The Road Ahead: Empowering Changemakers in the Climate and Impact Space
Taking a Look at the 2025 Investment Landscape
Welcome back to Changemakers, the official newsletter of Brighter Future.
We’re thrilled to have you here as part of the Brighter Future community, where together, we inspire progress and create opportunities for a better tomorrow.
This week, we’re diving into the investment landscape to equip you with forward-looking ideas for the year ahead. We’ll share some insights from experts in the industry, a few tools to help you confidently pitch to investors, and highlight key takeaways from Davos 2025.
Let’s keep the momentum moving as we settle into a new year of progress and impact.
Check out this week’s topics…
The Outlook Ahead with Climate Investors
The year ahead presents a dynamic landscape for climate and impact startups, marked by both challenges and significant opportunities to amplify influence and attract investment.
We spoke with leading investors about the outlook for this coming year to gather their perspectives on what lies ahead for 2025.
Josep Oriol | Okavango Capital Partners
“2025 will be a pivotal year for impact and nature-based investments,” Josep says, reflecting on 2024's record-breaking carbon credit retirements and the pioneering of biodiversity credit transactions. He highlights significant growth in regenerative agriculture and climate tech but acknowledges persistent geopolitical instability: “We have a lot of work to do, but plenty of reasons to feel hopeful about the future.”
Myke Näf | Übermorgen Ventures AG
“By 2025, the green premium will be history (if it isn’t already),” says Myke. He emphasizes that climate tech innovations must be more than just sustainable: “Efficient, high-performing, and affordable solutions are the future, and solar, heat pumps, and EVs prove it’s possible.” Myke challenges startups and investors to focus on scalability and accessibility to ensure these technologies reach the masses.
Nick Lyth | Green Angel Ventures
Nick foresees significant economic challenges for Western nations in 2025 due to political turbulence and post-election reforms: “The US, UK, and France are heading into choppy waters. Governments will enact unpopular economic measures early in their terms, leading to short-term turmoil.” Despite this, Nick remains bullish on cleantech: “Cleantech’s growth will continue, driven by the undeniable reality of climate change. While the pace may vary, the direction is clear, and the sector will endure whatever obstacles are thrown its way.”
Jan Lozek | Future Energy Ventures
“2025 will be a key year for the climate tech sector, both ecologically and financially,” Jan says, reflecting on the mounting pressure on politics and business after 2024’s climate disasters. Despite challenges such as political uncertainties in the U.S. and Germany, Jan highlights the enduring economic appeal of renewables: “Renewable energy is already more cost-effective than fossil fuels, attracting further capital flows.”
He predicts growing demand for scalable, data-driven solutions and emphasizes the importance of targeted investments: “In 2025, improving efficiency and reducing production costs through economies of scale will be critical to making these technologies globally competitive.”
Abe Murray | AlleyCorp & Deep Tech on Substack
"There is a new crop of builders in modern robotics and deep tech hardware that are hitting their stride," Abe notes, highlighting a key shift in the sector: "We’re finally seeing startups blaze past pilot purgatory and enter the heaven of production scale-up." He emphasizes that deep tech innovators with strong product-market fit are poised for a breakthrough year, driven by global trends like the need for cleaner, cheaper energy, demographic shifts, labor shortages, and cost challenges: "2025 will be a great year for those ready to scale."
Paul Graham’s 9-Step Guide to Convincing Investors
Pitching investors can be a daunting process but there are several tactics and tools that startup founders can use to elevate their pitch.
Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, shares essential advice on how to pitch to investors successfully. His 9-step guide emphasizes the importance of being formidable, authentic, and truthful while demonstrating domain expertise and market potential. Here’s a brief overview:
Be Formidable: Investors want to see you can overcome obstacles, not just exude confidence.
Be Authentic: Authenticity wins over imitated confidence, and investors can detect insincerity.
Stick to the Truth: Honesty is your most formidable asset as an inexperienced founder.
Build Domain Expertise: Show the depth of knowledge to validate your startup's potential.
Wait for the Right Time: Raise funding when you can convincingly demonstrate a thought-out, honest plan.
Demonstrate Market Potential: Investors look for startups with the potential to dominate markets.
Handle Rejection Gracefully: Understand investor reservations and use rejections to refine your pitch.
Pitch With Clarity: Avoid jargon and communicate your business idea with simplicity and precision.
Follow the Recipe: Present why your startup is worth investing in and ensure it's investor-ready.
Learn more about pitching investors by reading Paul’s essays, where he shares more about the 9-step guide and other tools for startups.
The Hidden Cost of Delaying Your Branding in Climate Tech
In climate tech, every second counts. Yet, many startups delay investing in their branding, believing it to be a secondary concern. But the reality? Delayed branding has a cost—a steep one.
In the latest insights, we dive into why branding is more than aesthetics—it's the strategic backbone of a company’s mission. We highlight why a strong brand identity builds trust, forges investor confidence, and drives long-term growth in the fiercely competitive £34 billion climate tech market.
Key takeaways include:
Why strong branding secures investor loyalty and market leadership.
The financial impact of delayed branding, including missed opportunities and the high cost of late-stage rebrands.
How early investment in branding creates authentic, lasting connections with stakeholders.
Your brand is your greatest investment—don’t let it take a backseat.
A Letter from Our Founder at The World Economic Forum in Davos
This week, our founder Aaron Leaman is at The World Economic Forum in Davos connecting with some changemakers from across different fields in the climate and impact industry, and wanted to share some thoughts from the event.
“This year marked my third trip to Davos. Though I was initially hesitant about attending, wondering if there would be enough climate-focused events to make the journey worthwhile, the experience quickly proved that it was the right choice.
With organisations like GreenUp hosting Climate Hub, The Innovate for Nature dinner on Tuesday, and co-hosting an intimate climate gathering on Wednesday with Kevin Webb of Superorganism and Philip Staudacher of Innovate for Nature, Davos has once again shown itself to be a centre for impactful conversations and collaboration in the climate and nature space.
The week has also been filled with opportunities to meet clients old and new, solidify partnerships in quiet backrooms and busy receptions, and engage in meaningful discussions over dinners with inspiring founders and CEOs.
I had the pleasure of reconnecting with some of Brighter Future’s earliest clients, including Topher White of Rainforest Connection. I also had the chance to form exciting new relationships, such as sharing an apartment with Jonathan Wilkinson, Head of International Business Development at Bton Group, which led to some valuable conversations, and we are excited about collaborating in the year ahead.
Overall, the relationships and connections are the bedrock of this event. Davos provides an unparalleled opportunity to connect with visionary founders, investors, and changemakers who are shaping the future of climate innovation.
It’s been wonderful to start the year in this powerful space where impactful connections happen, and very much look forward to coming back next year.”
Upcoming Brighter Future Events
Perfect Your Pitch - March 26th
“The natural and intrinsic way the advisors approached the pitches stood out to me. Their motivation to provide honest, insightful feedback created a very engaging and meaningful experience,”
Aron Hendreke, Founder of ContainerGrid, after attending December’s Perfect Your Pitch session.
Our next Perfect Your Pitch session at Brighter Future is on March 20th. During the event, we’re offering another chance to pitch your business to top climate investors and get honest, actionable feedback — helping you sharpen your story and strengthen your pitch.
In this edition, we’ll be joined by Elizabeth Iszauk, an Investment Analyst at Extantia, and a few soon-to-be-announced other panelists.
🎟️ Sign up and send your pitch deck to mission@brighterfuture.studio to be one of the startups selected to pitch live. Tickets are on sale now.
Storytelling Workshops - February 10th - 13th
Next month, we’ll be holding three storytelling sessions to help founders and startups learn to tell their organisational stories, working through the origin, vision, and purpose stories.
Make sure to sign up for each session, where we will be going through the process of crafting these stories and building a deeper connection with your target audience.
🎟️ Tickets are limited so make sure you sign up with the link below.
Drop-In Hours - Pitch Review - February 21st
We’re also holding Drop-In Office Hours next month to offer an open, interactive session focused on refining and reviewing your pitch.
During the hour, climate and impact startups are invited to bring along their pitch deck for real-time review of deck and presentation skills. Drop in at any time during the hour for an informal chat and actionable feedback from Brighter Future founder Aaron Leaman, to help elevate your next pitch.
🎟️ Sign up here to get access to the session.
Thanks for joining us this week. We look forward to seeing the progress and impact that comes from the year ahead. See you soon.
Cheers,
The Brighter Future Team
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