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Deep Tech Network: Investor Series – Sustainability

Exterior image of the Molecular Sciences Research Hub building in White City Innovation District.

Upstream and Imperial College London invite you to the next Deep Tech Network event at White City Innovation District.

Join the teams for this highly-anticipated event in the Deep Tech Network: Investor Series – Sustainability. The session is a fantastic opportunity for sustainability-focused start-ups and scale-ups utilising deep tech to connect with top investors, participate in engaging panel discussions, and network over drinks and pizza.

KEY INFORMATION
•Entry fee: £20 (covers refreshments and organisational costs)
•Free tickets for Imperial-based or H&F-based sustainability start-ups/scale-ups
•For investors interested in attending, please email Upstream.

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with leading minds in deep tech and sustainability.

SPEAKERS

Alyssa Gilbert – Director, Undaunted + Director of Innovation at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment: Alyssa is Director of Undaunted, Imperial College London’s climate change innovation hub, run in partnership with the Royal Institution.

Undaunted is a hub for the UK’s climate innovation community, creating new routes into green entrepreneurship and supporting the acceleration of startups and SMEs tackling climate change. Over the past 12 years it has developed and refined its model for accelerating applicable, practical and adaptable solutions that make a difference on a global scale.

Alyssa was previously the Grantham Institute’s Director of Policy and Translation and a member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)’s Advisory Network (NAN), a Member of NERC’s Strategic Programme Advisory Committee (SPAG) and a Board Member of the Climate Markets Investments Association (CMIA). Prior to joining Imperial, Alyssa worked at the specialist energy and climate consultancy. She has also worked on environmental and climate change issues across a range of countries including China, France, Spain, Romania, Morocco, the UK and the US.

JP Pollock – CEO, Elbow Beach Capital: Elbow Beach Capital is a private investment company focused on decarbonisation, sustainable energy, and social impact businesses. Its core investment vertical focuses on three complementary investment sectors of decarbonisation, sustainable energy and social impact. Typically receiving seed or pre-seed funding, its portfolio includes Unwasted (panel board from waste), Anaphite (batteries) and WASE (wastewater as fertiliser etc).

JP co-founded Elbow Beach Capital in 2021. Prior to this, he held several senior leadership roles over nearly 20 years within large telecoms and tech companies including BT. JP has expertise in targeted investment and go-to-market strategy, transforming business units’ scale and profitability. He holds an MBA from Imperial College London and a BA (Hons) in Business Economics from the University of Reading.

Rubina Singh – Investor, Foresight Group: Rubina is an Investor at Foresight Group and she specialises in early-stage deeptech and climate-tech. She was previously at Octopus Ventures where she co-managed seed deeptech fund strategy and fundraising and led the Octopus Springboard deeptech accelerator. Rubina brings 15 year’s experience in product development, establishing and scaling new businesses, and venture capital across Australia, North America and Europe. This includes time as Head of Innovation at British Gas, fundring and de-risking startups at Fraunhofer USA. Rubina has degrees in engineering from ANU and Michigan.

Foresight is an asset manager that is actively building and growing its investments to support the energy transition, decarbonise industry, enhance nature recovery and realise the economic potential of ambitious companies. Its relevant investments include Mixergy (home heating) and Utonomy (gas leakage from networks).

Sarah Jones PhD – Investor, Zero Carbon Capital (ZCC): ZCC aims to solve the biggest challenges of decarbonisation with pre-seed and seed investments in ambitious teams building hard-science solutions across Europe and Israel (£100k-£1m cheque size). It recently raised £20million to invest in scientific startups developing breakthrough solutions for deep decarbonisation. Its portfolio includes AED Energy, twig (bio-ingredients), NetZeroNitrogen (fertiliser), BioZeroc (concrete) and White City’s very own Multus Media (cultured meat).

Sarah holds a PhD in Bioprocess Engineering and has been supporting the commercialisation of scientific innovation in various roles. This includes working in university tech transfer offices at Imperial and Oxford, at the Creative Destruction Lab accelerator, where she launched and led the Climate program, and now at ZCC.

John Anderson – Panel Chair (Chief Investment Officer, Imperial College London): John has played a key role in the evolution of the College’s Financial Strategy since 2000 including the establishment of the College’s Endowment Fund which now stands at just over half a billion pounds including the development of the Non-Core property portfolio (£8m in 2005 to £130m+ in 2022). The strategic objective is to maintain a viable financial strategy for the College to achieve its long term growth ambitions. John initiated the Imperial White City Campus, leading the College’s acquisition of the various land assets and supporting consents for over 4 million sq ft of mixed use development to date.