CleanTechies Podcast

• #268 Robot Pirates are Pillaging the Wasted Metals at the Bottom of the Ocean | Oliver Gunasekara (Impossible Metals)

  JOIN US FOR THE HACK SUMMIT!The HackSummit returns to Newlab on December 10-11, bringing together 500 founders, funders, and industry leaders in Climate Deep Tech. Together we’ll explore abundance, alongside Founders and Investors at Andreessen Horowitz, Brimstone, Crux, DCVC, Durin, Earth AI, Endolith, Navier, Radical AI, Rainmaker, Voyager Ventures and SOSV. Sign up for 10% off here.Hey everyone, Silas here. Welcome back to CleanTechies, the show where we talk with the founders, funders, and visionaries building our clean future.In today’s episode, we’re heading deep (literally) into one of the most untouched frontiers on Earth. My guest, Oliver Gunasekara, is the co-founder and CEO of Impossible Metals, a company on a mission to mine the ocean floor without wrecking the planet.Now, before you picture some massive vacuum ripping up the seabed, forget it. That’s how it’s always been done for fifty years. Impossible Metals flipped the script. Instead of tractors and dredges, they’ve built fleets of autonomous underwater robots. Battery-powered, self-piloting, and armed with computer vision, these things hover above the seabed, picking up polymetallic nodules one by one like it’s a sci-fi claw machine.These nodules are loaded with four critical metals: nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese. The stuff that powers EVs, wind turbines, batteries, and AI data centers. Every piece of the clean economy runs on metals like these. But here’s the problem: land-based mining is running out of high-grade ore. It’s also slow, expensive, and environmentally brutal.Oliver’s approach? Ten times cheaper. Zero deforestation. No child labor. And every operation runs off clean electricity.The world needs metals but we need a better way to get them.The geopolitical angle makes this even crazier. China currently controls between 40 and 90 percent of the world’s mineral supply. Deep-sea mining could flip that balance, giving the West a new, independent source of critical minerals.Impossible Metals already secured its own licensed exploration area through the Kingdom of Bahrain. And since the US never signed the UN’s Law of the Sea, it’s basically a two-track race to secure access. Oliver says the deep ocean is “the new real estate rush” and his team’s staking claim on the highest-grade zones before anyone else.And here’s the kicker: the market is massive — a half-trillion-dollar metals industry today that’s projected to hit a trillion by 2035.Oliver’s story goes beyond the tech, though. We talk about what it takes to build world-class teams, people who are “orders of magnitude better,” as he puts it, and how to align them on mission. We talk about fundraising clarity, why first-of-a-kind technologies need patient capital, and what it means to build something the world has literally never seen before.It’s a conversation about innovation, geopolitics, and the future of clean materials.Make sure to hit follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening, because we’ve got a huge announcement coming this quarter. Enjoy listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

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• #267 Decarbonizing Steel and Disrupting a Commodity Product | Sandeep Nijhawan (Electra)

  JOIN US FOR THE HACK SUMMIT!The HackSummit returns to Newlab on December 10-11, bringing together 500 founders, funders, and industry leaders in Climate Deep Tech. Together we’ll explore abundance, alongside Founders and Investors at Andreessen Horowitz, Brimstone, Crux, DCVC, Durin, Earth AI, Endolith, Navier, Radical AI, Rainmaker, Voyager Ventures and SOSV. Sign up for 10% off here.Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast where we talk to founders, investors, and leaders building the future of climate tech. I’m Silas Mahner, the host of Cleantechies and today we’re diving into one of the biggest climate opportunities, clean steel.If steel were a country, it’d be the third largest emitter in the world, right behind China and the U.S. And 90% of those emissions come from one step — ironmaking.That’s exactly where Electra comes in. Co-founded by Sandeep Nijhawan, Electra is rethinking how we make iron from the ground up, literally. Instead of melting ore in a 1600°C blast furnace, they’re doing it at 60°C using a unique process.Think about that for a second: they’re turning iron ore into pure metallic iron without the heat, smoke, or fossil fuels that have defined the industry for centuries.That shift paves the way to a few massive advantages such as slashing energy use and cost and it works with intermittent renewables like solar and wind. It can also process low-grade ores that miners usually throw away, turning waste into value.Sandeep also talks about the economics of clean iron, how Electra’s modular design lets them scale like solar, and how they’re partnering with major players in steel and mining to prove that clean iron can be cost-competitive today. We also get into:How the automotive and data center industries are driving demand for low-carbon steel.What it takes to innovate in a commodity market where “cost parity” is king.Why Sandeep focused early on building a “minimum viable ecosystem” And what it means to be intentional about your team, investors, and mission when you’re building something this big.This episode is a masterclass in scaling deep tech and rebuilding the raw materials that make our world. So, if you’ve ever wondered how we’ll clean up one of the dirtiest industries on Earth, this conversation is going to open your eyes. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

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• #266 Can the Grid Survive Climate Change? | Mishal Thadani (Rhizome)

  JOIN US FOR THE HACK SUMMIT!The HackSummit returns to Newlab on December 10-11, bringing together 500 founders, funders, and industry leaders in Climate Deep Tech. Together we’ll explore abundance, alongside Founders and Investors at Andreessen Horowitz, Brimstone, Crux, DCVC, Durin, Earth AI, Endolith, Navier, Radical AI, Rainmaker, Voyager Ventures and SOSV. Sign up for 10% off here.Hey everyone, welcome back to CleanTechies!Today, we’re diving into one of the most overlooked but fast-growing parts of climate tech right now: grid resilience. When we think about the clean energy transition, most of the attention goes to building more solar, more batteries, more generation. But what about protecting the systems we already have from extreme weather?That’s where Rhizome comes in.My guest today, Mishal Thadani, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rhizome, a climate resilience software company helping utilities prepare for the future. Their platform helps grid planners and operators assess vulnerabilities, model investment scenarios, and understand how climate change will hit their systems over time.In simple terms: they’re helping utilities figure out where to spend every dollar smarter so they can keep the lights on when the next hurricane, wildfire, or heatwave hits.We dig into:How Rhizome turns weather data, climate projections, and utility failure history into real, actionable investment mapsWhy insurers and credit agencies are pushing utilities to start taking climate risk seriouslyThe behind-the-scenes of selling into utilities — and why a 6–12 month sales cycle isn’t for the faint of heartHow Mishal’s background in engineering and regulatory strategy shaped Rhizome’s design from day oneHow rising energy prices and the AI data center boom are reshaping utility priorities, putting a new spotlight on affordable solutions like energy efficiency and demand response.And here’s what I love best about this conversation: Mish shows how the climate tech space is expanding, showing adaptation and resilience. If you’re building in climate tech, especially in data, software, or infrastructure, this episode will give you a front-row seat into where the next wave of opportunity is.P.S. We’ve got a big announcement coming this quarter, stay tuned and keep listening so you don’t miss it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

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• #265 What is the EU Innovation Fund and Who Can Apply for Funding | Joel Armin-Hoiland (Climate Finance Solutions)

  JOIN US FOR THE HACK SUMMIT!The HackSummit returns to Newlab on December 10-11, bringing together 500 founders, funders, and industry leaders in Climate Deep Tech. Together we’ll explore abundance, alongside Founders and Investors at Andreessen Horowitz, Brimstone, Crux, DCVC, Durin, Earth AI, Endolith, Navier, Radical AI, Rainmaker, Voyager Ventures and SOSV. Sign up for 10% off here.Hey everyone, welcome back to CleanTechies!Today, we’re diving into one of the biggest non-dilutive funding opportunities out there: the EU Innovation Fund.We’re talking about €40 billion euros being deployed between now and 2030 to scale up the world’s most promising low-carbon technologies…and the crazy part? Only a fraction of it has been spent.To break it all down, I’m joined by Joel Armin-Hoiland, Founder and CEO of Climate Finance Solutions, and the go-to expert on non-dilutive funding.You might remember Joel from Episode 258, where we unpacked critical minerals funding from the DOE, and now he’s back to take us global.In this episode, Joel explains how the EU Innovation Fund is fueling deployment-ready tech (think steel, cement, hydrogen, CCUS, renewables, and energy storage) and how founders can actually win a slice of that €40 billion.We talked about several things such as the €5.5 billion call expected to drop this December and why the EU is favoring commercial-scale over early R&D. Plus Joel’s insider advice on how to phrase your applications because yes, reviewers are literally searching for keywordsSince 2020,CCUSJoel and his team have already helped raise over $1.6 billion with a 90% success rate, so if you’re serious about securing non-dilutive capital, this is a must-listen.Tune in today because this funding window is opening fast, and the founders who prepare well are the ones who’ll win big later. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

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• #264 Climate Week 2025 Recap | Silas Mahner (Cleantechies Podcast)

  JOIN US FOR THE HACK SUMMIT! The HackSummit returns to Newlab on December 10-11, bringing together 500 founders, funders, and industry leaders in Climate Deep Tech. Together we’ll explore abundance, alongside Founders and Investors at Andreessen Horowitz, Brimstone, Crux, DCVC, Durin, Earth AI, Endolith, Navier, Radical AI, Rainmaker, Voyager Ventures and SOSV. Sign up for 10% off here.Silas here! 👋 Before we jump into today’s episode, quick shoutout to Goodwin Law, CSC Leasing, and ErthTech Talent, the backbone behind our CleanTechies Live Podcast at Climate Week. (If you haven’t listened to that yet, check it out first — I’ll be referencing it a lot in this recap.)Quick plug: We also caught a bunch of raw takes from founders and investors between panels and events through candid man on the street interviews you’ll definitely want to see.I’ve finally had some time to process New York Climate Week. This solo episode is part recap, part reflection, but more importantly, it’s my honest take on where we are as a space and why I’m more bullish than ever on clean tech, and here are some of the things that stood out: I’ve never seen founders and investors this locked in. Everyone there was focused, sharp, and hungry. It honestly felt different this year, like the movement finally grew up.Let me walk you through it.Over the past year-ish, people have been asking:“Is the hype gone?”“Will funding drying up?”“Is the climate space cooling off?”What I saw at Climate Week says the exact opposite.Now is the best time to build if you’re a founder.In this episode, I break it down into a few key reasons, but before you dive in, chew on this:“When things get harder, only the best founders stay at the party.”The hype-cycle might be over, but that’s because we’re entering a much more mature version of the movement. So stick around for the mission.P.S. CleanTechies, we have some exciting news for you in the coming weeks/months, so be sure to stick around for that. Check Out Our Sponsor! ErthTech Talent: Affordable CleanTech Search FirmTo build a successful CleanTech startup, you need the right people. Affordable: Our search fee is 12-15% of first-year base salary (most charge 25-30%).Specialized: We ONLY work with CleanTech startups. Proven: 70+ placements since 2020 (Aypa Power, ChargeScape, QCells, & more). Save time and money when you work with ErthTech Talent. Plus, Silas runs it, so you already know him. — Reach out today and tell him you saw this ad. Get Started TodaySupport the show! Upgrade to paid today! It’s $10/month or $100/year. You probably spent that much on random amazon stuff last week. What’s stopping you from upgrading to paid? Upgrade to Paid📺 Watch on YouTube | 🍎 Apple Podcasts | 🎧 Spotify | 🗣️ Join the Slack Channel📝 Show Notes:Topics 00:00 – Intro and Sponsor Shoutouts02:35 – Energy Recap of Climate Week 2024Why this year felt “different” — investors and founders were laser-focused, no fluff, no tourists.04:55 – From Insecurity to CertaintyHow the climate space matured — no longer driven by hype, but grounded in conviction and real results.06:10 – Oil, Defense, and Climate Tech?A fascinating shift, former “outcasts” from oil and defense now welcome in clean tech spaces, blending worlds for impact.07:13 – Inside the Climate Capital SummitOne of my personal favorites event this year— a reunion of world-class founders and investors09:40 – Founders More Bullish Than EverThe main-character energy is real — the best founders are staying in the game and hungrier than ever.10:30 – Why Now Is the Best Time to Be a Climate Tech FounderWhere I break down the five powerful reasons driving opportunity right now.11:00 – Reason #1: A Mature Capital StackInvestors have learned, the ecosystem is organized, and strong capital flows continue despite a cooling market.11:50 – Reason #2: Energy Prices Fuel AdoptionHigh costs are pushing consumers and corporations toward electrification and renewables faster than ever.13:00 – Reason #3: Co-Motivating Factors Beyond ClimateNational security, insurance, supply chain, and convenience are all now aligned with climate tech solutions.14:44 – Reason #4: Ruthless Competition Breeds Excellence17:30 – “Climate Tech” Is Dead — Long Live the Chameleon EraThe term “climate tech” no longer fits. Founders are now building in energy, defense, materials, and national security , adapting like chameleons to each industry they serve.19:30 – The Challenge of FragmentationWith so many new labels, finding “your people” might get trickier, but the mission remains united.LinksConnect with Silas on LinkedInFollow CleanTechies on LinkedInThis podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cleantechies.substack.com/subscribe

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