Cleantech Group

Adelaide Cracco

Adrian Black

Alex Crutchfield

Alex is an Analyst at Cleantech Group and is based in Barcelona, Spain.  He focuses on emerging innovation across all cleantech sectors.​

Alex’s professional background is in journalism and policy research. Prior to Cleantech Group, Alex served as a foreign correspondent in Latin America for The Business Year and published his work in various think tanks including the Spanish Royal Institute of European Studies.​

Alex earned a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Global Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Universidad CEU San Pablo.

Andrej Porovic

Anders Bengtsson

Anders Bengtsson has over 20 years of experience working internationally in Sweden, Spain and France with innovation, business development, marketing and management consulting, including many years at City of Lund in Sweden, where he focused on sustainable growth, space technology and sustainable mobility. Anders has also acted as a representative of the programme office of Drive Sweden, a national innovation programme driving the development of digitised, connected and shared mobility solutions for a sustainable transport system.

Andres Anijalg

Andrus Treier

Andrus Treier is the CEO of Environmental Investment Centre (EIC), he has led the organisation for more than four years. EIC is a provider of innovative, smart and impactful solutions in the Estonian environmental landscape. With the support of EIC and various sources of financing, more than 27,000 environmental projects have been carried out with a total of more than 2.9 billion euros in grants. In addition, EIC sets up and leads projects and initiatives to enhance the good state of environment and to search and offer additional funding for environmental actions to meet the climate goals of Estonia.

Previously, Andrus Treier has led the government owned financial institution Kredex, providing guarantees, mezzanine loans and being one of the cornerstone investors in Estonian VC market. He has been a CEO and CFO in multiple companies and worked as an auditor and consultant in an international business consulting firm KPMG. He has a master’s degree in strategic management from University of Tartu.

Anja Koethe

Anna Engman

Entrepreneur and investor within marketing technology, renewable energy and health.

Anna-Greta Tsahkna

Anthony DeOrsey

Anthony manages Cleantech Group’s research team, delivering critical insights on new cleantech innovation and opportunities for engagement to Cleantech Group’s clients in the industrial, investment, and policy communities. He is based in the U.S.

Anthony joined Cleantech Group in late 2019 after over 8 years of work in US-China cross-border expansion consulting and start-up venture funding roles, including 5 years living in Shanghai.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of Rhode Island, a Masters in Sustainability from the Harvard Extension School, and he an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Arnon Blum

Entrepreneur with over 20 years in management experience. Focuses on developing, launching and running new tech-companies mainly in the energy and battery sector.

Arnon holds a Ph.D. in Electrochemistry and MBA.

Azat Kabdrashitov

Cameron McNatt

Christer Bergquist

Craig Douglas

Craig Douglas is a Founding Partner at World Fund.

Craig is responsible for fundraising, portfolio management. deal sourcing, executing investments, and ESG & impact.

Previously Craig worked at SET Ventures, one of Europe’s longest running climate funds, and has 10 years of experience in Venture investing in the climate space. Craig’s specialist areas of expertise are in: new energy business models; built environment; energy distribution and storage; Transportation.

Craig is pioneer in ESG and Impact in the venture community having created an industry leading ESG framework in 2012 and co-designing how to link impact to fund performance and compensation in 2018 now used in 30+ funds. Craig actively advises funds on implementing their own ESG and impact activities.

Dara Nikolova

Douglas Johnson-Poensgen

Douglas Johnson-Poensgen is founder and CEO of Circulor

Circulor’s platform brings traceability to complex industrial supply chains, to underpin manufacturers responsible and sustainable sourcing efforts, measure inherited scope 3 emissions in real time and to produce digital product passports.

Doug has 25 years international experience working both in leadership roles for large corporates as well as starting and growing companies.  Before Circulor, he held leadership positions at Barclays Bank and BT with his earlier career spent in management consulting and the military.

Erika Salmenvaara

Erika Salmenvaara is the CEO of QHeat, a start-up specialized in geothermal energy.

The company has developed a new patented co-axial geothermal heating system with the ability to store heat deep in the ground. The concept is especially designed for large real estate and district heating. QHeat has successfully delivered Finland’s five first co-axial deep geothermal heating plants and targets to enter new markets.

Erika has almost 20 years of experience in the real estate business, especially topics related to strategy, energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainability, and customer experience. Her mission is to speed up energy transition and build distributed energy solutions for a clean future with business focus.

Erki Ani

Erlend Sild

Felicity O’Kelly

François De Rugy

Gary Urb

Guido Dalessi

Graduated in Physics (1986), Guido Dalessi started his career in R&D of laser based measuring equipment. In 1996, he joined a high-tech startup, which developed high-tech equipment for optical disc production. As Director Sales & Marketing, Guido initiated the international business activities, established a sales and service network with global coverage, and headed local branch offices in Singapore and Los Angeles.

In 2004, the company was acquired by the public listed Singulus Technologies AG, after which Guido was promoted to Executive Vice President. Two years later the company acquired its main competitor and Guido Dalessi was appointed CEO, where he managed the merge of both enterprises into Singulus Mastering BV. In the 8 years that Guido held this position, the company became global market- and technology-leader in its field.

Guido Dalessi joined Elestor in May 2015, and is also one of the investors.

Guy Maurice

Holly Stower

Holly is a Senior Associate leading Resources & Environment research at Cleantech Group and is based in the UK. She is focused on emerging innovation and trends, including those in water, waste, the circular economy, natural resources, and corporate sustainability. ​

Prior to joining Cleantech Group, Holly was a Public Affairs & Communications Executive with the Solar Trade Association and the Association of British Insurers. Before this, Holly worked in advocacy for climate and wildlife charities. ​

Holly earned an Undergraduate and a Master’s in Environmental Science from the University of East Anglia.

Howard Palmer

Howard Palmer is a partner in the Corporate Technology group and specialises in advising on M&A transactions and venture capital investments, for both companies and investors. He primarily works with companies in the technology, media and life sciences sectors.

Ian Hayton

Ian is a Senior Associate leading Materials & Chemical research at Cleantech Group and is based in the UK. He is an engineering and business professional with a passion for technology, innovation and the environment. Ian is experienced in strategy, marketing, business support, and R&D activities​.

Prior to joining Cleantech Group, Ian held several roles at Exergy, including Business Process Improvement Manager, Chemical Process Engineer, and Chemical Research Engineer.  ​

Ian earned an MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester​ and a BSc in Biomedical Science from The University of Sheffield.

Imants Martinsons

Irene Galvez Verdu

James Macnaghten

James Morrish

Jared Concannon

Jeanette Jackson

Jeanette Jackson is the CEO of Foresight, Canada’s cleantech accelerator.
Foresight works with innovators, industry, investors, government, and academia
across Canada to identify, develop, and commercialize cleantech solutions.

Jeanette is an entrepreneur with broad experience across multiple industries. She
founded a tech company and built it into a thriving business before a successful
exit. She has secured millions in investment dollars, project funding and revenue,
led cross-functional teams, and developed innovative programs for entrepreneurs,
industry, and investors.

Since taking on the role of Foresight CEO, Jeanette has led the organization
through remarkable growth, expanding accelerator programs from one province to
national, building a vibrant Innovation Challenge program, and launching a sectoral
approach to cleantech innovation. Recognized as a leader in cleantech, both in Canada and internationally, Jeanette is a frequent speaker, media guest, and
advisor to industry and government.

Joel Ridderström

Johan Söderbom

Juhan Härm

Kädi Ristkok

I am a driven and passionate advocate for building a sustainable and fair economy. With my expertise in climate policy, management consulting, and green transition strategies, I have actively shaped policies, advised organizations, and co-founded a green labor union to drive positive change in environmentally friendly sectors.

My ability to bridge sectors and foster collaboration between private, public, and third sectors has been instrumental in driving sustainable development and promoting an inclusive economy. My insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge make me a lifelong learner, constantly seeking opportunities to broaden my understanding of various subjects.

Kaie Kaas Ojavere

Kalle Kukk

Karl Pärtel

Karl has focused his career on supporting the cleantech sector by being a co-founder of cleantech startups, accelerators and funds. For the past years, Karl has concentrated on RAIKU’s vision to substitute high carbon footprint packaging materials with a 100% natural and compostable packaging. It is extremely efficient and clean production process saving multiple times of water, energy and forest compared to current alternatives. Most importantly, it creates no harm to environment after its use, wherever it ends up. This radical new approach helps mitigate Europe’s rather low ambitions in packaging recycling as the 2030 goal is only 70% recycling rate.

Klaas de Boer

Klaas has over 20 years of venture capital experience, mainly in Europe, but also in North America and Israel. He is currently Managing Partner of Entrepreneurs Fund, which he joined in 2006. At Entrepreneurs Fund, Klaas’s responsibilities included inge GmbH (sold to BASF), Technolas Perfect Vision (sold to Bausch & Lomb), Prosonix Ltd (sold to Circassia), Lifeline Scientific Inc (sold to Genext), New Motion (sold to Shell) and Optinose (Nasdaq listing). In addition to General Fusion, he currently looks after SmartKem and vasopharm.

Next to Entrepreneurs Fund, Klaas is also a non-executive member of the investment committee of NESTA’s social impact fund.

Kristen Michal

Laureen Meroueh

Laureen joins Breakthrough Energy’s Innovator Fellows program from Austin, Texas. As a mechanical engineer and entrepreneur, she brings deep expertise in metallurgy, renewable energy, energy storage, and hydrogen. Laureen wants to harness the benefits of profitable low-carbon steel production to reduce emissions on the order of gigatons, bring clean and affordable metals production to countries around the world, and shift today’s trajectory of worsening global inequality.

Laureen is the founder and CEO of Hertha Metals, a company focused on manufacturing iron and steel with 95% less emissions than conventional steelmaking. By leveraging existing infrastructure and new discoveries, Hertha presents a scalable solution to decarbonize steel manufacturing. Hertha aims to demonstrate the world’s first five-ton furnace that produces molten iron through hydrogen and electricity by 2023. By 2027, they aim to begin deploying steelmaking units that can process 200,000 tons per year to integrate with existing steel mini-mills, while continuing to scale their technology to produce two million tons per year by 2030.

Laureen holds a Bachelor of Science in civil and mechanical engineering from the University of Florida, as well as a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with a focus on materials science and metallurgy. Laureen also has a graduate minor in business and entrepreneurship from the MIT, where she co-founded the Graduate Engineering Leadership program.

Ludwig Goris

Obtained a Master in Chemistry (UGent) and a PhD in Physics (Hasselt University) focusing on organic solar cells research. After his post-doctoral scholarship at Stanford University Ludwig re-joined Hasselt University to develop new thin film diamond applications. In parallel, he was actively involved in technology transfer from lab to start-up company. Ludwig joined Capricorn in 2011.

Manel Sanmarti

Marek Kiisa

Mari-Ann Meigo Fonseca

Mario Fernandez

Mario is a senior energy transition executive with significant experience developing and investing in energy infrastructure projects.

Prior to Breakthrough Energy, Mario was with Chicora Energy, an energy transition investment platform he co-founded focused on Latin America. Before Chicora, Mario was with Macquarie Capital serving as a Managing Director and Head of Latin America Energy Principal Investments Origination. Prior to Macquarie, Mario was the CFO for Trafigura’s US$1 billion Colombia fluvial logistics project. Mario also worked for several international financial firms, including ING Capital and Syncora Guarantee.

Mario was a management consultant before obtaining his Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Boston College. Over the course of his career, Mario has worked in different cities across the world, including New York, Geneva, Amsterdam and Bogotá.

Marjolein Helder

Mark Williams-Wynn

Markku Ylönen

Markku Ylönen is a co-Founder and CTO in Polar Night Energy Oy, which is based in Tampere, Finland. He has a background in power plant engineering, heat transfer physics, and flow dynamics. He has a PhD degree in applied mechanics from a joint doctoral program between Grenoble University and Tampere University. Markku founded Polar Night Energy with Tommi Eronen in 2018, and since them they have been building a success story based on high temperature solid material heat storages.

Marko Virkebau

Martin Schichtel

Martin was born in Saarbrücken, Germany, in 1969. He graduated with a doctorate degree in Chemistry from the University of Saarland with a focus on Nanoparticle Composites and Smart Coatings. Martin founded Kraftblock together with his co-founder Susanne in 2014.

He filed his first patent in 1998 and has 20 years of experience in material development, production and sales. As the Head of the Department of Ceramics he developed the Department of Polymer Nanoparticle Composites at the Institute for New Materials, University of Saarland. Subsequently he headed the Smart Coatings division at ItN Nanovation AG.

Martina Ecker

Mihhail Kõlvart

Milena Roveda

Nicolas De Witt

Nicolas joined the Paris office’s corporate department as partner in November 2008. Admitted to the Paris and New York Bars, Nicolas specializes in financing transactions for listed and non-listed corporations.

He has extensive expertise in fund raising (from venture capital to LBO transactions) and M&A transactions, advising both French and international clients, investment funds, managers or targets.

For over 15 years now, Nicolas has been advising issuers or banks on stock exchange law, in the context of initial public offerings, rights offering, block sales, public offers to buy or exchange, and delisting on French and American markets.

He also advises issuers as part of tax exemption transactions by public offering without listing.

Nicole Cerulli

Nicole is an Associate, Transportation & Logistics at Cleantech Group and is based in Spain.  She focuses on emerging innovation and trends in transportation and logistics and has experience across all cleantech sectors.  ​

Nicole earned a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies and Sustainable Development from Barnard College and a Master’s in Urban Resilience Design and Management from Universitat Internacional de Catalunya.​

Nigel Carr

Peep Pitk

Peter Hellich

Peter Vanlaeke

Pierre Vanderkelen

Pippa Gawley

Pippa is the founder and managing director of Zero Carbon Capital, th​e home of the Zero Carbon Fund. This is a new EIS fund to invest in early-stage companies that are on a mission to fix climate change through scientific innovation. We are looking for knowledge-intensive, hard-tech solutions that have the potential to make half gigaton-level reductions of CO2e at scale; and vision-aligned, ambitious teams to go with them. We can accelerate the zero carbon transition if we create technologies that are better and cheaper than fossil incumbents.​

Pippa started angel investing in decarbonisation technologies in California five years ago​, where she was an active member of the impact investing ecosystem​. Prior to that,​she held a variety of roles in general management, business analysis, ​and ​consumer-facing interactive user experience research and design​. She holds a Masters degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Cambridge.

Priit Jõers

Rasmus Udde

Richard Youngman

Since January 2016, Richard Youngman has been CEO of San-Francisco based Cleantech Group (CTG). This followed 7 years of driving the growth of CTG’s activities outside North America, especially in Europe and Israel, and Asia, based in CTG’s office in London.

Richard has more than ten years’ experience researching cleantech innovation, venture capital markets, and start-ups across Europe and globally. He is a regular keynote speaker at major cleantech events and is the driving force behind the annual Global Cleantech 100, a list of the world’s most promising private cleantech companies.

Robert Trezona

Rob is the Founding Partner of Kiko Ventures, a £400m climate tech VC headquartered in London.
Kiko is the cleantech platform for IP Group, a £1.5bn listed venture capital company that sources evergreen investment capital from the public markets. Rob joined IP Group in 2011 to set up its cleantech division, and it has since become the leading early-stage cleantech VC in the UK. Rob has been in venture for over 15 years, starting his investment career at the Carbon Trust, where he was Head of R&D. Prior to Carbon Trust, he was a strategy consultant at McKinsey, and he continues to partner with McKinsey’s Sustainability Practice in his investment work.

Rob started his career as a scientist working on materials for hydrogen and fuel cells in the 2000s working on both PEM and SOFC. He was one of the first employees of Ceres Power and led the fuel cell team that created the world’s first steel-ceria cell. In 2012, he returned to Ceres as an investor, leading IP Group’s turnaround and setting the strategy that turned that company into a billion-pound success story. Rob is also a Commissioner of the Energy Transitions Commission, a leading international think tank dedicated to providing objective techno-economic analysis on the transition to a zero-carbon world. Rob has a Triple First and PhD in Materials Science from Cambridge.

Sarah O’Connell

Sebastian Leaper

Seb co-founded Watercycle Technologies while researching for a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester. His passion for sustainability has been with him since school and lies at the heart of the company’s ethos. Driven by curiosity and a desire to create change for the better, Seb hopes to inspire people to work together to build a greener future.

Selene Law

Selene is a Senior Associate leading Energy & Power research at Cleantech Group and is based in the UK. Selene has over ten years of experience working in the energy sector in analytical and journalistic capacities, covering the entire value chain from upstream oil to power and renewables.

Prior to Cleantech Group, Selene worked at S&P Global, Wood Mackenzie and Fitch Research. ​

Selene has a degree in Journalism from Falmouth University in Cornwall, UK, and a postgraduate degree in international relations from the University of Bristol.

Siim Täkker

Siim Vips

Sille Pettai

Sille Pettai, CEO and fund manager, has worked at SmartCap since 2016. Sille has a broad experience in investment management positions, e.g. Swedbank Investment Funds and Estonian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Taavi Madiberk

Taavi Madiberk is the CEO & Co-Founder of Skeleton Technologies, a Global Cleantech 100 company and a European leader in high-power, fast-charging energy storage for transportation, grid, automotive, and industrial applications. Skeleton’s supercapacitors and SuperBattery decrease CO2 emissions and fuel consumption, improve power quality, and empower wider electrification of the biggest industries globally, with a clear focus on hard-to-decarbonize sectors.

Skeleton Technologies Group currently employs more than 300 people and has four main locations: its HQ, electrical engineering and module development in Tallinn (Estonia), its supercapacitor manufacturing in Großröhrsdorf (Germany), its materials development in Bitterfeld-Wolfen (Germany), and its future new factory, which will be the largest supercapacitor factory in the world, in Markranstädt (Germany). The company also has offices and subsidiaries in Finland and France.

Taavi co-founded the company at the age of 21 in Estonia. Since its inception, Skeleton has raised over 300 M EUR from public and private investors such as Marubeni Corporation, Innoenergy – Europe’s top cleantech investor – as well as executives from CAF group and co-founders of Adyen, Wise, and Ctek. Skeleton’s customers list includes Siemens, GE, CAF, Skoda Electric, Honda Performance Development, Martinrea Effenco, the European Space Agency, among others.

Timothy Charters

Tine Hertz

Tobias Seikel

Tobias Seikel is a senior investment professional with extensive experience in Venture Capital and building startups in the DACH region. He is Co-founder and General Partner at Planet A, believing that it is indispensable to address climate change as well as other pressing environmental issues of our time.

Previously, Tobias acted as Managing Partner at Hamburg based early-stage investor and company builder Hanse Ventures, where he was responsible for the operational management (including the HR activities as well as the trainee program), the business development and the overall project management with the portfolio firms.

Prior to joining Hanse Ventures in its early days in 2011, Tobias worked almost 10 years in publishing. He began his working career as a trainee at Bertelsmann (Gruner+Jahr), moved on to work as the Executive Assistant to the President & CEO of Gruner+Jahr International, before he established the company’s magazine business as Managing Director in Croatia and was then appointed Deputy Managing Director of a Bertelsmann (Gruner+Jahr International) joint venture with Finnish Sanoma Group and Austrian Styria Media Group operating throughout Eastern Europe. Moving back to Germany after more than three years, as Publishing Director of one of Germany’s leading news magazines, stern, and Publishing Director of Europe’s leading art magazine, Art, he was responsible for the magazines’ development and strategic direction from 2008 until 2011.

Apart from his Planet A-related activities, Tobias is a regular mentor and supports several corporations with their advanced training programs or portfolio patronage respectively, such as Google and HMS Hamburg Media School. Furthermore, he acts as a business angel in several startups and as a regular speaker at industry events.

Tobias holds a degree of German Diplomkaufmann, a Diplôme de Grande École as well as a Master of Science from ESCP Europe and speaks several languages.

Udi Daon

Yair Reem

Partner at Extantia Capital. Funding daring entrepreneurs that move the needle on climate change.

Yoachim Haynes

Yoachim Haynes is the Vice President of Strategy for EIP’s European Fund where he leads research, innovation, commercialization as well as LP engagement. He works closely with EIP’s global portfolio.

Yoachim has 10 years of experience working with startups, corporations and governments in the energy and climate space. He led the corporate innovation programs at Cleantech Group as a consulting manager where he developed the strategy for, launched, and operated multiple corporate venturing programs, including multi-stakeholder pilot project processes and CVCs. He also delivered clean technology market assessments, market entry strategy and other climate impact projects for governments and corporations. His clients in North America, Europe, and Asia operated across a diverse set of industries including heavy industry (e.g., steel, oil and gas, cement), power generation, real estate, agriculture, mobility and FMCG.  

He has a Bachelor of Science in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University (Cum Laude, C.P. Davis Scholar, Tau Beta Pi). He now lives in London but has spent most of his life in Trinidad and Tobago where he grew up. 

Zainab Gilani

Zainab is an Associate, Energy & Power at Cleantech Group and is based in the U.S.  She is focused on emerging innovation and trends in Energy & Power and has experience across all Cleantech Group sectors. ​

Zainab has experience working on circular economy solutions including evaluating recycling challenges and reuse systems, identifying collection strategies for marine plastics, and collaborating with informal waste worker collectives. ​

Zainab earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Physics and English from Binghamton University. ​