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New Wave | Hugo Rauch | Substack
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🌊 Building Europe’s Climate Growth Engine
Why the next generation of climate champions will need more than early-stage capital to win.
We’re joined by Renaud Visage, Co-Founder at SlateVC and former CTO of Eventbrite, for a deep dive into what it really takes to scale climate companies in Europe, from founder psychology to growth-stage financing.
After helping build Eventbrite from startup to IPO, Renaud spent years angel investing and learning the mechanics of venture from the inside at Index Ventures and Point Nine. Today, with SlateVC, he’s focused on one of the biggest gaps in European climate tech: growth-stage capital.
In this episode, we unpack why Europe needs specialist climate investors now more than ever, and what separates companies that scale from those that disappear.
In our conversation, we covered:
→ Why brand matters more than product in the age of AI
→ The hard lessons Renaud learned from 80+ angel investments
→ Why many climate startups still underestimate their “equity story”
→ What growth-stage climate investing really looks like in practice
→ Why climate specialist funds may outperform generalists over the next decade
→ How founders should think about exits earlier than they do today
→ What makes a company financeable beyond venture capital
→ Why Europe urgently needs more Series B and growth-stage climate capital
One of the strongest takeaways from this conversation:
The tourists have left climate tech, and that may actually be the best thing for the sector.
✨ Leave a review and share the episode if this conversation challenged the way you think about growth, innovation, and sustainability.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com
