Abhi Desai (Desai Ventures): The Missing Link in Fixing Methane

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New Wave | Hugo Rauch | Substack

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🌊 The Methane Blind Spot

Why one of the most powerful climate levers stayed invisible, and what it takes to build around it.

We’re joined by Abhi Desai, Solo GP at Desai Ventures (an Indian family office), an early-stage investor focused on deep tech solutions across methane detection, satellites, and climate infrastructure.

In this episode, we dive into methane, the overlooked climate lever, and unpack what it really takes to build and invest in technologies that measure the invisible.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why methane is 80x more potent than CO₂ (short term), yet historically ignored

→ The real challenge: you can’t fix what you can’t measure

→ Satellites vs drones vs sensors, the stack of methane detection technologies

→ Why “naming and shaming” isn’t enough, and what actionable data actually looks like

→ The business case: lost gas = lost revenue (sometimes)

→ Where carbon credits fit, and why they’re still evolving

→ The core rule of climate VC: impact scales with revenue, not philanthropy

→ How to diligence deep tech when you don’t fully understand the science

→ Why collaborative due diligence might unlock more climate capital

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