Leaders in Cleantech David Hunt

My team at Hyperion Executive Search have loved building teams for some of the amazing companies being funded by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Long durations energy storage is a genuine game-changer, and after a recent $10million fundraise I was delighted to ask Quidnet Energy CEO Joe Zhou to share his, and their story.

About Joe Zhou

Joe Zhou is the CEO of Quidnet Energy, which commercializes a breakthrough in geomechanical pumped hydro for energy storage. Prior to Quidnet Energy, Joe worked at Green Charge Networks, a California-based energy storage project developer that was acquired by Engie in 2016. Joe started his career in heavy-industry capital projects, and holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and a MBA.

About Quidnet

Quidnet Energy was launched with the vision of building breakthrough energy technology to accelerate the energy transition. Quidnet Energy pioneered a novel form of pumped hydro that is widely deployable at very low cost called Geomechanical Pumped Storage. Subsurface rock layers are converted into energy storage facilities for large-scale renewables integration and grid management. Standing upon the shoulders of established hydroelectric and subsurface supply chains, Quidnet Energy repurposes existing resources to quickly marshal implementable solutions for long-duration electricity storage.
Quidnet Energy is backed by leading investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Evok Innovations, Trafigura, and PRIME Coalition. Quidnet Energy is also partnered with multiple government agencies for advanced energy technologies, such as the US Department of Energy and NYSERDA.

Social links

Joe Zhou on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdzhou/
Quidnet Website: http://www.quidnetenergy.com/
Quidnet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/quidnet-energy/

EPISODE LINKS

Bill Gates discusses Quidnet along with Malta and Form Energy (All Hyperion Executive Search Clients) https://youtu.be/HGHX8OIaupk

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Ben is typical of most of us cleantech entrepreneurs, swimming against the tide and trying to bring the world with us. He shares his story from university, through business and personal triumph and tragedy, to the future of smart mobility and cleantech events, conferences and networking, via some super fun Tesla roadtrips.

About Ben Pullen

Ben is the Co-Founder and CEO of Generation.e which is a unique and impactful business which blends audiences and experiences to inspire transformation to smarter mobility for the creation of better connected and sustainable societies. This is achieved through epic adventures, thought leader summits and experiential public awareness campaigns.

Ben set up the first ever commercial electric vehicle road trip in Dubai in 2017. This quickly expanded across the Middle East and Europe, and by the end of 2019 the event was launched in South Africa. In addition to the road trips, Ben has set up a B2B summit called ‘Smarter Mobility’. Smarter Mobility Africa was launched in South Africa in 2019, Smarter Mobility World in March 2020, and Smarter Mobility Europe in July 2020.

To date: 7 electric vehicle road trips complete, 9 mobility conferences and summits, 45+ charging points installed, 1000+ electric vehicle test drive experiences and event attendance from senior level government, business, industry leaders, influencers, and the general public. The initiatives are making huge impressions. An episode focusing on Ben's work and the Emirates EVRT was broadcast on the highly renowned show, Robert Llewellyn’s Fully Charged Show and other exposure across mainstream media includes The Economist, Sky News, CNBC, Forbes, and recently in the UN Environment.

Ben has an instinct for seeking opportunity, taking action and being at the forefront of this rapidly growing industry. His determination has led to commendable growth and positive impact through his business in its four years of operations: Over 85 partners secured, over 11,000 followers and 60+ million impressions generated through social media.

Social links

Ben Pullen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benpullenergy/
Generation.e Website: https://generationehq.com/
Generation.e on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/generationehq

EPISODE LINKS

Smarter Mobility Europe https://generationehq.com/smarter-mobility-europe/
Clifton Suspension Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Suspension_Bridge

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I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter.

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I first met Tomas at an eMobility event in the UK a few years ago. His passion and enthusiasm, as well as the fact his firm, Contrarian Ventures are one of the most active cleantech VCs out there at the moment, made him an ideal person to share the views of the VC at this challenging time. The good news is deals are being done, and money is there to be deployed across the investor community. We share some passions about cleantech, emobility and working with awesome founders and entrepreneurs.

About Tomas Kemtys: 
Tomas Kemtys is a Partner at Contrarian Ventures, having joined the firm in February 2019. He is responsible for overall fund strategy including fundraising, deal sourcing and execution, structuring, investment process and thesis building as well as recruiting, amongst others. Tomas sits on a number of Boards of Contrarian Ventures portfolio companies. Prior to Contrarian Ventures, he was an investment banker with Centerview Partners, a leading independent New York based investment banking and advisory firm. Having worked out of London, Tomas has focused mostly on healthcare and consumer retail but has also worked on transactions in energy, industrials and other sectors. He has executed transactions across various countries including UK, USA, Israel, Jordan, South Africa and others. Other relevant experiences include various positions in BNP Paribas, Société Générale and British Petroleum. Tomas is an alumnus of Finance program in ESADE Business School in Barcelona.

About Contrarian Ventures

Contrarian Ventures is an early-stage European Venture Capital fund focusing on a major transition in energy sector. Contrarian Ventures is building the firm that defines this new energy category in Europe, where Seed and Series A funding gap is the most acute in the energy and electric mobility Sectors. The fund has already invested in 15 companies across the globe including the UK, Norway, France, the USA, Lithuania, Estonia and Israel. The team is comprised of investment professionals located in the UK, the Netherlands and Lithuania. Aside from the core activity of the Fund – investing, Contrarian Ventures has also founded a number of initiatives that is contributing to the fostering of energy community in Europe. Some of the initiatives include Energy Tech Summit, Energy Tech Network, Bye Fossil Fuels monthly newsletter and many others.

Social links

Tomas Kemtys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomas-kemtys-0920ba22/
Contrarian Ventures Website: https://www.cventures.vc/
Contrarian Ventures on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/contrarian-ventures/

EPISODE LINKS

The Energy Tech Summit: https://www.energytechsummit.com/

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I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter.

If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.

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After last week’s episode we return to the ground but stay with eMobility. Last mile deliveries have never been more needed, as we’re currently so reliant on home deliveries. It’s also fair to say cities, mayors and citizens are quite liking the clean air and lack of both air and noise pollution, I can only expect the successes of Voltia and others in this space will continue. That said, when I first spoke to Juraj some time ago, it was his entrepreneurial story that stood, out. We discuss both in this episode.

About Juraj Ulehla

Juraj Ulehla, a former investment banker who specialized in risk management when working for international banks, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Voltia. He holds a PhD from the University of Economics Bratislava. Prior to leading Voltia, Juraj focused on solar power plant development and was instrumental in building up Voltia’s predecessor Greenway Operator (GWO), together with his co-founder and co-investor Peter Badik, who heads Voltia’s sister company Greenway Infrastructure (GWI).

About Voltia

Voltia is a European e-mobility specialist based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Launched in 2015, with the mission to help make commercial e-mobility effective and affordable, it supports OEMs by broadening the usability of their mass-market electric LCV models. Voltia’s approach is to add value in terms of application-specific re-design for different purposes. It provides development know-how, vehicle structure engineering, prototyping, production set-up, and sales & marketing support. It has clients in 11 European countries. More than 500 Voltia e-vans already operate successfully in large urban environments, such as London, Paris, Nice, Dortmund, Tallinn or Bratislava.

Social links

Juraj Ulehla on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jurajulehla/
Voltia Website: https://www.voltia.com/
Voltia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/voltia/
Voltia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Voltia_com

EPISODE LINKS
Emissions free deliveries in London using the Voltia electric van https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGrQjyZ_1sM
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography Paperback https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005J3IEZQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0124PP3AA/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Contact via the website, or Twitter.

If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.

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As you’ll know I feel a fair amount of guilt over the amount of flying I typically do. Not an issue at present, but as we discuss on this episode, despite the present situation, aviation is on a fast-upward trend, and has a huge environmental impact. So it was a pleasure to speak to Val Miftakhov to see just how close we are to electric flight, at least on a regional level. It was also interesting to hear his thoughts on hydrogen in transport generally, and why he feels aviation is the area where it can, and does, work.

About Val Miftakhov

Val Miftakhov is Founder & CEO of ZeroAvia, a company developing the World's first practical zero emission aviation powertrain. Val is an avid helicopter and airplane pilot, and a serial sustainable transportation entrepreneur - his previous company eMotorWerks has developed the World’s leading platform for EV battery aggregation to provide grid services, and was acquired in 2017. Prior to that, Val held a number of senior business and product positions at Google and McKinsey & Company, and was a nuclear researcher at Stanford Linear Accelerator. Val holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University, Masters in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and was a two-time winner of Russian Nationwide Physics competitions.

About ZeroAvia

ZeroAvia is producing the world’s first practical zero emission aviation powertrain, initially targeting 9-19-passenger airplanes to start replacing dirty jet fuel. Our mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable aviation by giving aircraft customers and airframe manufacturers a zero- emission option that serves the most common airline trips. We do this by designing and producing hydrogen-fueled powertrains for the aviation industry. Currently, we have the largest zero emission aircraft in the world flying today using no fossil fuels.

Social links

Val Miftakhov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vmiftakhov/
ZeroAvia Website: https://www.zeroavia.com/
ZeroAvia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zeroavia/
ZeroAvia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZeroAvia

EPISODE LINKS

A New Opportunity For Hydrogen is Aviation https://aeronauticsonline.com/a-new-opportunity-for-hydrogen-is-aviation/
ZeroAvia’s Hydrogen-Fueled Powertrain for Zero-Emission Aircraft https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1006
ZeroAvia Announces £2.7m UK Government Grant for the Development of Zero Emission Aviation https://www.intelligent-energy.com/news-and-events/company-news/2019/09/18/zeroavia-announces-27m-uk-government-grant-for-the-development-of-zero-emission-aviation/

Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe

I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter.
If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.

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I really excited about this campaign, #Cleantechheroes It’s an opportunity for me to give back to, and support the sector I love so much, and that has and continues to do so much for me. There is so much content and advice out there at the moment around COVID-19 and Working from home. It can be a lot of noise and distracting at times. Cleantech heroes is about cutting through the noise and offering some direct, one to one, support, experience and advice to founders and cleantech heroes around the key themes of people, value proposition and finance, from experts in each field. You can hear more about those expert and the offer in the podcast, and website below.

About Cleantech Heroes

Cleantech Heroes is an initiative of Life Size Media, Hyperion Executive Search and Inven Capital that is providing free individual consultations to enable cleantech companies to realise their full potential. Now more than ever, daring entrepreneurs and forward-thinking businesses are needed to shine a light to others and be champions of cleantech.

Collectively, the teams behind Cleantech Heroes have the experience and knowledge to accelerate these companies towards their commercial goals.
We focus on offering our tailored expertise through meaningful interactions. By combining our skills, we strengthen cleantech companies and ensure the sector remains prosperous. Together, we believe in the power and resiliency of cleantech to overcome whatever comes its way.

Social links

Alisa Murphy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisamurphy/
Petr Mikovec on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petr-m%C3%ADkovec-ba654a14/
David Hunt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hunt-cleantech/
Cleantech Heroes Website: https://cleantechheroes.com/

EPISODE LINKS

Best marketing strategy ever! Steve Jobs Think different / Crazy ones speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keCwRdbwNQY&app=desktop

Follow us online, write a review (please) or subscribe
I'm very keen to hear feedback on the podcast and my guests, and to hear your suggestions for future guests or topics. Contact via the website, or Twitter.

If you do enjoy the podcast, please write a review on iTunes, or your usual podcast platform, and tell your cleantech friends about us. That would be much appreciated.

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