The NatureBacked Podcast

The year 2024 looks promising for both, startups and investors, says investor Helery Pops from Practica Capital, a pan-Baltic investment firm which has backed several green tech startups in the region. "It's going to need a lot of work, it's going to need a lot of effort because money isn't that easy to come by at the moment, investors are doing much more due diligence: it might take up to six months or a year to raise a round. But if all the chips fall into places, then you have less competition," says investor Helery Pops.Practica Capital launched a new 80-million-euro fund in January 2024.Helery shares her insights on the startup landscape in the Baltics, her passion for nature, and some of the challenges and opportunities for green tech investors and founders in 2024. You'll learn about topics such as renewable energy, electric vehicles, circular economy, and more. You'll also hear about some of the successful and promising green tech startups in Practica's portfolio, such as PVcase, a grading software for wind turbines, and Heavy Finance, a platform that helps farmers switch to no-till farming with zero-interest loans. Whether you're a green tech enthusiast, a startup founder, or a curious listener, this episode will inspire you with fresh insights and practical tips on how to make a positive impact with green tech. Don't forget to subscribe to NatureBacked and leave us a review. You can also follow us on social media and visit our website for more content and resources. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next episode of NatureBacked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kenny Kaluiji, a seasoned professional in carbon markets, talks about fixing carbon markets, the emerging market for biodiversity credits, the trust challenge of carbon markets, and how local communities should benefit credit markets. He shares insights from his work in the carbon space and discusses the unfair distribution of funds in carbon projects, the link between biodiversity and carbon markets, and the lessons that can be learned from the carbon market for the emerging biodiversity market. Kenny also explores the development of carbon markets and pricing, trading carbon credits, and his goals for 2024.

Caroline Zaoui, co-founder of Novobiom, discusses how the startup is using fungi to clean contaminated soils and raise funding for a fungal fermentation pilot. They aim to turn waste into high value applications and provide solutions for the end of waste in the textile and cosmetic industries. Novobiom's main product is a soil mycoremediation solution that is more ecological, efficient, and economical than conventional treatments. They are focused on developing bio-inspired restorative innovations to solve environmental challenges.

Jens Sørensen, winner of the Future is Fungi Research Award and researcher at Aalborg University, discusses creating a biosynthesized battery from fungi pigments for renewable energy storage. The podcast explores scaling up battery production, collaborative efforts, and overcoming challenges in scaling up fungal batteries.

Near 8,000 companies globally have certified themselves as B Corporations, where B stands for "benefit for all", with even major corporations and publicly listed entities putting all stakeholders on par with investors."It's still very much an SME-led movement. However, I think more or less since 2015, we've seen a lot of momentum and interest in large companies and multinationals joining the movement," Sarah Garcia, head of market development at B Lab Europe, said in the NatureBacked podcast."The movement started back in 2006 when our founders were becoming increasingly disillusioned by seeing purpose-driven companies change drastically after they either changed ownership after they went public or the direction of the CEO or the priorities of the CEO change," she said.. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gunter Pauli, a speaker frustrated with the green economy, talks about the potential and benefits of the blue economy. He discusses using waste from coffee production for mushroom farming, the importance of local materials and collaboration, and the potential of using weeds for bioplastics. He also highlights the invention of stone paper and the need for storytelling and engaging children to spread the message of the blue economy.

Finnish biotech startup Enifer's guest, Simo Ellilä, shares how they are revolutionizing the production of mycoproteins from paper industry by-products. They discuss the strong demand from the pet food sector and their plans to enter the human food market. Researchers have shown that Enifer's PEKILO mycoprotein is better for farmed fish than soybeans. Enifer aims to announce their first factory location soon.

Adamas One, one of the pioneers in the lab-grown diamond business, is expanding production and pushing not-mined diamonds in new sectors, said founder and CEO Jay Grdina."Three goals and tasks: factory running at full production, complete the build-out of our new factory; semiconductors technology sector - really going to charge and take the lead on that; as well as get our jewellery line out there and launch stuff," Grdina said.The company owns the original 32 manufacturing patents for lab-grown diamonds, a sector which has taken a massive chunk of the North American diamond market over the last few years, and which is set to be increasingly important for the global semiconductor industry.The diamond mining industry is known for environmental and social problems. In some countries proceeds from diamond sales have been used to finance wars, creating a 'blood diamond' name. One of the latest environmental (and social) disasters occurred in the diamond mining town of Jagersfontein in South Africa last fall."People that traditionally might not have gone and bought a mined diamond, whether it's eco reasons or social reasons, or other reasons. We give them an alternative, where they can avoid those atrocities or mindset issues that they have, and come over and buy an environmentally conscientious diamond," Grdina said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kausal, which provides local governments with a software platform for tracking and implementing sustainability measures targets German-speaking markets and North America with fresh seed funding of 880,000 euros from an investor consortium including Innovestor and Spanish impact fund Zubi Capital."For us, the biggest milestone is to show that this is really scalable on different markets and not sustained in Finland, for instance," co-founder Sonja-Maria Ignatius said in the NatureBacked podcast. Ignatius, an ex-Helsinki climate specialist, and her co-founders set up the company to make sure Helsinki keeps its promises to become carbon neutral. Once the service was launched, other cities followed. Kausal currently works with over 40 cities, including San Diego and Zurich.The focus is set clearly on the public sector, even though the platform could be adapted for corporate use."It was a very natural step as all the founders had experience within the public sector," Ignatius said."It's true that the sale cycles can be long sometimes. But on the other hand, city governments are very reliable, they pay their bills. Also, once you have gotten in, and you have this in their budget, they are not going to be every year like, Hey, do we want this or not, but they are also very sticky as customers," she said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a wide-ranging discussion with Simona Simulyte on the sidelines of the Impact Day festival in Tallinn we talked about: How she took over her father's car component business at the age of 12 and launched environmentally friendly springs for breaks Early days of startup entrepreneurship in Lithuania, emphasizing the importance of diversity and impact How she launched the ChangemakersON network, a community for tech for good products, by leveraging traditional business experience and partnerships Her work in startups and sustainability highlights the importance of doing things for the right reasons rather than just for appearance or marketing ESG reporting helps expose greenwashing by measuring and documenting criteria, but companies need to be transparent and set clear agreements. regenerative organizations and decentralized business models the importance of listening to intuition and following nature's lead in business. Despite trying to copy nature, we've already made copies of nature before and are now returning to sustainable innovation. How small businesses should adopt a life-centric business model, prioritizing uniqueness and cooperation over competition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices