Matt Myers is the man behind Climate Tech Circle
Matt Myers is the Creator and Host of Climate Tech Cocktails, a long-form podcast and happy hour syndicate where we grab a drink (or two) with best-in-class climate tech founders. He is also an early-stage tech investor and portfolio companies include Yotta Energy, Diomand Age, and Mai Finance. Previously, Matt was Founder and Director of EarthxCapital, where he launched and scaled E-Capital Summit, a climate tech platform convening investors, founders, ecosystem partners, and government to form partnerships having substantial, positive impacts on people and the planet. The 200+ companies participating in E-Capital Summit have gone on to raise $5B+ since 2017. Matt also advised the DOE’s first Chief of Commercialization Officer and the Director of ARPA-E on commercialization strategy for climate tech companies. Recently, Matt spoke to the SHACK15 Journal about his organization and his outlook on the future of climate tech.
SHACK15: What led to the idea behind Climate Tech Circle?
Myers: Climate Tech Circle combines our Climate Tech Cocktails podcast and events platform with an AngelList rolling fund under one CTC umbrella. The rolling fund emerged organically from people listening to the podcast, attending our happy hours, and wanting to invest in the awesome founders they learned from and met in person. If you’re an accredited investor and interested in learning more about the fund, you can email me at matt@climatetechcircle.com.
SHACK15: What types of startups are you interested in?
Myers: We’re interested in early-stage climate tech startups that can best utilize the CTC community, which is chalk full of early-adopters.
Our first three investments include:
Avalanche Energy: fusion energy you can hold in your hands.
Gradient: sexier, cleaner, meaner heat pump.
SCiFi Foods: beef without the cow.
SHACK15: CTC doesn’t only host events but also produces a podcast, can you tell us about that?
Myers: Sure! Everything began with the podcast, which I started for fun during Covid lockdown. Think Tim Ferriss meets How I Built This while drinking with climate tech founders. The podcast took off, and we started organizing happy hour events bringing together the climate tech innovation ecosystem. Fast forward, and we’ve convened 4,600+ people in 12 cities and three countries over the past year. Overall, our platform has grown so quickly because we address climate change with an informative and fun approach, as opposed to addressing the problem with a doom and gloom attitude.
SHACK15: What are some of your exciting current and upcoming projects?
Myers: I’m most excited about our new rolling fund! We’ve made three amazing investments out of the gate that we warehoused into the fund. These are the hottest climate tech deals this quarter, and we invested alongside some of the largest venture capital funds in the universe. I couldn’t think of three better investments to start with, and am humbled by the support we’ve received from the founders and investors who brought us in and believe in the CTC platform.
SHACK15: What gives you hope for the future of our climate and climate tech?
Myers: I’ve always been a sucker for humanity. Are we behind the ball? Yes. Do we have the ingenuity necessary to solve the problem? Absolutely. People are starting to get the intersection of these two facts, and that’s why we’ve had so much private capital flow towards climate tech over the past couple years.
Ultimately, what gives me the most hope is that we’re just getting started, and the wind is in our sails. The growth planned at climate tech accelerators for 2023 alone blows me away. The CTC flywheel is here to support, and all those reading should jump in the circle. The water’s warm.
SHACK15: Any final words?
Myers: Always remember…be a circle, not a square. See you there.