Philippa Martinelli

Accessing investment is a major challenge for growing #climatetech companies, crossing the missing middle of capital between venture capital and infrastructure funds – too big for one, and too small for the other. Last week Steven Poulter and I were joined by four inspirational climate tech founders to discuss this challenge, and how it can be overcome. Read more here 👇 Agnes Czako Christophe Williams Kate Hofman Kevin Duffy https://lnkd.in/ej4Jw4Nj

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Standard Chartered pioneers green finance with carbon removal startup UNDO. • StanChart breaks new ground by offering commercial debt to UNDO, a carbon removal firm using Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) - a promising yet controversial approach to fighting climate change. • This innovative financing model, backed by British Airways advance credit purchase, could unlock scalable funding for nascent carbon capture technologies. • ERW shows potential for dual benefits: sequestering CO2 for millennia while improving soil health and crop yields. But questions remain about its ecological impact and verification challenges. Is this the financial catalyst needed to scale carbon removal, or are we overlooking simpler climate solutions? What are your thoughts on ERW as a viable carbon capture method? #CarbonCapture #ClimateFinance #SustainableInvesting #CleanTech #NetZero

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Striking: Zenobē, a UK climate tech startup, raised £600m from KKR and £270m from Infracapital, bypassing VC entirely. Zenobe captures excess energy from wind farms to stabilize the grid and reduce gas power reliance. This means: Zenobe secured one of 2023's biggest startup fundraises — without any venture capital. #battery #fundraising #venturecapital #energystorage #infrastructure #growthinflection Sifted: https://lnkd.in/g8wF-xA5

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Distribution of Latest Credit Prices by Registry for projects Renoster has rated. These prices are generated through our partnership with AlliedOffsets and are featured in our upcoming whitepaper, 'Investigating Price vs Quality within NBS Carbon Markets.' Verra Both reviewed and reviewable projects under Verra show the broadest distribution of credit prices ($1 to $40), with reviewed projects having a slightly higher median ($9 vs $7.50) and mean price ($12 vs $11). Outliers indicate occasional high-value credits, but most prices are clearly clustered towards the lower end, reflecting moderate pricing overall. Verra is clearly the one with the widest variability in market valuation, and the only registry with projects fetching above the $33/credit mark. Climate Action Reserve Unreviewed projects have a wider distribution of credit prices ($1 to $33) compared to reviewed projects. Reviewed projects have a median price of $18 and a mean price of $14.69, while reviewable projects have a median price of $8 and a mean price of $10.47. Outliers indicate occasional high-value credits. It seems that for projects we have rated, the median price ($18) is a lot higher than reviewable projects ($8). ACR at Winrock International Both reviewed and reviewable projects under ACR show a broad distribution of credit prices ($2 to $27). Reviewed projects have a median price of $11 and a mean price of $13.19, while reviewable projects have a median price of $11 and a mean price of $11.58. Outliers indicate occasional high-value credits, but most prices are clustered around the median, reflecting moderate to high pricing overall. Gold Standard Both reviewed and reviewable projects under GS show a consistent distribution of credit prices ($15 to $29), with identical median ($21) and mean prices ($21.35). Outliers indicate occasional deviations, but most prices are closely clustered around the median, reflecting stable pricing. This, coupled with the fact that Gold Standard had the highest median price of all registries, aligns closely with what I make of the overall market perception of a stable registry. EcoRegistry Both reviewed and reviewable projects under ER show a relatively narrow distribution of credit prices ($2 to $17). Reviewable and reviewed projects have a similar median & mean, clustered around $5-6. It's worth noting that ER list of projects is almost entirely comprised of Avoided Deforestation, so the pricing is likely indicative of market perceptions of this project type rather than ER's own performance as a registry. Thanks to Anton Root, Antonia Drummond and the AlliedOffsets team for their collaboration on this project. Comment below if this is useful, and if you'd like to see more research like this in the NBS space. #nature #pricefornature #carbonmarkets #carbon #analytics Mark Trexler Anna Lerner Nesbitt Margaret Morales Racheal Notto Jeremy Epstein Farouq Ghandour Eilís O’Keefe

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NOTWICS would like to alert founders to this lovely message I got from my good mate Tom Britton @ SyndicateRoom This excellent Cambridge based pre-seed and seed stage VC is looking for top founders and hopefully this is the first of many funds ringing the bell saying they are now deploying 💥 - akin to top man Dan Bowyer’s LP post yesterday. The winds of change are coming - funding is coming back From Tom “Hey Chris - We've partnered with Carbon13 to launch their next Climatech SEIS fund. The fund will open to investors on Tuesday and aims to deploy in the current tax year. And on Carbon 13 Carbon13 companies have gone on to raise up-rounds totalling more than £38m. The average age of their cohort participants is 37, a quarter hold PhDs and 63% of their teams are mixed gender”. Their portfolio now has 71 ventures across five key sectors: chemicals and materials, energy, food systems, enabling platforms and the built environment. Founders find out more here and get applying https://lnkd.in/es6EvuN5 Or Direct Message Tom for more Apologies for spelling mistakes - rushing to host a huge defence tech breakfast with FieldHouse Associates and others #startups #scaleups #vc #angel

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The article outlines five critical priorities for the UK government to support SMEs better: improving access to finance, enhancing digital infrastructure, reducing regulatory burdens, fostering innovation, and expanding international trade opportunities. These actions are essential in empowering SMEs, the backbone of the economy, to thrive in a competitive and rapidly evolving market. The government can help SMEs overcome challenges, drive economic growth, and create more resilient and sustainable businesses by addressing these key areas.

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🚨 Greenhill and Ely Place have released their H2 2024 secondary market reports🚨 👇 ‣ Greenhill: https://lnkd.in/d2BG_NZq ‣ Ely Place (focussed on private debt): https://lnkd.in/eJqnfbMY ________________________ #privateEquity #privateDebt #secondaryMarket #liquidity

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Great to see SIS Ventures make this list by TechRound https://lnkd.in/eDtRbggM A bit more about what we look for below. If you're a founder and these hit the mark 👇 then please get in touch Investment targets SIS Ventures is focused on high-impact, high-growth potential businesses our investee companies are innovation-led, often spun out of Scotland’s leading university innovation programmes. Portfolio companies are also carefully selected for their commitment to developing their environmental, equality and diversity, social impact and governance practices. SIS Ventures seeks to provide equity investment to: ✔ High growth potential with a global scale and intent to provide significant impact ✔ Focus on social and/or environmental impact, aligning with impact themes / at least one of the UN SDGs ✔ Product or service backed by defensible technology or proprietary know-how ✔ EIS or SEIS qualifying ✔ Low capital-intensive businesses ✔ Sector agnostic, but historically invested across Life Sciences, MedTech, Climate Tech, Circular Economy, Biotech ✔ Pre-seed – Series A ✔ Headquartered in Scotland

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I couldn’t be prouder to be a Venture Partner at Isomer Capital (aka the best European FoF - at least for me) as we just announced the launch of our pioneering £100m secondaries fund. This fund is dedicated to acquiring stakes from LPs in various VC funds, tapping into a massive and largely unexplored market. 🌟 Key Highlights: - Focused Investment: Primarily targeting stakes in VC funds, with selective investments in private companies. - Robust Funding: Already over 20% funded, thanks to strong support from Nordic family offices and a German foundation. - Market Potential: With a growing number of private tech companies and a VC liquidity crunch, Europe's VC secondaries market is poised for rapid growth. - Track Record: This isn’t Isomer’s first foray into the secondaries market. As a firm we’ve done several secondaries deals with portfolio companies and VC firms, including early-stage VC Seedcamp (in 2021) and mobility giant Bolt (in 2023). - Expert Team: Welcoming the amazing Omolade (Rachel) A., formerly of Coller Capital, as a principal to lead this initiative. 💡 Investment Strategy: - 65-75% of the fund will buy "LP interest" stakes in VC funds. - 15-25% will be directed towards stakes in companies. - Up to 15% reserved for flexible investment opportunities. 📈 Looking Ahead: We're targeting returns of 2-3x, with significant distributions expected in the next 4-7 years. As one of the few players in this space, we're not just participating in the market—we're driving it forward. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/dc7sbC3G #VentureCapital #SecondariesFund #EuropeanVC

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The energy transition has two pillars: electrifying the economy and decarbonizing the grid. But renewables are intermittent - unlike burning fossil fuels we don't chose when the sun shines and how intensely the wind blows. This makes long-duration energy storage - i.e., massive batteries smoothing out electricity supply and demand - essential to building low-carbon girds. The challenge is that today's policy toolbox, including carbon finance, contracts for difference and feed-in tariffs, don't work well enough to make large-scale deployment viable for private investment. We're working with E.ON UK, one of the largest grid operators in the world, to fix this problem. We'll be presenting the results in New York in September alongside the UN General Assembly, and at COP29 in Baku. Get in touch if you're a developer, policy expert or investor and would like to partner. And read the concept note here https://lnkd.in/eQnWxzmQ

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Climate financing is going to the wrong places! Really insightful snapshot into the relationship between emissions and Climate tech VC by Daria Saharova (partner at World Fund) She states that: “85% of emissions receive only 52% of funding” And interestingly: - personal behavior change will reduce only 4.3% of emissions - technologies already in the market will account for 49.8% - technologies under development and in need of investment will need to fill in the rest. “46% of emissions will be reduced by technology that’s yet to be developed, and this is the tech we desperately need. Thanks for this Daria Saharova, really insightful.

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Exciting Funding Opportunity: Eureka Collaborative R&D UK-Israel Round Three! 🇬🇧🇮🇱 Dive into a groundbreaking opportunity under the Eureka programme, fostering collaborative research and development between UK and Israeli organisations. Aim to develop innovative products, processes, or services with the potential for significant global impact and economic growth! Eligibility: Open to UK-registered businesses teaming up with Israeli organisations. Projects must involve at least one UK and one Israeli-registered business. Other UK-registered organisations can also participate. Access up to £1 million allocated for UK participants. Project Scope: Target large global markets with a robust business plan. Deliver innovations that present clear technological risks and benefits. Ensure a clear IP usage and sharing strategy, with a solid marketing route planned within two to three years. Acclivity Ventures is here to help UK organisations form effective collaborations with Israeli partners, guide them through the application process, and ensure compliance with funding regulations. Let's make your project a success! Apply Now 📅: Closing on 30 October 2024. Don't miss out! https://lnkd.in/eeWVijiV #InnovationFunding #UKIsrael #ResearchAndDevelopment #EurekaProgramme #TechnologyCollaboration

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Are you ready to make your impact? 💡 https://lnkd.in/exqK3sW8 Rebecca Spohrer, Impact Manager, Triodos Investment Management is one of the many practitioners who are already integrating impact investing in their day-to-day role. Here’s what she had to say about taking CFA UK’s new Certificate in Impact Investing: "The Certificate in Impact Investing will help practitioners in impact finance to speak the same language – I refer to the course content regularly in my work." See what impact you could make on your career. Register today for the Certificate in Impact Investing and take your talent further. #impactinvesting #makeyourimpact

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The world’s electricity grids are forecast to double in length by 2050. Our experts see four areas of opportunity emerging from grids’ expansion and modernisation – what are they? Click to learn more >> https://lnkd.in/eeYcyxP2

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#TransformativePotential As the UK government considers backing consolidating pension pots into large, pooled funds (Pension mega funds), we face a remarkable opportunity. Biomedical mega funds could bridge the "Valley of Death" in drug development while offering stable investor returns. But how can such a bold model manage risks while amplifying returns? #InnovativeStructuring The solution lies in sophisticated financial engineering. Through tranches, investments are segmented for different risk appetites: senior tranches offering 5-6% fixed returns for pension funds, mezzanine tranches balancing moderate risk with higher yields, and equity tranches absorbing first losses but providing outsized returns. But how do we ensure resilience against systemic shocks? The answer lies in correlation modeling. By understanding the relationships between different drug projects, funds can optimize their portfolios, balancing high-risk correlated projects with independent ones. This approach safeguards returns, even when regulatory delays or market disruptions hit specific therapeutic areas. #MonetizeEarly, Can we generate returns before a drug reaches the market?  Early-stage monetization generates returns before market approval through licensing agreements, partnerships, and asset sales. A Phase II oncology drug could generate $200M upfront plus milestone payments, creating immediate cash flows. #SteadyFlows How do we ensure consistent returns in such a high-risk industry? Reserve funds act as crucial buffers while a staggered portfolio strategy spreads investments across late-stage (3-5 years), mid-stage (5-7 years), and early-stage projects (7-10 years), ensuring steady cash flows. #GovernmentSupport Public sector backing through credit enhancements and guarantees reduces default risks. Third-party guarantees with insurers provide additional security, aligning healthcare innovation with financial sustainability. #LeveragedReturns, Can we amplify returns while managing risk? Asset-backed securities (ABS) leverage royalty streams from approved drugs for additional capital. The LifeArc-CPPIB Keytruda deal ($1.3B) demonstrates this approach's potential. #BreakthroughPotential A portfolio of 100+ oncology projects improve breakthrough odds dramatically. Even for Alzheimer's research, structured funds (Portfolio Optimisation) could unlock $5B annual revenues from successful treatments. #CollaborativeInnovation Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cancer Research Horizons  , LifeArc Ventures, and research organisations etc could collaborate within this framework, accelerating patient access while optimising returns. This creates a virtuous cycle of innovation and investment. Through careful structuring, risk management, and innovative financing, we might finally bridge the "Valley of Death" in drug development. #UKpensionmegafund #UKpooledpensionpots #tranches #securitization #financialengineering #portfolioptimisation #seniortranches #ABS #investment #VCs

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In 2024, UK scaleup funding hit crisis levels - less than 300 companies accessed Series A funding, with Q3 showing the lowest activity in 6 years. Half a billion less capital went to UK scaleups than just two years ago. The ecosystem's response was decisive. 65+ partners united through the UK ScaleUp Investment Mission, representing £7bn of VC funding. From Treasury engagement to industry collaboration, we've built momentum for systematic change. Two posts that captured this year's journey, with around 100k impressions from these 2 alone: "Funding Collapse sends investment in start-ups to six year low" Coverage in The Times highlighting the urgent need for intervention as UK VC funding nearly halved https://lnkd.in/ehH8sCJQ "UK ScaleUp Investment Mission Roundtable" 20 ecosystem leaders met with Treasury Minister Lord Spencer Livermore to improve conditions for scaleup success https://lnkd.in/e3GTdcwX At VenturePath, we've supported this mission by helping unlock Series A-B funding for ambitious tech companies while advocating for broader ecosystem improvements. Our community's growth reflects the hunger for better funding access. Deeply grateful to the founders, VCs, and ecosystem builders who've driven real progress this year. Special thanks to our government partners at Treasury, DBT, and DSIT for engaging meaningfully with industry recommendations. Looking to 2025: We have clear solutions, strong ecosystem support, and growing government engagement. Now we need to turn recommendations into action. The UK ScaleUp Investment Mission will focus on implementing practical measures to improve nationwide access to venture funding. To every organization working to create more venture-backed UK successes: 2024 showed what's possible when we unite around a clear mission. Let's make 2025 the year we reverse the decline in scaleup funding. -- Get your 2024 LinkedIn Rewind at https://lnkd.in/eUCXR-Dm

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