Leveraging New Technologies to Decarbonise the Economy with Mark Windeknecht from World Fund | Venture Capital

Decarbonising the economy is a political goal and a commercial opportunity. How can circular startups benefit as well?

In this episode, Mark Windeknecht, Principal at World Fund, discusses the connection between decarbonisation and the circular economy. By examining the battery recycling startup Cylib, the food startup Planet A Foods and the consumer tech startup Faircado, Mark provides insights into the drawdown potential of different business models. As a considerable share of circular startups are asset-heavy, Mark touches upon the challenges and opportunities of financing the growth of these circular business models.

This episode is part of VC for Circularity - the Venture Capital Perspective on Circular Economy Startups.

People
Mark Windeknecht, Principal, World Fund
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ing-mark-windeknecht-285412148/

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypscher/

Chapters
00:00 Intro
05:35 Carbon Drawdown Potential as a Main Investment Criteria during the Due Diligence
10:36 The Case of Cylib: Superior Battery Recycling at Scale
13:30 The Case of Planet A Foods: Avoiding Deforestation by using Left-Over Food
18:27 The Case of Faircado: More Sustainable Shopping
20:04 Funding CapEx-Heavy startups: Assets, Equity, Venture Debt and Licensing
25:57 Regulation and Technology are the drivers: AI, IOT, Robotics, Physical AI, Quantum and more
28:15 Founders, have a Strong Business Case without Green Premiums
30:12 Regulation is starting to change markets

About
World Fund helps to decarbonise the global economy.

As a climate tech VC, World Fund is driven by tackling the climate crisis and only invests in technologies with scalable businesses and significant emissions savings potential. World Fund supports startups from early to growth stage, focusing on Energy, Food and Agriculture, Manufacturing, Buildings, and Mobility.

Further Links
Carbon Drawdown Potential
https://www.worldfund.vc/knowledge/how-to-measure-the-climate-performance-potential-of-startups

Portfolio Companies:
https://www.cylib.de/
https://faircado.com/
https://www.ecoworks.tech/
https://planet-a-foods.com/

One-page Summary
Sign-up for the Circularity.fm Newsletter and get a summary with the take-aways of this episode. Register here: https://circularity.fm/leveraging-new-technologies-to-decarbonise-the-economy-with-mark-windeknecht-from-world-fund-venture-capital/

Transcript
See the episode page for the transcript: https://circularity.fm/leveraging-new-technologies-to-decarbonise-the-economy-with-mark-windeknecht-from-world-fund-venture-capital/