Tania Steyn

The global mining industry is undergoing a technology transformation unlike any time in the industry's history. #MiningTransformes2024 is the unique opportunity to see real-time demonstrations of these emerging technologies in an operating mine!

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Is something changing in climate tech in Africa? 👇 ⚡ Historically, over the past 5+ years, Energy (mainly solar energy) has always been the main sub-sector within climate tech startups funding in Africa. Think companies like Sun King, Bboxx, d.light. These typically represented 60%-75% of all the climate tech funding any given year. However, since the beginning of the year, this ratio has dropped to around 40% on the back of other climate tech sub-sectors growing: 🌾 Agriculture: large deals this year included Apollo Agriculture, Complete Farmer, Tomato Jos 🛵 Mobility: with deals this year like Roam, BasiGo or Dodai 📲 Fintech: a good example here is the recent PULA deal Definitely an encouraging trend we are closing following at Catalyst Fund with already 19 deals (...and I hear a 20th one could be announced very shortly 😉) in Africa across no less than 9 different sub-sectors within Climate Tech! ...and we want to back even more startups in this critical sector, so don't hesitate to drop me an email with your pitch deck: [email protected] 📧

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Cost-effective geothermal energy has the ability to fully transition and decarbonize our grids and industrial systems - in the near term! We believe the team and technology at XGS Energy will realize this vision and we couldn't be happier to be working with them on a geothermal-powered reality.

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Just finished reading an insightful analysis by John Rikhtegar at RBCx on the Canadian venture capital landscape over the past decade, focusing on capital exited rather than capital invested. This deep dive sheds light on the challenges and successes of our venture ecosystem and provides valuable lessons for the future. Here are my top 5 takeaways: 1️⃣ Liquidity Volatility Challenges the VC Ecosystem Over 50% of Canada's exit value in the past decade occurred in just 2020 and 2021. This surge pulled fund cycles forward as GPs rushed to redeploy record waves of LP capital. Consequently, 2023 and 2024 have seen some of the lowest levels of capital allocated to Canadian venture in years. 2️⃣ The Dominance of Top 50 Exits A staggering 85% of Canada's aggregate exit value came from only 27% of all exits—the Top 50 largest. Achieving such large exit outcomes remains critical for VC investors aiming to build lasting franchises in Canadian venture. 3️⃣ Exit Success Isn't Just About Size There's a misconception that bigger exits equate to greater success. By evaluating exit capital efficiency (exit value relative to total capital raised), we can better assess the profitability to shareholders. Capital-efficient exits often yield higher returns, regardless of their size. 4️⃣ Canada's Exit Growth Outpaces the U.S. While smaller in scale, Canada's exit value and volume have grown faster than the U.S. over the past decade. Given that the U.S. VC market is 30x larger and more mature, this is a healthy sign for Canada's developing ecosystem. 5️⃣ Managing the Exit Value to Fundraised Ratio is Key To continue building a capital-efficient VC ecosystem, Canada must focus on improving its cumulative exit value to capital fundraised ratio. Shrinking the gap between Canada and the U.S. in this ratio is vital as we anticipate exit activity to rebound in the coming years. This analysis aligns closely with Ripple Ventures' strategy. At Ripple Ventures, we prioritize investing early and staying disciplined on entry valuations, all while focusing on capital efficiency. We believe that supporting capital-efficient startups not only drives better returns but also strengthens the overall ecosystem. It's encouraging to see data supporting this approach, emphasizing the importance of disciplined investing and capital efficiency in achieving successful exits. 📖 Read the full analysis below: #VentureCapital #CanadianVC #RBCx #RippleVentures #CapitalEfficiency #StartupEcosystem

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Highly recommend this session to offer some clarity in an ever changing landscape!!

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Great to see our McKinsey Canada fintech research featured in BetaKit this week. Indeed, Canada’s fintech adoption is currently a laggard (notably behind Australia and the UK), but it remains a major opportunity to disrupt or co-exist in numerous verticals, given the high concentration of the financial services and increasing customer needs to be met. Remember that Canada's $180 billion in banking revenues made up 7.9% of GDP last year—the highest of the top 10 developed economies. #McKinsey #Fintech #Canada

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Many founders and CEOs fail to spend enough time with their product and customers in the field. Bear Givhan at Earthview Corporation is different. This has allowed for faster product iteration and better customer satisfaction. Because of this day-in, day-out dogged effort, major operators are starting to realize that Earthview is the best solution in emissions monitoring and mitigation.

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Was in a TechCabal article written by Hannatu-Favour Asheolge about a novel ClimateTech project, where I shared about the challenges in funding ClimateTech. Here’s an excerpt: “ClimateTech startups need more capital — about four to five times more than FinTechs, for example — which is more than most early-stage VCs provide. Private equity firms also tend to stay away, as they generally prefer to invest in cash flow-positive businesses.” Pretty interesting piece, give it a read here!

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Energy Disruptors: UNITE 2024 is proudly presented in collaboration with our Major Partner EY Canada. EY exists to build a better working world, helping to create long-term value for clients, people, and society and build trust in the capital markets. Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform, and operate. Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax, and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today. Join EY at our Summit this October 1 & 2, summit passes are available now at energydisruptors.com #edu2024 #energydisruptors #eventsincanada #albertaenergy #energysummit #netzero #decarbonization #EYCanada

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PwC Canada's 2024 M&A mid-year update is featured in this Financial Post article with Derek Chu, Deals Partner in the Capital Projects and Infrastructure practice, focusing on Energy Transition. Learn more today on how decarbonizing Canada's electricity grid could lead to a uptick in mergers and acquisitions in the renewable energy sector.

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My favourite topic - the commercialization of climate technology at industrial scale measured in market share, contribution to GDP, jobs, exports, shareholder value, and other commercial milestones. Thank you DEEP TECH CANADA and Platform Calgary for the chance to deliver the keynote at your inaugural event "Scaling Deep Tech for a Decarbonized Future".

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We humans need to categorize our perception and reasoning to structure reality and make it "operational". The term "climatetech" encompasses a huge variety of different startups working on different solutions. However, I agree in general as the focus of investors is much too much on software. Carbon counting is nice but tell me again what the "V" in "VC" stands for? Decarbonizing is mainly a deep- and hardtech play. Yeah, AI bears a great potential like for "discovering" novel materials. But as the word already betrays materials need to materialize...in the material aka physical world :) And I don't believe in stuff that makes products and processes more expensive. Innovations need to be green - I prefer the term clean = with minimized externalities - and (!) price-competitive to be adopted by the market. I mean, the huge global markets that matter like steel, cement, shipping, etc.. Our friends from Helios and WBST incorporated this principle thinking as they work on providing green iron (Helios) and recycling steel slag (WBST) in a highly cost-efficient way. Feel free to reach out :)

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Day One Ventures raises a $150 million fund to back Early-Stage innovators Masha Bucher, the founder and general partner of Day One Ventures, has raised her largest fund yet, a $150 million Fund III aimed at backing early-stage startups addressing humanity's most pressing issues. Known for her bold approach in #venture capitalism and spearheading public relations for portfolio companies, Bucher continues to shape the industry with her innovative strategies. Masha founded Day One Ventures in 2017 after a successful career in public relations and venture investing. With a keen eye for promising startups, Bucher and her team have grown the firm to manage over $450 million, up from just $11 million five years ago. Day One Ventures has backed eight unicorns, including Superhuman, Remote, Worldcoin, Truebill solar, and DuckDuckGo, and has seen 22 exits, including an IPO with Terran Orbital. The new $150 million fund will focus on startups solving critical global challenges, such as wealth disparities, climate change, and social isolation. Bucher has surrounded herself with experts, including ClassPass co-founder Sanjiv Sanghavi, who joined in 2022 to invest in climate tech. This diverse expertise enhances the firm's ability to identify and support groundbreaking innovations. Day One Ventures’ Fund III will support startups in AI, #fintech, climate tech, the future of work, and web3. With a new emphasis on the "Future of Human," the fund aims to explore the intersection of technology, art, and culture to drive human progress. Recent investments include Rainmaker (cloud-seeding technology), Astroforce (asteroid mining), Affiniti (industry-specific credit cards for small businesses), and Layer N (blockchain network). Notably, they also invested in Cradle Healthcare, which is developing advanced cryogenic freezing technology. Bucher's bold moves in the venture capital space highlight the growing importance of integrating public relations with investment strategies. Her belief in AI’s potential to solve economic inequalities and enhance societal efficiency underscores the fund’s forward-thinking approach. By addressing major global issues through innovative technology, Day One Ventures is well-positioned to make a significant impact on the venture capital landscape. The article on TechCrunch in the first comment. Want to stay up to date with the market? Here my newsletter: - Linkedin: https://t.ly/s541W   - Substack: https://lnkd.in/dzfGJzmW

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Part II of our thoughts on the climate tech ecosystem!

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🌱🚀 Exciting News! Xefco, one of our portfolio companies, just secured A$10.5 million in funding to revolutionize the textile industry and reduce emissions! 🌎💡 With their innovative water-free textile finishing and dyeing solution, Ausora, Xefco is poised to make a significant impact. Their technology not only preserves precious resources but also cuts energy consumption and costs. Plus, it's already gaining traction with leading apparel brands like Zara and The North Face. At Investible, we're committed to backing visionary companies like Xefco that are driving positive change. This investment reaffirms our belief in their potential to transform industries and tackle pressing environmental challenges. #ClimateTech #SustainableInvesting #ImpactInvesting #MandiriInvestibleGlobalClimateTechFund 🌿📈

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We recently led a $9.5M seed round in Zeno, our very first energy transition company in Africa. Michael Spencer and the team are now officially out of stealth sprinting towards their first products - a swappable battery compatible with an electric motorbike of their own design. Their opening market is Kenya, where 3M+ boda boda taxi drivers are eager to find ways to shave costs down. With Zeno's battery subscription model, they'll make 50% in savings compared to owning a petrol counterpart! Going electric will soon become the obvious choice. Kenya is just the start. Over the next quarter century, Africa will be home to the largest share of young people in the world, and is set to double its population to 2.5 billion. Talk about a growth market. Zeno has a particularly special place in our hearts because Harsh Dubey, who hustled his way into Lowercarbon Capital right out of college and became an institution around here, built up so much conviction in this company that he's moved abroad to work on this rocketship full-time. That should tell you something. Congrats again to the team, read more here for the deep dive. #tech #climatetech #energy #mobility #battery #electric #africa #emergingmarkets

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It is normal to expect a more top down approach to data and presenting the macro view from McKinsey & Company. The good part in this report is not too much of sprinkling of AI in it. The important point remains though - the priority for farmers today is improving productivity, whether through agriculture technologies (#agtech) for improving operations, biological products, or sustainable practices. Increasing productivity remains a core challenge that needs to be addressed globally. The representation of global markets here as NA, EU, LatAm and India also highlights the role of India in Agri And Agritech keeping India as a standalone market and not as Asia/APAC etc. #AgTech #AgriTech #Climateimpact #producvity

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The energy transition requires utility companies to adapt with new technologies to create the next generation of Canadian electricity networks. ⚡ This includes distribution system operators (DSOs), which connect local distributors to open markets with easy grid access. Learn more. https://ow.ly/Mkye30sFGwg #EYCanada #BetterWorkingWorld

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