We just completed our two-day summit (Oct. 25-26), which included 22 panels and fireside chats with leading founders, VCs, researchers and policy experts.
We had a great turnout, with more 6700 people registered this year, from 88 countries. We recognize that the event was not available during waking hours in much of the world so we wanted to make the sessions available on-demand right at the show’s conclusion.
The full recordings for each day are here for Day 1 and Day 2. You can find each session listed with its corresponding YouTube link below. They are listed in order of appearance.
Here are some SOSV links that might be helpful:
SOSV’s HAX, our hard tech startup development program
SOSV’s IndieBio, our human an planetary health startup development program
SOSV’s main site and the SOSV Climate Tech 100
Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and join our SOSV Talent Network to find jobs at our portfolio companies.
Welcome to SOSV Climate Tech Summit
SPEAKERS
- Sean O’Sullivan, Managing General Partner, SOSV
- Susan Schofer, Partner & Chief Science Officer, SOSV’s HAX
How to invent climate unicorns
MIT’s Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang has an astonishing knack for converting science into indispensable climate tech companies, including unicorns Form Energy and Desktop metal and rising star Sublime Systems. How does he do it? And what spaces does he see in the vast materials space?
SPEAKERS
- Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, MIT, Professor, Co-founder, Form Energy & Desktop Metal
- Moderator: Ben Joffe, SOSV, Partner
Who writes those early checks, and why?
In venture investing, early checks are usually the riskiest, and when it comes to deep tech climate startups, the risk is especially high. How do VCs who put early capital to work decide which founders to back, and in what climate sectors? How do they coach their founders and what do they expect in the early years?
SPEAKERS
- Duncan Turner, SOSV General Partner and HAX Managing Director
- Sam Smith-Eppsteiner, Innovation Endeavors, Partner
- Moderator: Cody Simms, MCJ Collective, Partner
Nuclear fusion, the forever promise
More than $5 billion in venture capital has heated up the race to produce commercially viable, nuclear fusion power – as soon as the 2030s. Helion Founder David Kirtley is one of the frontrunning founders in the race to make this near perfect energy technology a reality.
SPEAKERS
- Dr. David Kirtley, Helion Energy, Founder and CEO
- Moderator: Jason Jacobs, MCJ Collective, Partner
Is this geothermal’s moment?
One cure for the limitations of solar and wind is the geothermal potential right under our feet, but the US produces less than 1% of its energy from geo. Dandelion and Quaise are working on solutions that will transform access to geothermal’s untapped possibilities.
SPEAKERS
- Carlos Araque, Quaise Energy, Co-Founder and CEO
- Kathy Hannun, Dandelion Energy, Co-Founder and President
- Moderator: Candice Ammori, Founder, The Climate Vine
Who writes series A & B checks and why?
The value of Series A investments in climate tech grew 76% to $5.3 billion between 2020 and 2021, while Series B investments doubled to $8 billion. Khosla, USV and EIP are in the thick of the competition to write those checks. Hear how these investors pick their bets.
SPEAKERS
- Rajesh Swaminathan, Khosla Ventures, Partner
- Mona Alsubaei, USV Climate Fund, Investment Team
- Shayle Kann, Energy Impact Partners, Partner
- Moderator: Alex Wilhelm, TechCrunch, Editor in Chief
The Swedish Way: How Vargas Holding Built NorthVolt, Polarium and H2 Green Steel and Raised Over $8 Billion
Far from Silicon Valley, Carl-Erik Lagercrantz co-founded Vargas Holding and launched three notable companies to re-shore critical clean industries. Can their novel playbook apply to other industries and geographies?
SPEAKERS
- Carl-Erik Lagercrantz, Vargas Holding, CEO
- Moderator: Sophie Purdom, Co-Founder of CTVC and Climate Tech Investor
When the sun and wind aren’t around, what then?
Globally, carbon offsets are traded on ETS generally well below $100/tCO₂. The trouble is that most solutions for carbon capture and storage still cost well above $100 per ton. Who will close the gap? We’ll hear from two founders who believe they have the technology and business model to get there. And to keep the conversation grounded, we’ll run it by a scientist whose life’s work is to figure out carbon capture.
SPEAKERS
- Michael Peither, VoltStorage, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
- Tulika Raj, SunGreenH2, Co-Founder and CEO
- Moderator: Casey Crownhart, MIT Technology Review, Climate and Energy Reporter
What’s the right role for Uncle Sam?
Whether it’s consumer incentives for electric cars or FDA approvals for alternative proteins, startup founders often need help from legislators and regulators to succeed. What is the best way for the government to help innovators succeed without playing favorites or making the wrong bets?
SPEAKERS
- Sarah Hunter, X (Formerly Google X), Director of Global Public Policy
- Dr. Jesse Jenkins, Princeton University, Assistant Professor and Macro-scale Energy Systems Engineer
- Robin Millican, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), Director, U.S. Policy and Advocacy
- Moderator: Danny Crichton, Lux Capital, Head of Editorial
The DoE’s $40 billion “bridge to bankability”
The US Department of Energy has a $40 billion loan facility to assist critical, sustainable energy projects. It’s Jigar Shah’s job to make the call on those loans, and he’s studying 77 applications. So how does that work, exactly?
SPEAKERS
- Jigar Shah, US Department of Energy, Director, Loan Programs Office
- Moderator: Vijay Vaitheeswaran, The Economist, Global Energy and Climate Editor
A rockstar VC returns to “fix” (not his preferred verb) climate and secure humanity’s future
Legendary software investor Chris Sacca came out of retirement to raise more than $1 billion for his new climate fund, Lowercarbon, and build a team focused on climate science and investing. In no time, they’ve invested in more than 60 companies. What has Sacca learned so far?
SPEAKERS
- Chris Sacca, Lowercarbon Capital, Managing Partner
- Moderator: Connie Loizos, TechCrunch, Silicon Valley Editor and StrictlyVC, Founder
Termination Shock, the near now
Neal Stephenson’s latest, “Termination Shock,” is a riveting take on what the near-future life might look like when climate goes badly sideways. What does the sci-fi legend really think about humanity’s ability to address the challenge?
SPEAKERS
- Neal Stephenson, Author, “Termination Shock”
- Moderator: Jason Pontin, DCVC, Partner
Can direct air capture save the day?
The Biden climate package set aside billions to support carbon dioxide removal technologies, and Climeworks is spear-heading the direct air capture (DAC) globally, with the world’s largest DAC facility and storage installation in operation. Co-founded by Dr. Christoph Gebald, the scale-up is on a journey to climate impact at scale and strives to inspire 1 billion people to act and remove CO2 from the air. How far has the technology developed, and what does it take to scale it up as fast as required? How does direct air capture become a real business?
SPEAKER
- Dr. Christoph Gebald, Climeworks, Co-Founder and Co-CEO
- Moderator: Kim Zou, CTVC, Co-Founder
Carbon reduction three ways – forests, algae and making things
Our planetary ecosystem scrubs C02. Can we help forests and ocean life do better? Or borrow nature’s photosynthesis to make atmospheric CO2 into valuable materials and fuels? These three founders are putting nature to work to reduce C02.
SPEAKERS
- Dr. Raffael Jovine, Brilliant Planet, Founder and Chief Scientist
- Dr. Etosha Cave, Twelve, Co-Founder and CSO
- Yishan Wong, Terraformation Inc., CEO
- Moderator: Tim DeChant, TechCrunch+, Senior Climate Reporter
Singapore is way ahead. They have to be.
Climate change is an existential threat to Singapore, but unlike most small island states Singapore has the financial resources, technological capability, and governmental focus to address climate change on fronts. At the center of that effort, is Minister Grace Fu.
SPEAKERS
- Grace Fu, Singapore, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment.
- Moderator: Ben Joffe, SOSV, Partner
Can plants and AI curb the livestock GHG problem?
Can plants replace the animals in our diet? Livestock accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and unicorn Notco has taken on dairy with a plant-based milk and is using an AI-driven platform to design an arrray of plant-based protein replacements. How far can Notco go, and how fast?
SPEAKERS
- Matias Muchnick, NotCo, Founder and CEO
- Moderator: Amanda Little, Columnist for Bloomberg and Professor of journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University
When farming goes indoors
Food and climate have a tricky relationship. Unsustainable agriculture is a big GHG source; worsening climate risks food production and famine. Food production in sustainable facilities, If they can scale economically, may be an answer, or so these founders hope.
SPEAKERS
- Viraj Puri, Gotham Greens, Co-Founder and CEO
- Allison Kopf, IUNU, Chief Growth Officer
- John Diener, Vertical Oceans, Co-Founder
- Moderator: Larissa Zimberoff, Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley’s Mission to Change What We Eat, Author
Alternative protein scale-up? There’s a corporate for that.
Startups in food tech face daunting capital and know-how challenges to scale production. That’s why brewer giant AB InBev created BioBrew, a new division to build precision fermentation operations (beer, get it?) for the likes of partner The Every Company. How did that collaboration come to pass and how is it working?
SPEAKERS
- Arturo Elizondo, The Every Company, Founder and CEO
- Patrick O’Riordan, AB InBev, Global Head of BioBrew
- Moderator: Dr. Pae Wu, SOSV General Partner, IndieBio CTO
How can ag tech feed and save the planet at the same time?
Industrial agriculture is a major contributor to the greenhouse gasses that drive climate change, and at the same time our ever hotter planet is putting food production everywhere under an unprecedented strain. The challenge for ag tech pioneers is to address both challenges at once.
SPEAKERS
- Josh Silverman, Aromyx Corporation, CEO
- Matias Viel, Beeflow, Founder and CEO
- Toni Wendt, Traitomic – Carlsberg Group, Head of Technology Development and Operations
- Po Bronson, SOSV General Partner and IndieBio SF Managing Director
A $3.6 billion investment company for future generations towards a net zero world. Singapore, of course.
Temasek, a global investment company, was already a global leader in climate tech investing when in June it announced the launch of GenZero, a wholly-owned $3.6 billion investment platform company dedicated to accelerating decarbonisation globally. GenZero CEO Frederick Teo will address how GenZero plans to put that capital to work.
SPEAKERS
- Frederick Teo, GenZero, CEO
- Moderator: Catherine Shu, TechCrunch, Senior Reporter
New ways to make materials, minus the carbon.
So much of what we take for granted, from plastic, to wood to concrete and steel involve processes that contribute mightily to GHG emissions or other unsustainable processes. These three founders are walking the fine line between new green technologies and promising commercial replacements for legacy approaches.
SPEAKERS
- Miranda Wang, Novoloop, Co-Founder and CEO
- Joe Luttwak, Lingrove, CEO
- Dr. Lily Wachter, Biomason, CFO
- Moderator: Alex Kopelyan, SOSV, Senior Director & Partner – IndieBio
Welcome to climate tech investing
In little more than a year, 72 new climate venture funds and $13 billion in fresh capital pulled up to the climate startup ecosystem. More capital is great for the sector, but how do these new general partners see the opportunity? Which stages and categories do they like?
SPEAKERS
- Sarah Sclarsic, Voyager, Co-Founder and Managing Partner
- Daria Saharova, World Fund, General Partner
- Dawn Lippert, Elemental Excelerator, Founder and CEO
- Moderator: Jonathan Shieber, FootPrint Coalition, Editor and Venture Partner
SOSV Climate Tech Summit Closing Remarks
What have we learned? What can we do now?
SPEAKERS
- Sean O’Sullivan, Managing General Partner, SOSV
- Susan Schofer, Partner & Chief Science Officer, SOSV’s HAX
Thank you for joining the SOSV Climate Tech Summit!
