Rare-Earth-Free Electric Motors: $200B Markets Without Supply-Chain Risk | Ankit Somani, CEO of Conifer

Here are today’s three NEW topics on climate tech finance, decision tools, and mindful leadership:📊 Climate Finance — Non-dilutive capital is not free money⚙️ Decision Tool — Take the Four Tendencies Quiz⛰️ Mindful leadership — Speed vs. direction (don’t get this backwards)------------Join the top climate CEO peer group in North America.Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — a confidential peer community for Series A to private equity-backed CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and investor mentors, representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 3-minute newsletter: Climate CEOsFor climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a podcast review to help others discover these guests.I don't take any sponsors, so this 30-second favor really helps lot. We need millions more people to get to work on profitable climate solutions. Thanks in advance!👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the host: Dr. Chris WeddingClimate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

VC backing for the world's most compact, modular, and cost-effective electric powertrains without rare earth minerals risk🎧 Episode SummaryConifer has created the only rare-earth free electric motor and powertrain that is also better across power density, efficiency and cost metrics, compared to incumbents with rare-earths. Conifer’s in-wheel powertrains and NEMA compatible motors are designed to fuel the fast growing $200B electric mobility, agriculture, and industrial markets. They raised a $20M seed round last year, which is a good sign in a tough market for hardtech startups.Ankit Somani, CEO and Co-founder of Conifer, and a repeat entrepreneur and has raised $80M+ across his startups. Prior to Conifer, Ankit co-founded AllyO, an enterprise AI agent that served Fortune 500 companies like Walmart and Amazon. Following its acquisition by HireVue, he served as HireVue's Chief Product Officer. Previously, he was a part of Google’s Data Center R&D and Electrification teams, creating products that serve all of Google infrastructure.-----------Join the top climate CEO peer group in North America.Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — a confidential peer community for Series A to private equity-backed CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and investor mentors, representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 3-minute newsletter: Climate CEOsFor climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a podcast review to help others discover these guests.I don't take any sponsors, so this 30-second favor really helps lot. We need millions more people to get to work on profitable climate solutions. Thanks in advance!👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the host: Dr. Chris WeddingClimate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

Here are today’s three NEW topics on climate tech finance, decision tools, and mindful leadership:📊 Finance — This one metric quietly kills climate tech fundraises.⚙️ Tools — Return on Effort (RoE): Fewer hours. Better outcomes.⛰️ Leadership — “Don’t do anything that someone else can do.”------------Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group:Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 4-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOsFor entrepreneurs and investors: 5 quick ideas on climate data, CEOs to know, investor spotlights, AI insights, and mindfulness moments — drawn from lessons working with 400+ climate CEOs and investors, plus 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.)No sponsors — just real conversations with climate leaders. If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it.👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the Host:Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, connect on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

Producing the highest performance, lowest power, and best total cost of ownership solution for AI transformer model inference.🎧 Episode SummaryPositron AI is an AI hardware startup developing energy-efficient solutions optimized for transformer model inference, critical for applications like ChatGPT. They’ve raised about $75M and achieve 3-5x better performance per dollar and per watt versus most other chips today.They recently raised $51.6 million in an oversubscribed Series A round led by Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and DFJ Growth.They also ranked #3 in The Information’s 50 Most Promising Startups.Mitesh Agrawal, CEO of Positron, recently transitioned from his role as chief operating officer and cofounder of Lambda, a multibillion-dollar-valued cloud infrastructure company focused on AI and NVIDIA GPU-powered services. -----------Join the top climate CEO peer group in North America.Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — a confidential peer community for Series A to private equity-backed CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and investor mentors, representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 3-minute newsletter: Climate CEOsFor climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a podcast review to help others discover these guests.I don't take any sponsors, so this 30-second favor really helps lot. We need millions more people to get to work on profitable climate solutions. Thanks in advance!👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the host: Dr. Chris WeddingClimate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

Here are today’s five NEW topics on climate & clean energy, startup investment, AI for entrepreneurs, and mindfulness in leadership:1. 📊 CLIMATE DATACommitted warming: Are we already cooked?2. 💡 CEO TO KNOWJulia Reichelstein @ Vaulted Deep ($40M for carbon removal with co-benefits)3. 💸 INVESTOR SPOTLIGHTBala Nagarajan @S2G ($2.5B for food, energy, and oceans)4. 🤖 AI INSIGHTYour new Board of Directors: All experts, zero humans5. ⛰️ MINDFUL MOMENTWisdom is not free.------------Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group:Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 4-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOsFor entrepreneurs and investors: 5 quick ideas on climate data, CEOs to know, investor spotlights, AI insights, and mindfulness moments — drawn from lessons working with 400+ climate CEOs and investors, plus 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.)No sponsors — just real conversations with climate leaders. If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it.👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the Host:Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, connect on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

Using off-the-shelf tech to convert methane, CO2 emissions, and waste into carbon-negative fuels and green chemicals like methanol and ammonia.🎧 Episode SummaryEmvolon helps hard-to-abate industries such as agriculture, aviation, energy, maritime and waste management power the global economy without producing emissions. The company’s patented technology converts greenhouse gas emissions into carbon-negative fuels and chemicals like green methanol and green ammonia onsite by repurposing mass-produced automotive engines as cost-effective, modular chemical plants. Emmanuel Kasseris, CEO and co-founder, has more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector. As a research project manager for Chevron, ConocoPhillips and MIT, he led several new energy technologies from concept to laboratory prototype and eventually full-scale pilots. His work has been cited by the DOE, EPA and NSF and used in expert testimonies to Congress.He holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. from MIT in Mechanical Engineering. He is the inventor of five US patents and the author of nine publications with over 1.000 citations.-----------Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group:Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 3-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOsFor climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.)If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it.👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the Host:Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

Here are today’s five NEW topics on climate & clean energy, startup investment, AI for entrepreneurs, and mindfulness in leadership:1. 📊 CLIMATE DATA73% of investors engage in decarbonization for this reason2. 💡 CEO TO KNOWRandy Allen @ Still Bright (80% savings in copper mining)3. 💸 INVESTOR INSIGHTHow CEOs and investors actually align on priorities4. 🤖 AI USE CASECreate instant infographics with NotebookLM5. ⛰️ MINDFUL MOMENTJust say it: “I don’t know.” [Zen story]------------Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group:Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 4-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOsFor entrepreneurs and investors: 5 quick ideas on climate data, CEOs to know, investor spotlights, AI insights, and mindfulness moments — drawn from lessons working with 400+ climate CEOs and investors, plus 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.)No sponsors — just real conversations with climate leaders. If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it.👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the Host:Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, connect on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

Climate resilience via better data: 7 cm-resolution via satellites and aerial imagery that does in hours what 80,000 drones would do in weeks.🎧 Episode SummaryNear Space Labs is a category-defining Earth observation company delivering high-resolution, high-frequency aerial imagery through its industry-first stratospheric imaging platform, the Swift. With its nationwide network of autonomous Swift robots, the company provides unmatched 7 cm-resolution imagery at a scale and cadence that fundamentally transform how organizations monitor and respond to our rapidly changing world. Near Space Labs' private-market focus has enabled it to develop sustainable technologies that meet the needs of commercial clients while reducing reliance on federal funding. Its mission is to serve as the Earth data backbone for business, community, and climate resilience.While pursuing her PhD in aerospace systems engineering, Rema Matevosyan, co-founder and CEO, worked on the European Union's Copernicus satellite network, where she began exploring new approaches to Earth observation. Recognizing the limitations of traditional satellite and aerial imagery, Matevosyan decided to leave her PhD program to found Near Space Labs. Her vision has led to breakthroughs in stratospheric imaging technology, and the company now serves major Fortune 500 enterprises across multiple industries. A published researcher and recognized scholar by the International Astronautical Federation, Matevosyan was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 for her contributions to aerospace innovation.-----------Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group:Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 3-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOsFor climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.)If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it.👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the Host:Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

Axiom Cloud also helps grocery stores and cold chain storage companies reduce energy use by 11% and avoid costly maintenance.🎧 Episode SummaryAmrit Robbins co-founded Axiom Cloud in 2020 to solve the most painful problems facing cold chain operators and unlock a massive climate opportunity: reducing refrigerant leaks (refrigerants are greenhouse gases that are up to 4,000x more potent than CO2). Axiom Cloud helps grocery chains and cold storage companies solve their most significant maintenance, compliance, and energy challenges through AI and automation. No new hardware or sensors are required; the solution can be installed across many facilities quickly (fully remote installation), and the initial payback is <1 year. Prior to Axiom Cloud, Amrit was the CEO and co-founder of Axiom Exergy, a hardware company that commercialized thermal energy storage retrofits for grocery-store refrigeration systems. He sold the first pilots to Amazon/Whole Foods and Walmart and led Axiom Exergy through multiple rounds of venture fundraising. Before Axiom Exergy, Amrit worked at Clark Energy Group (CEG), where he co-led the sales, development, and engineering of a $100M energy-efficiency retrofit project for a national supermarket chain.Amrit earned his B.S. in Atmosphere/Energy Engineering at Stanford University. He is a father of two girls and a jazz/reggae/funk/salsa/R&B trumpet player. (Obviously!)-----------Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group:Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 3-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOsFor climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — drawn from lessons working with 300+ climate CEOs and investors, plus 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.)No sponsors — just real conversations with climate leaders. If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it.👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the Host:Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

Project finance for carbon removed from the atmosphere to supply beverage and heavy industry customers in the US and abroad.🎧 Episode SummaryAircapture creates and scales modular Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems that harvest carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere for on-site application or storage. The company fosters a circular carbon economy by supplying this clean CO2 to industrial and commercial customers for uses ranging from carbonating beverages to permanent underground sequestration. Recently securing $50 million in Series A funding, Aircapture is currently focused on expanding its manufacturing capabilities to improve system reliability and reduce deployment costs.Matt Atwood is the Founder and CEO of Aircapture, a technologist and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in renewable and climate technology development. Before his current role, he founded Algae Systems, where he developed the world's first energy-positive wastewater treatment platform. His career in carbon removal began with biofuel research in 2002, leading him to discover Direct Air Capture in 2009 as a scalable solution for diverse global markets.-----------Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group:Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets.👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.comGet my 4-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOsFor entrepreneurs and investors: 5 quick ideas on climate data, CEOs to know, investor spotlights, AI insights, and mindfulness moments — drawn from lessons working with 400+ climate CEOs and investors, plus 25 years of meditation practice.👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.)No sponsors — just real conversations with climate leaders. If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it.👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviewsAbout the Host:Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, connect on LinkedIn:👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding