The Climate Pioneers Show

Linus Larsson Green is the co-founder and CEO of PulPac, a Swedish deep-tech company pioneering dry moulded fibre, a breakthrough manufacturing technology that turns cellulose pulp into packaging and single-use products that can fully replace plastic.Every year, we produce more than 400 million tons of plastic, with a huge chunk of that used just once but PulPac are tackling that problem head on… PulPac’s unique process uses 90% less water than traditional methods and slashes carbon emissions, while still retaining the ability to mass-product fibre cups, trays and lids at global scale.Over the last 7 years, PulPas has raised major funding, built a network of international licensees and partnered with some of the world’s biggest packaging players. I’m very much looking forward to hearing about this journey in more detail Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, I’m speaking with Armando Leal Puente, co-founder and managing director of Eutechtics, a deep-tech startup based in Sheffield, that’s taking on one of the biggest challenges in climate and industry - decarbonising the chemical supply chain.Eutechtics has built a platform called EvoCarbon, which turns captured CO₂ into valuable chemical building blocks - things like carboxylic acids that go into everyday products such as cosmetics, food ingredients, pharmaceuticals and even plastics which are currently made using fossil fuels.Armando and his team are reimagining how we make the molecules that power modern life, proving that sustainability and profitability don’t have to be at odds. In just a few years, they’ve secured national innovation funding, won major cleantech awards, and attracted the attention of investors and industry alike. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fabien Koutchekian is the co-founder and CEO of Genomines, a start-up pioneering the extraction of nickel from the ground. Instead of bulldozers and explosives, Genomines uses genetically enhanced plants, called hyperaccumulators, to pull nickel out of the soil. The result is a process that could deliver battery-grade metal with a fraction of the environmental footprint of traditional mining. With such transformational potential, it’s not a surprise that they successfully closed an incredible $45m Series A raise in September 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Margaux Peltier is the co-founder and CEO of Enerdrape, a Swiss startup turning underground infrastructure into renewable energy sources. From parking garages to metro tunnels, Enerdrape’s modular geothermal panels harness untapped subterranean heat to provide sustainable heating and cooling for buildings without disruptive drilling or invasive construction.Margaux’s background in HVAC design and engineering was followed by a Masters in Civil Engineering in Lausanne where her thesis formed the basis of Enerdrape’s technology. Since then, she has led Enerdrape through award-winning pilot projects in Switzerland and ambitious expansions into the US, including Chicago’s largest underground parking complex.2:08 - Margaux’s journey from her Master’s thesis to co-founding Enerdrape  3:30 - The scale of the problem Enerdrape is solving  4:45 - How Enerdrape’s geothermal product is unique in not needing invasive drilling and is good for retrofit  6:46 - How are existing spaces being heated and cooled?  8:52 - How did you commercialise the product and what support did you get from your university?  13:13 - Enerdrape’s first commercial project in Lausanne  14:19 - As academic co-founders, how did you handle not having previous sales experience and what advice would you have for others trying to win their first pilots?  17:11 - How has the way you sell your product changed as you’ve learnt more about what your clients are looking for?  22:23 - At what point did you make the decision to go into international markets and how have you found it breaking into the US market?  28:17 - At what point did you need to raise institutional funding outside the university and what was that process like?  30:51 - Lessons from raising a seed round  33:02 - As a young, first-time, female founder, did you feel you faced any challenges or faced any bias during fundraising?  36:19 - How has your team changed and grown since inception?  40:12 - What have been your biggest learnings as you’ve grown the team and as you’ve developed as a manager?  45:40 - What are you excited about for Enerdrape in the next 12-18 months?  47:30 - Margaux’s advice and resources for other founders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Avi Baruch is co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Previsico. Spun out of almost 20 years of groundbreaking research at Loughborough University, the team has developed the Flood Intel Platform - the world’s first real-time, surface-water flood forecasting system. Their mission is to save millions of lives, whilst also helping governments and businesses to save billions on the cost of flooding.  Avi and the founding team have taken Previsico from academic research to securing over 200+ customers, operating in multiple geographies, closing over £10 million in funding and scaling the team to over 50 people.2:02 - Intro to Previsico from academic research to spun-out commercial prospect  3:52 - What moment made you realise you had a unique solution to a big problem?  5:12 - What is the scale of the problem around surface flooding?  6:25 - What were some of the benefits of starting out being incubated in an academic environment?  7:53 - What challenges did you face moving from academia into being a first-time founder?  9:58 - How did you find your CEO?  11:45 - How did you commercialise what you’re doing, and what markets did you go after first?  15:33 - When did you know the time was right to branch out into international markets?  17:18 - What frameworks do you have in place to keep you focussed as a company and avoid distractions?  19:27 - What are the main tensions in building a product that is deeply technical but also has to have clear commercial outcomes?  22:00 - How was Previsico initially funded after spinout and how has fundraising progressed?  24:21 - What do you think made you successful in your fundraising?  26:05 - How do you feel the risk resilience market has changed in the seven years since Previsico started?  28:32 - How has the team grown, and what have you done well in that process?  30:34 - What have you learnt along the way about recruiting and retaining a team?  32:05 - At what point did you feel it was the right time to bring in your People and Culture Manager?  33:48 - How has the company culture developed?  36:09 - What practical things do you do with your team to allow for feedback and to help them feel safe enough to question and give feedback?  39:32 - What’s coming up for Previsico over the next year to 18 months?  41:54 - Avi’s advice for other founders  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rozalie Ryclova-Pribadi is Chief Strategy Officer and a driving force at MaxInfo. The company uses advanced analytics to help their customers move from reacting to disasters to anticipating them. The Financial Times has said, ‘Extreme weather and climate change caused more financial damage in Europe between 2020 and 2023 than it did in the whole preceding decade', so we’re entering a new era where predicting, anticipating and managing this increasingly common events is more important than ever - and MaxInfo are building the tools to help organisations do exactly that.1:58 - Intro to MaxInfo and the problem they are solving  5:03 - How did the MaxInfo team come up with the initial idea?  7:35 - How much of education gap is there between what you offer and the customers you work with?  10:47 - What markets or customers are you aiming for in the future?  12:59 - The geographical applications and focus for MaxInfo  14:44 - Rozalie’s journey to joining MaxInfo  16:13 - How has Rozalie’s background helped in this role?  18:07 - MaxInfo’s experience with Innovate UK  23:31 - How con companies combine angel investment alongside grant funding?  26:26 - What has it been like going for a VC round recently? What challenges did you face?  29:10 - How have you seen things change since you did VC fundraising in previous roles?  31:34 - How have you built the team at MaxInfo?  34:42 - How did you decide whether to be hybrid or remote?  36:16 - Do you foresee any challenges with building the team in the future in terms of finding deep expertise or being totally invested in your mission?  38:48 - What are key milestones for MaxInfo in the coming months?  40:06 - Rozalie’s advice for other founders  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fredrik Borgström is the CEO of Skyfora, a Finnish startup reinventing weather intelligence. Skyfora’s technology transforms cell towers into a dense network of atmospheric sensors, generating up to a thousand times more weather data than traditional systems. Combined with advanced AI models and ultra-light radiosondes, this approach promises faster, sharper forecasts for everything from disaster response to renewable energy planning.1:30 - Fredrik’s career to-date.3:45 - How did you come to build Skyfora and what solution are you developing?8:17 - What was your GTM plan for Skyfora?11:40 - How did you decide which customers to go for first?13:49 - Are there certain markets that work better for what you do or any that are more challenging?17:09 - How much opposition or fear are you met with from telecoms providers when trying to get access to their infrastructure?19:56 - What was your funding journey like and what was the appetite like from investors?24:24 - What has your recent fundraise unlocked for you?27:06 - What has gone well or been difficult when building out the team?28:03 - What has enabled you to attract such strong talent?28:39 - How has your role developed from originally being VP of Sale to now being CEO?31:33 - How early in the journey of the company did you build your board of advisors and how did you find them?32:56- What lessons did you learn from previously taking a business through to exit, that you bring with you to Skyfora?35:41 - What is the culture like at Skyfora?37:27 - How do you ensure that team members have the resilience required to work in a startup?39:05 - What are the Skyfora team focusing on for the next couple of years?41:06 - What advice would you give to fellow founders? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeremy Fain, CEO of Blue Water Intelligence joins me for this episode. After a decade leading SaaS companies, Jeremy shifted his focus to climate and water technology, co-founding BWI to help governments, hydropower operators, insurers and communities forecast and manage water risks in a changing climate.Water is arguably our most critical and increasingly unpredictable resource and BWI is at the forefront of using space and earth data to improve decision-making about floods, droughts and water security. 1:49 - What is BWI doing and why is it so critical?3:05 - How did you come to move into climate resilience?4:41 - How did you find the learning curve personally and how did you bring experts in?6:16 - From a commercial perspective, who are you building this for and who are your key customers?7:55 - How did you manage going to market in both public and private sectors?9:39 - What did you find particularly challenging in the commercial and GTM process?12:17 - How BWI can help hydro-power to be more effective.16:09 - How has BWI been involved in developing hydro-power in Nepal?17:54 - How has your previous experience helped you at BWI?21:25 - When did you decide you needed to make your first hires and how did you go about building out the team?24:52 - When interviewing, how do you establish that people have both a learning curiosity and the hard skills needed to work at BWI?27:32 - What has fundraising been like?36:44 - Why do you think investors should be getting involved with hydrological forecasting?39:06 - What are you excited about in the future of BWI?40:56 - What advice would you offer to fellow founders? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first episode of this series I am joined by Harish Pesala, the co-founder and CEO of SmartResilience, a climate analytics platform helping organisations predict, prepare for, and reduce the impact of extreme weather and other physical risks. Harish launched SmartResilience to close a critical gap between climate science and real-time decision-making. The company has won Innovate UK’s Young Innovators Award, been shortlisted for the edie Awards and National Sustainability Awards, and is already working with major clients from supermarkets to insurers, to make adaptation both practical and actionable.2:52 - What led you to focus on adaptation and why is this critical to the climate crisis?4:51 - How did you work through your career from British Army Reservist to entrepreneur?7:45 - What were the early days like, especially as it was in 2020?10:50 - How did you secure your first clients?12:27 - How did you adapt from having been a technical co-founder to picking up other skills around sales etc.?15:09 - How has user feedback influenced your product as it’s evolved?18:21 - Where are you seeing risk on the corporate agenda now and who within large enterprise businesses is owning it?20:27 - As the world has changed, have you changed how you position SmartResilience?22:28 - How important have industry recognitions and awards been to you?24:12 - How was your fundraising journey?29:57 - How did you go about building your team, initially with angel investor money and then with higher investment later on?32:02 - How do you know whether someone has the grit and resilience they have to work in a startup?33:47 - How has your team grown?36:31 - How did you decide which roles to hire for and when?40:16 - How has your role adapted since the business began?43:05 - Where have you found your mentors and angel investors?44:38 - How do you see the climate resilience and adaption environment evolving in the future?50:29 - What is one key lesson that has been crucial to your success as a founder? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the CEO and Founder of AirEx, Agnes Czako is spearheading the mission of the company - fighting the dual challenges of fuel poverty and climate change. AirEx is a London-based climate tech company developing smart home solutions that reduce heat demand in buildings. They are disrupting the building retrofit market by providing a connected-homes solution with technology that’s simple to install and simple to use. As of 2024, over 30,000 AirEx units have been deployed all over the UK.For series 9 of the Climate Pioneers Show, we're hearing founder stories from across climate tech. We'll be chatting about the highs, the lows, fundraising, commercialising, scaling, building teams and more.2:09 - The journey to founding AirEx4:23 - How the AirEx air brick was brought to life7:37 - Can all homes benefit from these air bricks and can they be retrofitted?8:25 - How does the tech in the air brick work?9:08 - What was it like doing this as a solo founder?11:08 - As a first-time founder, did you have support from mentors or communities?14:12 - How was the Series A fundraising process?17:06 - How did you put together your first angel round when you were starting out in the industry and still building your network?20:00 - The differences between raising an angel round and VC-backed round22:39 - Moving from research to commercial traction26:08 - How the AirEx team has evolved27:50 - How AirEx’s culture was defined and how it has been maintained as the team grows29:47 - How have you built mission-alignment into the recruitment process?32:16 - What makes AirEx a great place to work?33:58 - How have you ensured diversity within the team?36:44 - What would you like to see change across policy and building design?38:46 - Plans for the future of AirEx40:12 - Advice for fellow climate founders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.