Best NatureBacked Podcasts (2024)

1
From Deserts To Dividends: Innovo's Martin Kelly Talks About Profits and Algae 32:10

3d ago32:10

32:10

Martin Kelly from Innovo Network discusses the company's mission to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by promoting and deploying profitable clean technologies. "It is now actually technologically and profitably possible to achieve this reduction, but a huge amount has to happen in terms of the scale of the capital investment, and so on," Kelly …

1
Growing Beyond Gardens: The Global Impact of Native Plants with Garden for Wildlife 33:17

11d ago33:17

33:17

Garden for Wildlife is an e-commerce business that simplifies the process of learning about and purchasing native plants for customers' yards. Founder Shubber Ali shares his personal journey from a career in management consulting to becoming passionate about gardening and the environment after reading a book called "Nature's Best Hope." This book h…

1
Revolutionizing Spaces: Gregory Dewerpe Aims To Change The Future of Construction and Real Estate with A/O 27:12

1M ago27:12

27:12

Gregory Dewerpe, the founder of A/O, a venture capital firm, talks about his company's focus on "positively transforming" the built world, which includes real estate and construction. A/O, launched in 2020, is the largest VC firm in Europe and globally in this sector. The company invests in various solutions, including satellite companies and AI, t…

1
Cutting Down on Carbon in Concrete, with Alex Hall from Concrete.ai 33:17

2M ago33:17

33:17

Concrete is one of the most widely used and important materials in the world. It is essential for building infrastructure, improving human development, and providing shelter. However, it also has a huge environmental impact, as it accounts for about 8% of the global CO2 emissions due to the use of cement, its main ingredient. But what if there was …

1
Saving Pandas (and the Planet) with Jana Budkovskaja from Beamline 30:03

2M ago30:03

30:03

With international actions on halting climate change showing no signs of progress, the mission to save the planet and the environment has been left to startups, said Jana Budkovskaja, the head of Beamline Accelerator. "That's why I'm here — because I truly believe that these are the only ones who can save, only startups. All the, in a good way, cra…

1
How to Use AI and Programming Language to Heal Yourself (and the World) 39:47

2M ago39:47

39:47

Leo Treadwell, a visionary who has developed an organic intelligence language model, shares his story, his insights, and his tips on how to use AI and programming language to heal yourself and the world. Treadwell is the founder of the Organic Intelligence Language Model, a system that uses artificial intelligence and natural language to understand…

1
Looking Into Promising Year With Practica's Helery Pops 12:53

3M ago12:53

12:53

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 mu…

1
How To Fix Carbon Markets, With Kenny Kaluiji 34:48

3M ago34:48

34:48

Kenny Kaluiji, a seasoned professional in the realm of carbon markets and climate equity, gave NatureBacked listeners a deepdive into the state of the carbon markets. We spoke about: how to fix carbon markets emerging market for biodiversity credits trust challenge of carbon markets how local communities should benefit credit markets After completi…

1
Cleaning Soils With Novobiom's Fungi 26:33

4M ago26:33

26:33

Novobiom, the winner of the Future is Fungi Startup Award, is cleaning contaminated soils using fungi, and is raising funding to build fungal fermentation pilot during 2024. "We aim by using fungi is to turn bulk waste into high value applications using a fungal micro refinery," Novobiom co-founder Caroline Zaoui said in the NatureBacked podcast. "…

1
Making Batteries From Fungi With Jens Sørensen 18:30

5M ago18:30

18:30

Jens Laurids Sørensen from Aalborg University, the winner of the Future is Fungi Research Award, introduced the winning project to create the world's first biosynthesized battery. Sørensen said: "Our battery is based on pigments from fungi. So it's the world's first biosynthesized-battery. It is much better than the solutions right now, which are b…

1
Delving Into B Corp Trend with Sarah Garcia 18:21

5M ago18:21

18:21

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 l…

1
When Green Is Not Enough: Talking About Blue Economy With Gunter Pauli 32:48

5M ago32:48

32:48

We met Gunter Pauli on the sidelines of Tallinn Greentech Week to talk about the Blue Economy. Here are the main points of the discussion: The blue economy concept and its potential to replace the green economy Pauli is frustrated with the green economy and argues it's too expensive and incompatible with market demands. the limitations of economies…

1
Making Sustainability Leap In Food Chain with Enifer's Simo Ellilä 27:31

5M ago27:31

27:31

Finnish biotech startup Enifer has injected new life into an old innovation of Finnish forestry engineers, revitalising the production of mycoproteins from paper industry by-products. They have found strong demand from the pet food sector as in the 1970s and 1980s the product was sold to farmers for their animals, and are now looking also for ways …

1
Diamonds Are For Everyone: Changing Diamond Industry with Adamas One's Jay Grdina 28:44

6M ago28:44

28:44

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 …

1
Helping Cities Solve Climate Challenge 27:10

6M ago27:10

27:10

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 …

1
How Nature Can Guide us to Build Sustainable and Innovative Businesses 50:58

6M ago50:58

50:58

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 imp…

1
Upcycling Plastic Waste With The Ocean Package's Joshua Linn 24:22

6M ago24:22

24:22

German startup The Ocean Package seeks to benefit from Europe's tightening regulations that support the re-use of e-commerce packaging materials, such as plastics that the company uses to make its shipping material. "Our solution, the most important thing behind The Ocean Package, is that we have to find a way to clean up our world and to create a …

1
From Entrepreneurs to Impactful Startups: Greta Monstavice talks about her work with Katalista Ventures 23:06

7M ago23:06

23:06

In the wide-ranging discussion with Greta Monstavice we covered how Katalista Ventures supports entrepreneurs to create positive change. Startups accelerated through the programme are in 15 countries, with 69 startups accelerated, and 15 more in the pipeline. Early-stage startups are supported in scaling and understanding their business model, with…

1
Carbon Removal: It's Not Just Planting Trees, With Antti Vihavainen From Puro.Earth 30:55

7M ago30:55

30:55

In the episode Puro.Earth founder Antti Vihavainen takes the listeners to a deep dive into carbon removal space. Vihavainen tells us about the different types of carbon removal projects that Puro.Earth is working with, biochar, direct capture, and enhanced rock weathering. He also discusses the challenges and opportunities in the carbon removal ind…

1
Biodiversity Brigade: Challenges, Opportunities, and Lessons Learned with Zoe Peden from Ananda 37:48

7M ago37:48

37:48

Biodiversity is the diversity of life on Earth, and it is vital for our planet and our well-being. But how do we know if we are having a positive or negative impact on biodiversity, and how can we improve it? In this episode of the NatureBacked podcast, Tarmo Virki spoke with Zoe Peden, partner at Ananda Impact Ventures, an investment firm that sup…

1
Protecting Ancient Woods with Sengire Fondas 38:13

7M ago38:13

38:13

In the episode, we deep-dived into saving the old forests with Rimante Paulaskaite-Digaitiene from the Sengire Fondas (The Ancient Woods Foundation), which aims to acquire the first 100 hectares of old forests in Lithuania by the end of this year and leave them for nature. "So the organisation was founded in 2020 aiming to protect the last remainin…

1
Changing the World with Tom Bosschaert from Except 45:43

8M ago45:43

45:43

Tom Bosschaert, founder of Except Integrated Sustainability, unveiled in the episode how the consultancy is transforming itself towards creating entities that will kickstart thorough, long-term societal transformations. "Time is no longer on our side and we can't just keep playing in the sandbox anymore. We have to take serious, serious action," Bo…

1
Cleaning Wastewater with Nano Bubbles 16:58

8M ago16:58

16:58

Len Bland from Nano Gas Environmental introduced the technology to clean wastewater with nanobubbles. The topics we covered: How did it come up with the idea of cleaning wastewater? Role of patents. The next milestones for the company Competition in the market Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

1
Pulling the Carbon Out of the Sky with CUR8's Marta Krupinska 34:54

8M ago34:54

34:54

CUR8 co-founder Marta Krupinska, a passionate advocate for carbon removal, believes that carbon removal is essential to addressing climate change, while it can also be a profitable business. CUR8 is building a marketplace for carbon removal credits. These projects can include planting trees, capturing carbon dioxide from the air, or storing carbon …

1
Deepdive to Life, Growth and Sleep, with Digital Nomad Danny Flood 38:08

8M ago38:08

38:08

In this episode, Tarmo Virki talks with Danny Flood, the founder of School of Growth Hacking, a platform that teaches entrepreneurs how to grow their businesses faster and smarter. Danny is also the author of several books on entrepreneurship, marketing, and productivity, such as Hack Sleep, Hack Email, and Buy Your Own Island. Tarmo and Danny disc…

1
Sustainable Aviation Fuels, Battery Sector in Focus, Says PTT's Nick Piromsawat 38:21

9M ago38:21

38:21

In this episode, we talk to Nick Piromsawat, a senior investment associate at ExpresSo, the venture capital and venture building team at PTT, the Thai national oil company. Nick shares how ExpresSo is driving the transition from oil and gas to renewable energy and decarbonisation, by investing in and partnering with startups with innovative technol…

1
Gamifying Nature Protection With Arch from Wildchain 36:34

9M ago36:34

36:34

Wildchain aims to address the lack of financial support for real endangered animals by combining the concept of adoptable NFTs featuring endangered animals and threatened species. The team behind this initiative has spent two years developing the project, which has been self-funded without any external investments. Their approach involves building …

1
NatureBacked meets Startup Tank 2:20:53

9M ago2:20:53

2:20:53

Our host Tarmo visited Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show as a panellist. You can hear six interesting startups pitching. - InnoCSR: eco-friendly brick manufacturing - Sophie’s Bionutrients: Food Grade Protein from Microalgae - Rightcharge: Simplified EV charging solutions - UpShift Cars: Fractional EV car subscription - PingThings: Revolutio…

1
Establishing ClimateTech in South East Asia with Djoann Fal 44:45

9M ago44:45

44:45

Djoann Fal, the founder of Atlas Capital, believes that Southeast Asia is a region with enormous potential for innovation and implementation in ClimateTech. In this episode, our host Tarmo Virki speaks with Fal, a passionate advocate for climate tech, about the challenges and opportunities in Southeast Asia, we hear about some of the companies that…

1
Disrupting ESG: The Need for Transparency and Openness with Frank Meehan from OpenESG 33:27

11M ago33:27

33:27

Introduction: Host Tarmo Virki welcomes listeners to "NatureBacked," a show discussing the green economy. Guest speaker Frank Meehan from openESG, joins the conversation. Frank Meehan is a seasoned investor and co-founder of SPARKlabs, an investment firm focused on climate, food, and agricultural tech solutions. He also co-founded Equilibrium.ai, a…

1
Tapping Booming Demand for Microgrids with Rod Matthews 20:49

11M ago20:49

20:49

Green is a crucial part of the offering, but not the only benefit microgrid clients are seeking, said Rod Matthews from San Diego, California-based microgrid producer Brevian Energy. "We're looking at ways to help make power much more affordable for people and resilient because you are generating it yourself. So you're not relying on the grid. So w…

1
Turning Investment Portfolios Green With Peter Krull 30:05

1y ago30:05

30:05

For sustainable investing one has to make clear changes, looking beyond lowering the share of fossil fuel companies in the portfolio, said Peter Krull, Partner at Earth Equity Advisors. “We don't have to accept less bad. We can just simply make transitions,” Krull said. “So sustainable investing to me is investing in companies that are going to red…

1
Carbon Negative Bitcoin Mining?! With Sazmining 23:00

1y ago23:00

23:00

Sazmining is building a platform for green, even carbon-negative, bitcoin mining, said founder William Szamosszegi. Looking at the big picture, the environmental effects of Bitcoin are considerable, partly because Bitcoins are made using electricity partially generated by gas and coal-fired power plants. However, replacing the energy source, and wo…

1
Going Local with Adam Beaumont 42:16

1y ago42:16

42:16

When Eden Project North, an environmental visitor attraction in northern England, opens in a few years, a lot of the work will be done by local enterprises, said Adam Beaumont, trustee and non-executive director at Eden. The project will be located at Morecambe, once a thriving coastal town, which has lost a lot of its holiday travellers to souther…

1
Turning Europe Towards Web3 With Armin ZadakBar 33:45

1y ago33:45

33:45

Nascent European Web3 Organization is seeking to connect the web3 community on the old continent, starting with education and information-sharing projects, said Armin ZadakBar, one of the founders of the Brussels-headquartered organisation. The jury is still out to determine the leading forces in web3, and Europe’s decentralised decision-making cou…

1
Creating 100 Thousand Million Sustainable Cities 48:27

1y ago48:27

48:27

Next year, 100 Thousand Million aims to start building the world’s first truly sustainable city in northern Chile, and several countries are keen to see the next project’s on their soil, said founders Alberto Scherb and Jaime Alvarez. “In the short term, our vision or mission is to create a lifestyle that is truly human-centred, nature-focused, and…

1
Web3 Deepdive In The Midst Of Crypto Winter, With Sam Kamani 36:34

1y ago36:34

36:34

Sam Kamani, VP of Growth at web3 tools maker Cookbook, said he was looking ahead optimistically despite crypto winter in the episode where we delved deep into the world of Web3 and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs). “I’m not too worried, not too worried at all, even though I work in this space. I’ve seen, and I’ve lived through, at leas…

1
Creating Green Currency With Beach Collective's Robert Cobbold 28:07

1y ago28:07

28:07

It will be a long road to broad adoption of new currency BEACH, but living well should not cost us the planet, said Robert Cobbold, head of operations at Beach Collective, a blue circular economy platform behind the token. “A beach token is a currency which internalizes the health of the planet into every single transaction,” Cobbold said. Most of …

1
Solving Governance Challenges With DAO and INO 41:06

1y ago41:06

41:06

Transparency and trust built into Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) should be an example for any corporation, said founders of Internet Native Organisation (INO). "The future of organisations is digital - we have seen that in Estonia, but the rest of the world is not yet there," said Astra Tikas. Internet Native Organisation said it see…

1
Tokenising Green Energy Investments With Reneum 25:11

1y ago25:11

25:11

Reneum seeks to boost solar and wind farm investments by tokenizing renewable energy certificates. “It’s a vehicle to bypass traditional capital market failures or inefficiencies to reach the corners of the world that struggle to access funding and deploy more renewable energy,” said Chief Executive Brianna Welsh. “I see legacy market providers shi…

1
Battling Plastics: From Surfboards To Packaging With Cruz Foam's John Felts 32:39

1y ago32:39

32:39

To solve the challenge of increasing plastic waste in oceans, we need to go to the source and find alternative materials to the plastics, said John Felts, CEO and co-founder of California-headquartered materials startup Cruz Foam. "It’s nearly impossible to play catch up on an increasingly flowing faucet of trash. We, obviously, need to try to get …

1
Saying NO To Water Bottles with TAPP Water's Magnus Jern 26:37

1y ago26:37

26:37

Barcelona-based TAPP Water seeks to change consumers’ habits and fights against billions of dollars spent on marketing bottled water through its filter systems for tap water, said Magnus Jern, founder and Chief Executive of TAPP Water. The consumption of plastic water bottles has increased over the last few years, when knowledge of the health probl…

1
Tapping Into Shift of Wealth to Green Millenials With Raise Green 38:10

1y ago38:10

38:10

U.S.-based green investment platform Raise Green is looking to drive more capital into climate solutions, boosting entrepreneurship in the sector, said founder and CEO Franz Hochstrasser. “We take a grassroots approach to climate action -- we want more people involved in investing and innovating in this space,” Hochstrasser said. Millennials’ inter…

1
New Age of Investor Activism, with Grünfin's Alejandro Jimenez 38:31

1y ago38:31

38:31

Teaming up with other investors to push for a change towards greener and healthier products from global firms is gaining traction, and industry behemoths like Unilever and Nestle are listening, said Alejandro Jimenez, head of investments at Estonian green investment platform Grünfin. “Part of our goal is to make you feel you have the power; this is…

1
Eating Construction Waste with MycoCycle 24:20

1+ y ago24:20

24:20

Mushrooms will open a new nature-backed market for turning construction waste into new raw materials, said Joanne Rodriguez, founder of MycoCycle. “There is no waste in nature - that’s a manmade construct. And so, looking for solutions in nature to solve these problems is critical to how we battle this climate change,” Rodriguez said. Learn more ab…

1
Building Climate Change Resilient Crops with ClimateCrop 24:48

1+ y ago24:48

24:48

Making potatoes and other crops more resistant to climate change and growing them faster using gene-editing techniques is the challenge ClimateCrop is looking to solve over coming years, said Yehuda Borenstein, founder of ClimateCrop. “We have an opportunity to upgrade plants and give them more resilience without a lot of investment in capex which …

1
Turning Plastics Greener and Cheaper With Applied Bioplastics' Alex Blum 34:06

1+ y ago34:06

34:06

A trip to a refugee camp in Bangladesh led to a documentary and sowed the seeds for a material startup, which promises to cut plastics production costs and emissions using cellulose, said Alex Blum, founder of Applied Bioplastics. “What we’ve done by mixing cellulose with regular plastic in a way that is inexpensive to accomplish is that we’ve crea…

1
Beyond COP15: Much Needed Solutions for Biodiversity 57:29

1+ y ago57:29

57:29

United Nations’ biodiversity summit COP15 finished with a historic deal earlier this week in Montreal. At NatureBacked, we discussed the essence of the agreement and how protecting biodiversity will become common. Nations agreed to protect 30% of the planet by 2030 and to protect vital ecosystems such as rainforests and wetlands and the rights of i…

1
Stirring Up Coffee Industry, with Green Coffee Company and Coffee Cloud 40:03

1+ y ago40:03

40:03

There are numerous opportunities for a revolution in the coffee industry, said guests at Naturebacked’s holiday-season coffee episode. We talked first with Josh Ziegelbaum from Miami-based private equity firm and asset manager Legacy Group, the key investor behind Green Coffee Company, the largest coffee producer in Colombia, which it built from th…

1
Emerging Consumer Demand Will Drive ClimateTech, With James Vincent 42:52

1+ y ago42:52

42:52

Pressure from consumers will likely be the key driver pushing climate tech towards the mainstream over the coming years, said James Vincent, co-founder of brand advisory and investment firm FNDR. “We’re a few years off from that because we haven’t done the homework yet. We haven’t shock-absorbed the need for culture to absorb the new metrics of wha…

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