Dear Venture Capitalists, you can help save the world — by investing in carbon neutral startups
B2B startups can be the future of green solutions
The challenges for B2B startups in the Venture Capital space
According to Nadkarni, success in the B2B space is markedly different from B2C.
Industrial B2B startups disrupt large established companies, and traditional industries like utilities and manufacturing. They often focus on internal transformation or introducing new products to mission-critical functions and tasks. Therefore,startupsneed experience in the industries they aim to disrupt and support from a solid network to open doors.
TotalEnergies Ventures focuses on later-stage investments. Nadkarni explains:
Over the last couple of years, TotalEnergies Ventures have negotiated 25 different pilot projects and agreements and has another 55 under negotiation. According to Nadkarni:
Failure and barriers to innovation
Nadkarni sees failure as part of progress forstartupsas it provides a learning opportunity. He notes that:
His favorite example is when desktop computers first came to people’s homes:
“People said, ‘Oh, now I can store my recipes conveniently.’ Well, yes, you can, but that’s not leveraging the power of the computer.”
In technology, being too early is sometimes the same thing as being wrong. Nadkarni explains:
The future of venture capital is green energy
Total Energies is a founding member of theOil and Gas Climate Initiative, a CEO-led initiative that aims to accelerate the industry response to climate change. Nadkarni has a significant interest inhydrogen infrastructureand is leading an initiative with Air Liquide to raise a 1.5 BEUR clean hydrogen infrastructure fund. He notes:
Nadkarni assets that large companies are recognizing the need to get lower their carbon emissions:
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart ci(show all)Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart cities, and the future of alternative energy sources like electric batteries, solar, and hydrogen.
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