags – shares her rather different experience from Sarah’s.
Lessons shared included:
Take time to follow all the different types of programmes and funding initiatives
Judge which applications to incubators and investor programmes will be worthwhile as they take time and can be very complicated
Do things to keep your brand in front of funders
Remember to ask the funders if they are deploying funds right now
If you’re using a third-party company, also go back direct to the investor personally
The broader ecosystem, including corporates are there for you to meet at events, not just the investors
Connect with the people you want to talk to in 12-18 months’ time
Diversify the leadership team in both skills and diversity
Trends to watch in the Cleantech sector
Investment in the sector is still too low to achieve net zero – we’d need an eye-watering $200trillion more than we have today
The gap in funding from Series A to B must be filled
Be sure what you have is both commercially viable and will have an impact
Be clear on what you’re pitching for if you are looking for funding
There is lots of support out there to help your Cleantech venture grow
This week's Tech News features Heartfelt Technologies, Prospectral, Cambridge Tech Week.
To listen and subscribe, search for ‘Cambridge Tech Podcast’ on your favourite podcasting platform or visit cambridgetechpodcast.com.
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