S6: E3. How Venture Builders Are Helping to Scale Deep Tech in Climate ft. Puja Balachander (Carbon13)
08/22/24 • 51 min
For this episode, I spoke with Puja Balachander, Director of Venture at Carbon13, the venture builder for the climate emergency.
Across this series we will be discussing the challenges around scaling deep tech solutions within climate. I’ll be speaking to Investors, Founders, Venture Builders and other key ecosystem players all focused on scaling and commercialising groundbreaking, deep tech innovations.
We will explore how to prepare for the challenges that deep tech companies often face around fundraising, scaling, team building and commercialisation; and we’ll hear from stories of those who have successfully scaled to Series A and beyond.
Video versions of this and previous episodes are available here.
https://carbonthirteen.com/
2:14 - What is Carbon13?
4:39 - What challenges do you see deep tech startups facing?
8:24 - How is gaining commercial traction different for hardware than software, and what can hardware companies do to gain that traction?
14:55 - If a team doesn’t have existing knowledge within the team about commercialisation, how can they gain it and upskill themselves?
20:00 - What skills would a startup need as a minimum within the founding team for you to be interested?
23:55 - How does the support you give differ for deep tech than someone building a software-based business?
28:58 - What are the differences in IP with deep tech and what support do you give with de-risking and defensibility?
31:50 - How do you offer lab space within Carbon13?
33:05 - Are there any companies that you’ve seen come through Carbon13 that have done particularly well and what do you think set them apart?
37:20 - Showing your learnings to investors.
39:57 - What things do you think could be improved within the funding landscape for hardware companies to allow them to access the necessary funding?
41:53 - Are those that aren’t from an academic background at a disadvantage when it comes to grant writing?
44:38 - What thresholds do you need to meet for debt financing?
48:20 - What are you excited about for the rest of this year and what are the Carbon13 application dates?
50:20 - Where can people go to make applications to Carbon13?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For this episode, I spoke with Puja Balachander, Director of Venture at Carbon13, the venture builder for the climate emergency.
Across this series we will be discussing the challenges around scaling deep tech solutions within climate. I’ll be speaking to Investors, Founders, Venture Builders and other key ecosystem players all focused on scaling and commercialising groundbreaking, deep tech innovations.
We will explore how to prepare for the challenges that deep tech companies often face around fundraising, scaling, team building and commercialisation; and we’ll hear from stories of those who have successfully scaled to Series A and beyond.
Video versions of this and previous episodes are available here.
https://carbonthirteen.com/
2:14 - What is Carbon13?
4:39 - What challenges do you see deep tech startups facing?
8:24 - How is gaining commercial traction different for hardware than software, and what can hardware companies do to gain that traction?
14:55 - If a team doesn’t have existing knowledge within the team about commercialisation, how can they gain it and upskill themselves?
20:00 - What skills would a startup need as a minimum within the founding team for you to be interested?
23:55 - How does the support you give differ for deep tech than someone building a software-based business?
28:58 - What are the differences in IP with deep tech and what support do you give with de-risking and defensibility?
31:50 - How do you offer lab space within Carbon13?
33:05 - Are there any companies that you’ve seen come through Carbon13 that have done particularly well and what do you think set them apart?
37:20 - Showing your learnings to investors.
39:57 - What things do you think could be improved within the funding landscape for hardware companies to allow them to access the necessary funding?
41:53 - Are those that aren’t from an academic background at a disadvantage when it comes to grant writing?
44:38 - What thresholds do you need to meet for debt financing?
48:20 - What are you excited about for the rest of this year and what are the Carbon13 application dates?
50:20 - Where can people go to make applications to Carbon13?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode
S6: E2. Building Corporate Partnerships to Scale Deep Tech in Climate ft. Ian Lee (UK Power Networks)
In this episode, I’m joined by Ian Lee, Innovations Project Lead at UK Power Networks. He is building corporate partnerships with startups that are innovating in the energy sector and beyond.
Across this series we will be discussing the challenges around scaling deep tech solutions within climate. I’ll be speaking to Investors, Founders, Venture Builders and other key ecosystem players all focused on scaling and commercialising groundbreaking, deep tech innovations.
We will explore how to prepare for the challenges that deep tech companies often face around fundraising, scaling, team building and commercialisation; and we’ll hear from stories of those who have successfully scaled to Series A and beyond.
Video versions of this and previous episodes are available here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode
S6: E4. Driving Private Investment into Deep Tech in Climate ft. Dr. Stafford Lloyd (Innovate UK)
For this episode, I'll be joined by Dr. Stafford Lloyd, Innovation Lead for Clean Growth Strategy at Innovate UK - they are working on ways to catalyse private investment in climate tech.
Across this series we will be discussing the challenges around scaling deep tech solutions within climate. I’ll be speaking to Investors, Founders, Venture Builders and other key ecosystem players all focused on scaling and commercialising groundbreaking, deep tech innovations.
We will explore how to prepare for the challenges that deep tech companies often face around fundraising, scaling, team building and commercialisation; and we’ll hear from stories of those who have successfully scaled to Series A and beyond.
Video versions of this and previous episodes are available here.
1:45 - Stafford’s career path so far from aeronautics to Innovate UK
10:17 - What was the landscape like before you started your work at Innovate UK when it comes to driving corporate investment into climate?
15:29 - What solutions have Innovate UK come up with to drive investment flow and combat risk aversion?
19:02 - How do advance market commitments work well and how are you applying them to climate innovation?
23:06 - Innovations in concrete production and using advance market commitments to encourage investors
28:09 - Do you look for problems or solutions first, when trying to get advance market commitments (AMC)?
33:28 - How have AMCs been received by VCs when they’re looking to invest?
35:04 - Could AMCs work when securing other types of funding e.g. debt financing?
36:57 - What time scale is your current pilot running across and what is success for you?
39:13 - How does this AMC pilot scale beyond Innovate UK?
41:37 - What challenges do you commonly see deep tech businesses facing?
45:47 - Blending public and private investment
47:43 - What are you excited about for the rest of this year?
48:11 - Is there anything you think could be changed or improved to drive the pace of innovation?
51:58 - How to contact Stafford and Innovate UK
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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