Mind the Gap: How to Make The Leap from Startup to Scaleup
Ripple Hosts
Michelle Capiod - Blume Equity
Amanda Birkenholz - UVC Partners
TL;DR
Climate tech founders face a critical inflection point when moving from early-stage to scale-up: the so-called growth capital chasm. In this ripple, Amanda Birkenholz (UVC Partners) and Michelle Capiod (Blume Equity) will explore what growth capital in climate looks like from both early- and later-stage lenses, unpack fund models, and share what founders can do now to position themselves strongly.
Topic overview
Growing a climate tech startup from venture or seed stage into a scale-up requires more than just product or tech validation — it demands structuring your business, financing, and operations for much larger capital, risk, and execution scale.
The climate segment has its own peculiarities: long development cycles, regulatory and policy risk, capital-intensive infrastructure, and uncertain markets. These make growth capital harder to secure, especially in Europe.
There are different kinds of fund models with differing expectations: early-stage VCs, growth equity, infrastructure / project finance, sometimes blended finance or catalytic capital. Each has its own requirements and timing.
What’s up for discussion?
What do growth capital providers really look for in climate tech startups? Key metrics, traction, team, risk management.
Understanding fund models & capital sources: how early-stage VCs differ from growth equity, when/where debt or project finance play a role, and where non-dilutive or catalytic capital fits.
How founders can prepare themselves early: building unit economics, securing pilot or offtake agreements, hiring for scale, de-risking tech, planning for regulatory and supply chain constraints.
Negotiating the growth stage: valuation expectations, dilution, governance, terms, impact of scaling on culture & mission.
Dream outcome
Founders leave with a clear roadmap of what to build, show, and structure inside their startup so that they become investible for growth capital.
Attendees understand the types of investors and funding instruments out there (equity, debt, grants, project finance, blended capital) and can discern which are appropriate for their stage.
Founders are better equipped to pitch and negotiate with growth-stage / late-stage investors: what expectations they need to meet, what data and traction will de-risk the investment.
A few “lightbulb” moments: pieces they can go start doing immediately (e.g. securing off-take or pilot partners; building metrics dashboards; choosing the right financing mix) that meaningfully increase their odds of bridging the funding gap.
Who should attend?
Climate tech founders who have already secured proof-of-concept / seed funding and are preparing for Series A, B, or growth rounds and want to understand what it takes to scale.
Founders still early but aiming high: those who want to plan ahead to avoid pitfalls later and build with scale in mind.
Investors (VCs, growth equity, corporate VCs, mission-oriented capital) interested in climate tech, to better see how founders are positioning themselves and where support is needed.
Advisors, business-builders, accelerators or anyone helping climate tech startups: people who coach, mentor, or arrange capital who want to understand what growth investors are looking for.