From Idea to Investment: Fundraising for Sustainability Ventures
You’ve built a solution with real-world potential. What does it take to get it funded?
Join us for a practical session with a VC investor and a current business fellow of a venture capital fund who actively back early-stage sustainability solutions. We will discuss climate-focused venture capital and philanthropic funding.
We'll be joined by our guest speaker, Oliver Gottfried - Business Fellow at Breakthrough Energy, who will share how funders think and what makes them say yes.
In this session, we’ll explore:
What investors look for in early-stage climate and sustainability ventures
What makes a pitch clear, credible, and compelling
Common mistakes teams make when fundraising
How to position your solution for real-world traction and scale
How expectations differ between VC and philanthropic funding
You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions and get direct insights on how ideas like yours are evaluated.
We highly recommend all finalist teams to join us for this session. While recording will be shared, it is best to experience this live.
📅 Event Details
Date: 8th April (Wednesday)
Time: 8:30 - 9:30 AM PT
Online event (Zoom)
About Oliver Gottfried:
Oliver Gottfried is an AI & climate tech expert with extensive experience in VC investing as well as operational strategy with focus on fundraising, go-to-market strategies, business model, and market segmentation. Currently a Business Fellow at Breakthrough Energy he supports AI climate tech startups like Clear Skies Hydrogen (hydrogen refueling) and Standard Potential (long-duration energy storage). Previously, he was Investment Director at AI.FUND, leading investments in European AI and climate tech startups. Furthermore, he was an Investment Manager at HongDao Capital, where he co-managed successful investments like Ofo (117x return).
Academically, Oliver holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University focusing on AI investments in climate tech and is a postdoctoral fellow at MIT Sloan, where he researches venture capital trends in climate tech and AI.
About the Global Sustainability Challenge:
The Global Sustainability Challenge is an annual global challenge where students design, implement, and showcase real-world sustainability solutions—supported by a Stanford-led collective of leading educational institutions and experts worldwide.
🌐 Learn more about the Challenge (globalsustainabilitychallenge.org)