Another ClimateTech Podcast

🗒️ A note from Ryan, your host: I'm so happy to have put these 80 interviews out into the world, and have made new friends, connections, and gained tons of inspiration along the way. But duty calls at the moment as my volunteer work in Ukraine takes all my time and attention. So I'll call it a wrap for now and hope to be back with new episodes one day. I hope you've enjoyed listening to these episodes as much as I enjoyed making them! I'll leave you with the most downloaded episode of the series, in case you missed it:----Martin Stuchtey is the founder and co-CEO of The Landbanking Group, which aims to support the regeneration of nature and biodiversity through an asset class they call Nature Equity. Martin talked about how we can protect nature by literally putting a value to it, as well as his own life and career which has ranged from soldier in the German army’s alpine group to management consultant, professor, and now founder.#biodiversity #regeneration #climatetech

This August and September, I’m stepping away from the mic to volunteer — but I’m not leaving your podcast feed empty. Instead, I’m revisiting fan favourites in a short Summer Classics series.In this last episode of the series, I'm reviving my chat with comedian Stuart Goldsmith where we:🛹 Quote the Simpsons a couple times🏟️ Clarify it's different to speak in front of and in a stadium🪱 Mention Dune's sandwormsThis episode explains how to talk about climate change without alienating people. 👽

This August and September, I’m stepping away from the mic to volunteer — but I’m not leaving your podcast feed empty. Instead, I’m revisiting fan favourites in a short Summer Classics series.The second of three episodes in the series is my interview with Jessica Burley of Planet A. I call it the "Investor Favourite" because I've heard from lots of VCs that it contains some of the best climatetech investing advice they've heard, like why:The science folks should have an investment decision vetoCollaboration is a must for hardware investmentThinking about planetary boundaries has to go beyond just CO2This is a must-listen episode for climatetech investors — and the startups who need their cash. 💰

This August and September, I’m stepping away from the mic to volunteer — but I’m not leaving your podcast feed empty. Instead, I’m revisiting fan favourites in a short Summer Classics series.First up is Shannon Falconer, Founder & CEO of BioCraft Pet Nutrition (formerly Because, Animals). Two years on, they’ve made huge strides toward radically reshaping the pet food industry — and Shannon remains one of the most mission-driven founders I know. If you want good news about the future of pet food, start here.

I'm going to be spending the summer on the road, delivering humanitarian aid across Ukraine. And needless to say, it's not the best setup for recording a podcast. So things will be quiet here until about October when I'll be back with new episodes, when I'm back settled in Kyiv and in relative peace. If you want to follow my adventures, be sure to follow me on LinkedIn. Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you'll be notified when new episodes come out. Have a great summer. Thanks for listening. 

Felix Krause is the Managing Partner at Vireo Ventures, a European VC fund betting that the future of energy is electric, distributed, and intelligently managed. Based in Berlin, Felix brings sector-specific clarity to the sprawling world of climate investing and makes a strong case for why electrons, not moonshots, will define the next great energy transition.In this episode we talked about: 🔋 Why electrification isn’t just inevitable—it’s the most capital-efficient climate solution on offer 🔄 What "sector coupling" means, and how heat pumps, EVs, and industry can all talk to each other 🧠 Why AI is the new electrification, and how it makes an increasingly complex energy system legible ⚡ The distributed grid, smart meters, and how regulation is slowing everything down 🔐 Why cybersecurity for backyard solar systems might be our next national security crisis 🔌 The dark horses of climatetech: agrivoltaics and bi-directional EV charging#climatetech #electrification #energytransition #VC👨‍💻 Hiring developers? You need to look at Ukraine, where I've been hiring exclusively since 2018. Set up a no-stress needs assessment at wild.codes/climate. Podcast listeners get $1k off their first hire. 🧑‍💼 Growing your team across Europe? Grab a free consultation and hire without hassle: parakar.eu/climate

Ismaël Bawah is the SciTech Community Coordinator at the Good Food Institute Europe and the man behind the Alt Protein Project, a global student-powered initiative to transform universities into hubs for alternative protein innovation. Alongside him, we also heard from Lisa Neidhardt of Imperial College London and Jorge Guadalupe of Brazil’s Federal University of Minas Gerais—two campus leaders putting alt proteins on the academic map.In this episode we talked about:🌱 How the Alt Protein Project scaled to 63 active university chapters and sparked more than 20 new courses and 40+ research projects 🧬 Why fermentation is Lisa’s lab obsession—and how she’s using microbes to upcycle agricultural byproducts into food 🐔 Jorge’s role in creating Latin America’s first fried cultivated chicken (yes, really) and a new university course that ends with Shark Tank-style startup pitches 🧪 How mentorship, money, and microbes are building the alt protein talent pipeline from scratch 🎓 What it takes to get 13-year-olds (and their grandmas) excited about cultivated meat 📈 Why Brazil’s meat giants are pouring money into cultivated alternatives—and how geopolitics might do more for climate action than vibes ever will#climatetech #alternativeproteins #futureoffood👨‍💻 Hiring developers? You need to look at Ukraine, where I've been hiring exclusively since 2018. Set up a no-stress needs assessment at wild.codes/climate. Podcast listeners get $1k off their first hire. 🧑‍💼 Growing your team across Europe? Grab a free consultation and hire without hassle: parakar.eu/climate

Veronique Hördemann is Managing Partner and CFO at Future Energy Ventures, a climatetech VC firm investing in the software layer of the energy transition. From her base in Essen (with a side of Berlin), Veronique talked about going from corporate VC to a fully independent impact fund and why they’ve made a deliberate choice to stay clear of hardware.In this episode we talked about: 🏙️ How they segment their investments across “future energy”, “future cities”, and “future technology” 📉 The real reason they avoid hardware investments (spoiler: it involves capital, time, and regret) 👩‍💼 The diversity problem in VC and why she wants more female-led startups in her pipeline 🔁 What it’s like going from corporate-backed VC to managing a regulated, independent impact fund 🏫 Why she thinks the school system is stifling innovation—and how that’s become personal#climatetech #impactinvesting #venturecapital #VC 👨‍💻 Hiring developers? You need to look at Ukraine, where I've been hiring exclusively since 2018. Set up a no-stress needs assessment at wild.codes/climate. Podcast listeners get $1k off their first hire. 🧑‍💼 Growing your team across Europe? Grab a free consultation and hire without hassle: parakar.eu/climate

Anastasia Pavlovic is the co-founder of Eion, a carbon removal company that accelerates Earth's natural rock weathering process to lock away CO₂—permanently. Eion works with farmers to deploy enhanced rock weathering (ERW) in agricultural fields, creating a carbon sink disguised as soil amendment, with benefits to landowners and climate alike. Anastasia joined the podcast from Detroit to talk about carbon, kids, and the importance of remembering to eat.In this episode we talked about: 🪨 How volcanic rock dust turns farms into carbon capture sites (and why the best rocks might be in Norway) 🌽 How Eion aligns climate goals with farm economics 🚢 The surprising math that makes ocean shipping rock across the Atlantic more carbon-efficient than it sounds 💰 Why climate tech founders need to think like infrastructure financiers and not just software bros 📉 How Anastasia regulates the highs and lows of startup life—with a side of mac & cheese#Climatetech #CarbonRemoval #Agtech👨‍💻 Hiring developers? You need to look at Ukraine, where I've been hiring exclusively since 2018. Set up a no-stress needs assessment at wild.codes/climate. Podcast listeners get $1k off their first hire. 🧑‍💼 Growing your team across Europe? Grab a free consultation and hire without hassle: parakar.eu/climate

Nemailla Bonturi is the co-founder of ÄIO, an Estonian startup fermenting fats and oils from yeast instead of palm oil or animal products. A Brazilian scientist-turned-founder, Nemailla now works at the intersection of synthetic biology, circular economy, and baked goods—with an in-house chef, of course.In this episode we talked about: 🧫 How a “very special yeast” turns sawdust and stale bread into palm oil alternatives 🌍 Why Estonia is a unicorn factory 🥐 A plant-based butter that could make your croissant carbon neutral 🧴 Turning leftover dairy and tea leaves into moisturizers and lip balms 🧠 Mental health, therapy, and the importance of shutting your laptop at 6pm 📺 Why The X-Files may be the most pro-climate tech show of the 1990s#fermentationtech #climatetech #circularbioeconomy👨‍💻 Hiring developers? You need to look at Ukraine, where I've been hiring exclusively since 2018. Set up a no-stress needs assessment at wild.codes/climate. Podcast listeners get $1k off their first hire. 🧑‍💼 Growing your team across Europe? Grab a free consultation and hire without hassle: parakar.eu/climate