Lisbeth Kaufman

Excited to announce our investment in Alta Resource Technologies alongside Leonardo Banchik (Voyager Ventures) with participation from Orion Resource Partners, Overture Ventures, and WovenEarth Ventures. Rare earths are critical in products from magnets to ceramics and it's important for the US to develop its own supply chain. While the US has some of the best rare earth resources, separating them has historically proven expensive and environmentally unfriendly. Alta through it's computationally designed and optimized proteins allows the US to bring back rare earth production with a cleaner, lower capex, and lower opex solution - and that's just the beginning. Congrats to Nathan Ratledge and the entire Alta team. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gbGnAJn3

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Founder Fellowship applications are open at South Park Commons and due Feb 2nd. We support founders in -1 to 0. How early is that? Just look at the numbers. Fellowship companies so far were: >99% pre-revenue (there was 1) 85% pre-product (nothing built) 59% pre-idea (not sure what to build) We mean it about -1 to 0. The Founder Fellowship is the only program that invests this early with the kind of terms we offer: $400k for 7% and $600k in the next round. For overwhelmingly pre-revenue/product/idea founders. This is possible when you specialize in -1 to 0. Or in SPC's case, define it. We've spent nearly 10 years developing the -1 to 0 philosophy because we firmly believe it's when your company actually starts. Not with an idea, but when ambition takes hold. -1 to 0 requires patient capital. The Fellowship isn't a sprint to demo day. The right idea can take time. We spend a median of >7 months with teams before they raise their Seed and continue to partner long after. We're on your timeline, not ours. First idea doesn't work? No problem. We're used to it. You still have access to the SPC community, offices, programming, and staff. So on to the next, bigger, better idea. Our whole structure gives you the time and support to discard good for GREAT. The size of each fellowship is also key. We average 2 companies per member of the investing team. Every partner will work with every company. I will work with every company. We love O(N^2) connectivity. Why do we want people to take more time? So they can take more risk and build the kinds of companies that excite us. More technical risk, more market risk. It’s the only path that makes sense at venture scale. Sector is irrelevant. Scale of ambition is what matters. Recent fellowships had novel foundation model architectures, automated manufacturing, AI gaming, humanoid robotics, agentic drones, and software for everything from law enforcement to construction to AI advertising. We built the SPC Founder Fellowship to support you at the earliest stage, when it matters most. ��� $1M in funding 🤝 Bespoke support, small cohort, open timeline  🚀 SPC community membership, offices & programming Don't miss the deadline!

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I had the opportunity to speak to the CEOs of the startups funded by Shift4Good, which is investing in sustainable transportation. In full disclosure, I chair their impact committee. I argued that firms should think about scaling deep (building stronger relationships in existing communities), rather than simply thinking about scaling fast (wide geographical spread). Research by Suntae Kim and Anna Kim shows that scaling deep can build resilient organizations and communities. The standard Silicon Valley orthodoxy is to scale up and fast, which arises often because of investor pressures. Many people do not question this orthodoxy, and yet it comes at a cost. There are numerous firms that sit in a graveyard of companies that scaled too fast and failed. I could sense the skepticism from many of the CEOs. Yet, one CEO and cofounder, Sriram Kannan, of Routematic agreed with me. I had the privilege to talk to him again and he was able to articulate so clearly how the scaling deep model works, partly by contrasting how scaling deep model of Routematic contrasts to the scaling up model of Uber. The fundamental principles of scaling deep are: 1. Grow organically from profits, not from investor cash 2. Master one market before opening up others 3. Focus on relationships, not transactions I think my biggest epiphany was that scaling deep does not mean slow growth or weak profits. Routematic has been able to achieve 8-10% month-over-month growth in revenues and has largely been profitable since it began offering its transportation services. Uber took almost 15 years to be profitable. I captured these ideas in the Forbes article I posted today, which was fun to write and taught me a lot. This is one of the many ideas I am exploring to see how systems thinking is encouraging a different way of thinking--where businesses can contribute to and benefit from stronger communities and a natural environment. As always, I welcome your reactions and provocations. Ivey Business School at Western University, Innovation North, Network for Business Sustainability (NBS), Kavitha Ramachandragowda, Ameya Uchil, Sebastien Guillaud, Thierry de Panafieu, #systemsthinking, #ScalingStrategy #SustainableGrowth #StartupStrategy #ProfitableGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #ImpactInvesting #SustainableTransportation https://lnkd.in/gM74UmYM

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I had a great conversation with Simon Leich about climate change not being a "thesis" but a macroeconomic shift - and one of the largest we probably have seen. A lot of people talk about AI today, but AI is a solution to a problem, this macro-shift is THE PROBLEM: https://lnkd.in/dKZsnssE

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Had a fun time with Simon Leich on his podcast talking about tough tech innovation: - The state of the energy transition: the importance of viewing it through the lens of decadal macro-economic shifts, and the large and exciting opportunities out there for teams willing to change the industry. - Why innovation is so critical for confronting climate change: recognizing that the status quo pace of the transition is inadequate to meet our goals demands asymmetric change that historically has only been enabled by massive shifts in the innovation landscape. - building high performing startup teams: at this particular moment in time, with rising headwinds across the research and innovation enterprises, it is easy to forget our own agency in driving change in these markets -- but it is actually the audacity of tough tech teams that is the only real necessary condition for change in the first place. https://lnkd.in/ey3UNve5

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How y'all feeling out there? We asked, and the data is in! Elemental Impact & Sightline Climate (CTVC) surveyed ~100 investors and industry folks on market sentiment, and heard some surprising perspectives. Here are 5 of the results - I (unscientifically) ranked them from most surprising to least surprising to me. 1. Where will companies face the greatest financing challenge? 51% say first of a kind facility 😯. (I expected FOAK to be high on the list, but not this dominant) 2. What's the most catalytic role for philanthropy? The vast majority say that philanthropy should provide catalytic funding, both directly and through intermediaries. I found this surprising because not where philanthropy has necessarily focused, but it makes sense given the huge capital gaps right now. 3. What's your expectation for capital availability for FOAK? Only 11% expect it to increase, despite the importance and all the efforts afoot 🫤. At Elemental we are totally focused on proving those 11% right 😉 4. The financing gap that caught my attention: Respondents identified the $40-100M range as hardest to fund. This is our experience as well – and the project size where we’ve been deploying catalytic capital and seeing 4x to 190x multipliers in follow-on funding. 5. Biggest concern for climate tech? 54% said policy uncertainty, and 21% cited macroeconomic factors 😵‍💫. This one didn't surprise me... What it looks like on the ground: Even while the financing outlook for FOAK looks bleak, the catalytic strategy feels right. We're seeing small investments (in our case, powered by bold and committed philanthropy) truly unlock additional capital. Take Nitricity for example, where our $2M in catalytic capital helped unlock $7.5M in additional funding for their FOAK project earlier this year. The bottom line: When investors get cautious, flexible/catalytic capital becomes even more powerful. Check out the full post for all the data: https://lnkd.in/g26AeXjD

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Good long chat on CNBC with Julianna Tatelbaum & Karen Tso to cover the latest from Giant Ventures. Why clean energy & AI TOGETHER hold the key to the next century. The draft House bill would put America’s AI ambitions at severe risk: without accelerating renewables there is simply not enough power for AI capacity. Whether autonomous vehicles are finally coming of age, and if Waymo will become the jewel in Google’s crown. How UK talent from Jony Ive to Geoffrey Hinton has always been at the forefront of advanced technology…the exciting thing now is that it’s UK companies like CuspAI & Doccla breaking through, not just individuals. And why we’ve partnered with BMW, Henkel, Virgin and other leading corporates to help supercharge Giant-backed startups. You can watch the interview via the link in comments.

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𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐃𝐮𝐦𝐛 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 I recently sat down with Ryan Grant Little, the host of Another Climatetech podcast (but also a climatetech founder, advisor, and investor) to talk about why AI is the new electrification, and how it makes an increasingly complex energy system legible. Some other topics we covered: 🔋 Why electrification isn’t just inevitable - it’s the most capital-efficient climate solution on offer 🔄 What "sector coupling" means, and how heat pumps, EVs, and industry can all talk to each other ⚡ The distributed grid, smart meters, and how regulation is slowing everything down 🔐 Why cybersecurity for backyard solar systems might be our next national security crisis 🔌 The dark horses of climatetech: agrivoltaics and bi-directional EV charging At Vireo Ventures, we believe decarbonization is the greatest challenge and the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime. Our investments, including - FLEXECHARGE, Atmen, nuuEnergy, dsb - are driving exactly that: the digital and electrified infrastructure needed to achieve net-zero and make our energy system work. Listen on Spotify 🎧 https://lnkd.in/dTUVs7id or Apple 🍏 https://lnkd.in/ddDHT_bS

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Despite policy headwinds, U.S. climate tech startups aren’t fleeing abroad. They’re doubling down locally. At SecondMuse, we’re seeing founders recalibrate within the U.S., chasing states with strong demand, clearer incentives, and investor trust. 🔑 Three quick takeaways: 1️⃣ It’s not brain drain. The real risk is startup attrition without better domestic support. 2️⃣ Winners are solving real problems. Capital is flowing to industrial solutions that work without subsidies, like green shipping, carbon capture, and grid optimization. 3️⃣ Policy clarity shapes startup decisions. States like NY are stepping up, but federal uncertainty risks losing top talent, especially international researchers. We need inclusive, well-capitalized ecosystems that move with urgency and equity, because climate tech doesn’t wait. Read more 👉 https://lnkd.in/gsDbkeqD

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