Welcome to episode 25 of Sound Funding! This is a very special episode, it's the very last one and it's a crossover episode with our other podcast Impact People, so host Ryan Grant Little is our guest on this episode. He talks to our Ben DeVries about the many hats he wears (founder, investor, consultant, podcast host) and plans for the future.
In this episode, host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Simon Ulvund of Earthbound in Copenhagen. Earthbound is a brand new funding program from the Technical University of Denmark designed to get deep climate tech from universities out into the market. They talked about Simon's background as a social innovator, the challenges of tech transfer, and what's happening in the Scandinavian funding landscape right now.
In this episode, host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Luca Zerbini, Founding Partner and CEO of Una Terra Venture Capital Fund in Zurich. Luca is both a force of nature and a force for nature, deploying $200 million in the fight against carbon emissions and plastic waste. They talked about how a background in industry can be a huge asset as an investor, why radical collaboration is the way to solve wicked problems, and an upcoming book.
In this crossover episode with his other podcast, Another ClimateTech Podcast, host Ryan Grant Little talks with Arman Anatürk, founder of FoodHack, ClimateHack and HackCapital, a universe that grew out of a single event in Geneva in 2018. They talk about new approaches for startups, fund managers, and angels to participate in the capital-hungry universe of climatetech, and how to get more players involved. From micro funds to SPVs, M&A to secondary markets, we cover it all.
In this episode, host Ryan Grant Little speaks with Beatriz Franco, Managing Partner at Vita Vera Ventures. After two decades as a lawyer and investment banker, Beatriz went all-in on a bet to fight climate change by focusing on early-stage investment in the food industry. Her fund focuses on reducing GHG emissions through novel food technologies, reducing food waste and plastics, and increasing efficiency of materials and processes. We talked about why food is often overlooked by climatetech...
Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Maximilian Schwarz (né) Bade, founder of Nucleus Capital, in Berlin.Nucleus Capital is a first-check investor in all things related to planetary health, with a focus on programming biology, foodtech, and decarbonization.The “Made with Biology Funding Napkin” mentioned in the episode can be found at https://bit.ly/3WSdzno Never miss an episode of Sound Funding by subscribing here and by following Ryan Grant Little at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryangrantl...
In this episode, host Ryan Grant Little speaks with James Crawshaw, Senior Impact Manager at Inyova Impact Investing. Inyova is a pioneer in bringing impact investing to the retail level, currently operating in the German speaking world. They talked about active portfolio management, the power of shareholder activism, and swimming in Zurich.
In this episode of Sound Funding, host Ryan Grant Little speaks with Sonalie Figueiras about how investing in the food system can help solve the climate crisis. Figueiras is the founder and editor-in-chief of Green Queen, a highly respected platform for the food tech industry. They discuss the importance of investing in food tech, the lack of messaging to the general public, and the need for more education and communication surrounding alternative proteins. Figueiras also shares her experienc...
Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Steven Molino, Principal at Clear Current Capital in New York.Clear Current Capital catalyzes sustainable change in the food system, especially through alternative protein investment. We talked about the state of affairs in alternative protein investment, why it’s all about teams, what makes sense in the world of company valuations, and how the film Cowspiracy can change the arc of your career.Learn more: https://www.clearcurrentcapital.com
Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Romain Diaz, founder of Satgana, in Lisbon.Satgana is a climate tech venture capital firm working on topics ranging from transportation, energy, food and agriculture, to circular economy. Romain and Ryan talked about the most effective climate interventions, what it’s like to be a first-time fund manager, and why just about everything about Lisbon is great.Find Satgana at https://www.satgana.com and Romain Diaz at https://www.linkedin.com/in/romaindiaz/Never ...
Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Tim Schumacher, co-founder of World Fund, in Cologne.World Fund is a €350 million climate fund that supports startups with the potential to remove 100 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. It funds tickets of €1-10 million around the world, with a sweet spot in the under-funded European climate ventures arena. We spoke about coding as a teenager, alternative proteins, and where to find the best view of Cologne.Find World Fund at https://www.wor...
Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Patrice Schneider, Chief Strategy Officer of the Media Development Investment Fund. Patrice is a war correspondent-turned-fund manager (how many people can say that?) and has been a leading voice in media independence in his role at MDIF for 18 years. They spoke about topics ranging from blended capital through to how to rebuild the media landscape in Ukraine. Find out more about MDIF at https://www.mdif.org/
Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Zeineb Fakhfakh, Managing Director of Impact Partner in Tunisia.Impact Partner runs Tunisia’s only impact fund, the aptly named Social Business Fund. It works with early-stage startups to support employment, gender equality, and the environment. They talked about how corporates and startups can partner to innovate, Tunisia’s next generation, and how to think about a trip to the country’s capital.You can find Impact Partner on the web here https://www.impactpa...
Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Elena Casolari, CEO and Co-Founder of Opes Italia in Milan.Opes Italia is a €36 million impact fund active across Italy addressing topics like youth unemployment, the marginalization of migrants, and gender inequity. It was spun out of the Opes-LCEF foundation, where Elena is Chair and co-founder. The foundation is also an active impact investor, with a global remit.Here is the little church Elena mentions at the end of the episode: https://goo.gl/maps/gsmuhE...
Host Ryan Grant Little spoke to Myrna Atalla, Executive Director of Alfanar. Myrna has been working in the social investment space for almost 20 years. Now her team is putting together a 50 Million Dollar impact fund which will be the largest of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Learn more: https://www.alfanar.org/This episode was created in collaboration with Medwaves.
Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Alena Kalibaba and Anna Gulevska-Chernysh, the founders of the Ukrainian Social Venture Fund in Kyiv. The Ukrainian Social Venture Fund was born out of the Euromaidan protest era, in 2014, as pro-democracy activism coalesced into a social innovation sector. Alena and Anna are two of Ukraine’s most influential social innovation players and the importance of their work has only intensified since the start of Russia’s brutal war. If you are interested ...
Innpact provides specialised advisory services in the establishment and management support of impact finance initiatives. Since 2007, Innpact has supported the establishment of 30 impact finance vehicles in excess of €7 billion. I spoke with founder Arnaud Gillin about the power of blended finance, why Luxembourg has to be careful not to lose its primacy as a location for impact fund domiciling, and where to find the best Belgian breweries.
The European Investment Fund is a pillar of Europe’s impact investing construct, backing and matching funds across the European Union. Elodie Donjon is Investment Manager at the EIF and has been there for an impressive 17 years. We talked about what the EIF is looking for in funds and teams, how it has evolved over her tenure there, and where to catch live music in Luxembourg. Elodie is happy to hear from fund managers directly by email at e.donjon -at - eif.org and you can visit them online ...
TIlia Impact Ventures is the first social impact fund in the Czech Republic, focused on building social enterprises with sustainable and replicable/scalable business models, aligned with significant and measurable societal impact. More at http://tiliaimpactventures.cz/Impact Days are June 2-3 in Vienna: https://impactdays.at/EVPA Central Eastern Europe info at https://evpa.eu.com/membership/central-eastern-europe-ceeThe surely beautiful but very hard to pronounce parks in Prague Silke mention...
SI2 Fund identifies impact ventures offering breakthrough innovations to tackle societal challenges, and helps them scale with tailored capital, active in-kind support and access to networks. SI² Fund is an active investor, partnering with businesses within Benelux and neighbouring countries for social impact and financial success. Find out more at https://shapingimpact.group/en/funds/si2-fund/