Wollemi Capital

What’s even better than a cocktail? A sustainable cocktail!   And when that cocktail comes with a side serving of #community building, industry #insights and climate #inspiration then that’s better again.   So if you’re in Seattle this Thursday August 22nd, why not head to The Carbonauts Sustainability Cocktails from 6-9pm, where you can hear brief remarks from Wollemi’s own Alex Kats-Rubin, explore the potential impact of climate communication and storytelling, and connect with like-minded folks from across Seattle’s growing climate ecosystem.   More event info and registration details here: https://lnkd.in/gAyvN4_Z #climatecommunity #carbonautscocktails #seattle #pnwclimate

We’re proud to share our participation in the Series C funding round for advanced materials manufacturer Fortera, whose technology is paving a pathway to zero C02 cement production.   #Concrete and #cement are foundational elements of our #BuiltEnvironment, but their contributions to global emissions are similarly substantial. Cement production alone represents 8% of total CO2 emissions globally.   Unlike traditional cement manufacturing methods, which emit almost a ton of CO2 for every ton of useable product, Fortera’s proprietary ReCarb technology intercepts carbon dioxide exhaust from the kilns where cement is made and routes it back in to make lower-carbon cement.   This unique tech is the result of over 100,000 hours of research and development, supported by more than 100 issued and pending global patents and over a decade of real-world product testing. And, crucially, it’s a turnkey, bolt-on #decarbonisation solution that integrates into existing cement plant infrastructures.   In the words of Wollemi Director Natalie Volpe, “Fortera does what previous green cement technologies have failed to do—it works with cement companies to provide an accessible solution to a cleaner industry. The compatibility with today’s ecosystem makes us confident that Fortera’s process is the most effective technology to decarbonise cement and achieve meaningful climate impact more quickly.”   This US$85m funding round will accelerate the commercialisation, scaling and deployment of Fortera’s technology. Wollemi is delighted to be investing alongside Temasek, Khosla Ventures, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Presidio Ventures and Alumni Ventures, and bringing both capital and specialist expertise in financing next generation infrastructure projects to support the development of Fortera’s future plants.   For further detail and to see why we’re so excited about Fortera’s decarbonisation potential, head to the comments field for links where you can learn more. #greencement #lowcarboncement #industrialdecarbonisation

Really proud to see one of our amazing portfolio companies, Loam Bio, profiled in an extensive feature in last weekend’s The New York Times.   At Wollemi we’ve always been excited about the potential of Loam’s technology, both for #farmers and for the #climate. By harnessing the power of #microbes, they’re unlocking the opportunity to remove carbon at a gigatonne scale from the atmosphere while increasing productivity of #agricultural soils.   So it’s doubly exciting to see Loam’s story now reaching a whole new audience. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/g-NvJezK   #agtech #sustainableagriculture #climate #soilcarbon

As featured in The Australian Financial Review today, we’re excited to welcome former NSW Treasurer The Hon. Matt Kean to Wollemi Capital’s growing team. Matt, who was recently appointed Chair of the Climate Change Authority, is joining Wollemi in a full-time executive role.  Bringing deep expertise in catalysing public and private action on climate, Matt joins us as director of strategic partnerships and regulatory affairs. Previously, Matt had a distinguished 13 year career in the NSW State Government as Member for Hornsby. Matt held a number of senior roles including serving as NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation from 2017 to 2019, NSW Minister for Energy and Environment from 2019 to 2023, NSW Treasurer from 2021 to 2023 and Deputy Leader of the NSW Liberal Party from August 2022. During that time Matt emerged as a leading advocate for action on climate and nature and a champion of more progressive energy and climate policies in the Liberal Party. In addition to driving bipartisan support for climate initiatives and overseeing a significant expansion of NSW’s national parks, in 2020 Matt delivered the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, an ambitious 20 year plan to drive renewables into the grid in NSW and accelerate state-wide decarbonisation. The roadmap, comprising 12GW of renewables and 2GW of long duration storage, was the biggest renewable energy policy in Australia’s history. In Matt’s own words, "I am sometimes known for my energy and enthusiasm but I have to say that I can't remember being this excited. I get to work alongside some of the best investment brains in the country who have had proven and sustained success, who share my values, and have this amazing vision of deploying capital in a way that drives excellent environmental outcomes while creating enormous value."   Read more at the AFR here: https://lnkd.in/gMYKxqZP

Over the past year, Wollemi has invested over A$50 million into #naturalcapital, primarily through project-level funding to over 10 nature-based carbon projects across Australia. Together, the projects are expected to sequester 20+ million tonnes of carbon over the life of the projects, on properties spanning ~3.5 million hectares. This will entail planting >1 million trees this year alone. By enabling carbon developers to access scalable project-level funding, we’re pioneering #naturebasedsolutions as an infrastructure-like asset class, and helping to accelerate the capital deployment required to finance their roll-out at scale. In the past 12 months we have partnered with multiple developers, each with specialist capabilities across various #carbon methods, to develop a diverse portfolio of projects which promise to generate meaningful #impact for climate, nature and people. In this sector spotlight we explore Wollemi’s natural capital investment philosophy and growing portfolio with our development partners, including RegenCo, Permagen, Carbon Neutral and Loam Bio. We also highlight some key innovations across the portfolio, including industry-leading applications of monitoring, verification and reporting (#MVR) technology, collaboration with internationally-recognised #biodiversity certification specialists and a ground-breaking partnership structure with First Nations custodians. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gitPBvMn Chris Thomas | Nick Butcher | Kavita Prakash-Mani

New site, who dis?   This week we’re proud to launch the new, improved Wollemi.com. We’re excited to have a space to showcase the diversity and depth of our global team – now numbering more than 30 professionals across Sydney, Seattle and San Francisco – and our growing portfolio of incredible businesses and projects.   At Wollemi, we’re focused on bridging the climate growth capital gap by providing flexible capital to businesses, developers and projects with technologies that are proven and at the inflection point ready for rapid scale-up.   And you can now see that brought to life in our portfolio page, featuring Kanin Energy, Loam Bio, Pachama, Pluton Biosciences and our most recent investment Samsara Eco, along with a growing array of projects in partnership with RegenCo, Permagen and Carbon Neutral – with more announcements to come very soon. A shout out to Present Company and Hatch Creative Agency for their great work in creating our new digital home. #climatefinance #climateimpact #climatetech #growthcapital #Wollemi #TeamWollemi

Great to see #CAWSYD returning bigger and better for 2025. Mark your calendars!

We’re thrilled to announce our participation in the Series A+ funding round of infinite plastic recycling pioneer Samsara Eco.   Plastics are an environmental disaster of global proportions. ~400 million tonnes (and growing) of plastics are produced each year, mostly from petroleum. Less than 10% are recycled.   Samsara Eco’s groundbreaking EosEco™ technology develops proprietary enzymes that quickly break down plastics, bringing hard-to-recycle and degraded plastics back to virgin-like quality. This enables infinite recycling and the development of truly #circular business models.   Since launching in 2020, Samsara Eco has led world-first innovations in #infiniterecycling, pioneering the ability to recycle plastics including nylon 6,6 and polyester. Earlier this year, in partnership with its first textile partner, Samsara Eco unveiled the world’s first enzymatically recycled nylon 6,6 product and also helped to introduce lululemon's first product made from enzymatically recycled polyester.   The potential climate and environmental impacts of Samsara’s unique solutions include a reduced need for production of virgin (petroleum-based) plastics and reduced landfill and incineration of plastic waste, along with co-benefits such as the reduction of plastic pollution seeping into the environment and oceans. And Samsara Eco's process has been engineered to require lower temperatures, resulting in a lower carbon footprint than other comparable forms of #recycling.   We’re delighted to invest alongside Temasek, Main Sequence, lululemon, Hitachi Ventures, Titanium Ventures and DCVC as part of Samsara Eco’s A$100m growth and scaleup funding round, and to bring expertise in project development and funding first of a kind commercial scale production facilities and plants. #circularity #enzymes #enzymaticrecycling

The Pacific Northwest is a growing hub of climate innovation, and that will be on full display from July 7th to 13th as PNW Climate Week once again takes over Seattle, Portland and Vancouver with an array of community-led events.   As part of Bloomberg Green's inaugural Green Festival, Wollemi’s Seattle-based team is co-hosting a rooftop happy hour on Tuesday July 9th from 4pm. Join us for a drink, amazing views and to network with the Seattle #climatetech ecosystem, including Silicon Valley Bank, Clean Energy Ventures, E8 Angels, Elemental Excelerator and many others.   See the comments field for the registration link, and we hope to see you there! And be sure to check out the many other events happening throughout #PNWClimateWeek.

For the next instalment of 'Meet our people' - an occasional series profiling #TeamWollemi members from around the world - meet Suzie Cai, a Sydney-based Associate in our investment team. 𝗦𝘂𝘇𝗶𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗶 Associate, Sydney 𝗠𝘆 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗶 𝗶𝘀… flexible and dynamic, to meet the changing demands of deploying capital. As an Associate in Wollemi’s investment team, my time has generally been spent helping to identify, diligence and structure investments in our key focus areas across natural capital, clean energy, food & agriculture, circular economy and the built environment. Most recently I have been working with my colleagues to deep dive into the ‘value from waste’ thematic, exploring a range of technologies from anerobic digestion to chemical/enzymatic recycling. This involved speaking to industry experts, attending conferences, getting out to see the technologies in action and speaking to the founders who developed the technologies. 𝗜𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗜… was an investment banker, first with Macquarie Capital and then with New Zealand investment bank Jarden as part of the early team helping to build up its presence in Australia. My experience included M&A and capital market transactions across a wide range of sectors from real estate, healthcare, consumer and telcos. Prior to banking, I founded a social enterprise start-up focused on minimising food waste by repurposing off-spec fresh produce into food products. Partnering with local councils and Australian corporates to source produce and stock our product was a challenging and rewarding experience. I strongly believe there is a world where we can address our significant climate problem with impactful solutions that also make financial sense. This is why I’m so excited to be part of the Wollemi team. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆… was the smoking ceremony performed by an Aboriginal elder as part of a Welcome to Country at Wollemi’s recent global offsite. It was quite a surreal experience, standing at the edge of a cliff where the rainforest of Bouddi National Park meets the Pacific Ocean, made even more dramatic by the thunderstorm rolling by. An important reminder of the deep and enduring relationship between the traditional owners and the land. 𝗜’𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆… the founders who are working tirelessly on developing next generation technologies and innovative solutions to accelerate global decarbonisation. Their unwavering commitment to forging a greener future is at the heart of why Wollemi exists – to support them by providing flexible, patient capital as these businesses look to scale and commercialise. 𝗠𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀… visiting national parks around the world and experiencing the amazing biodiversity and natural landscapes around us.