Industrial systems are responsible for 75% of global emissions, yet only a quarter of climate-focused VC money flows into them. Not because investors don’t care, but because these systems are hard. They’re interconnected. Capital-intensive. Slow-moving. Technically dense. And deeply under-innovated.

Almanac Ventures is built to change that.

In this episode of the EUVC Podcast, Andreas Munk Holm sits down with Jo Slota-Newson and Marc Sabas, co-founders of Almanac Ventures — a new European seed and pre-seed deep tech fund laser-focused on unlocking decarbonisation in industrial systems through scientific breakthroughs and commercial discipline.

This is a pitch episode — a chance for the EUVC LP & GP community to hear directly what Almanac stands for, how they invest, and why the next decade of industrial innovation will be shaped by specialist deep tech funds with true scientific and financial edge.

Here’s what’s covered:

* 00:49 | What Almanac Ventures is: a European seed/pre-seed deep-tech fund backing scientific breakthroughs applied to industrial systems

* 01:31 | The founding team: Jo’s nanoscience PhD + 18 years commercialising deep tech, Marc’s finance → CVC → impact VC journey (and Jo’s 37km Channel swim)

* 03:52 | The complementary edge: technical rigour meets financial/commercial structuring, evidenced through 45 investments and a 2.3× MOIC track record

* 05:22 | The industrial innovation gap: 75% of emissions come from industry, yet only ~25% of climate VC targets it (because the systems are hard, complex, and interconnected)

* 06:11 | Why industry is ripe for deep-tech disruption: 20th-century inefficiencies, high value pools, and the need for performance + cost + decarb together

* 10:17 | “Deep tech works for venture—if you know where to look”: how to identify capex-efficient, scalable industrial technologies vs. science projects that need different capital

* 12:25 | Case study: Hot Green — a new compressor architecture enabling industrial heat pumps for up to 200 degrees°C processes (F&B, manufacturing) with electrification upside

* 13:49 | Case study: ReClinker — Cambridge spinout recycling cement inside steel arc furnaces, piggybacking heat, removing the CO₂-heavy chemistry step

* 15:19 | Do you need to be an operator to invest in deep tech? — why complementary experience (science + venture + corporate + some ops) beats any single “must-have”

* 18:35 | Investment strategy — first-check investor at TRL 4–7, pan-Europe, €300k–€1M tickets, aiming for a 25–30 company portfolio with follow-on capacity

🎧 Listen on Apple or Spotify, or queue it for later with chapters ready to go.

What Almanac Ventures Invests In

Almanac is an early-stage deep tech VC investing across Europe at pre-seed and seed, targeting:

* Scientific breakthroughs

* Applied to industrial systems

* Delivering the three pillars of scalability:

* Better performance

* Lower cost

* Real decarbonisation impact

They focus on the industrial systems that underpin modern life:

* How we make things (manufacturing, materials, heat)

* How we use resources (chemistry, automation, photonics, electrification)

* How we live (infrastructure, clean energy, efficiency technologies)

Behind it is a thesis that the biggest opportunities in climate + industrial innovation require both scientific insight and systemic understanding.

Who’s Behind Almanac

Jo Slota-Newson — Scientist × Commercializer × Investor

* PhD in nanoscience from Cambridge

* Postdoc in advanced materials in British Columbia

* Former CTO & co-founder of solar cell startup PolySolar

* 9 years investing in deep tech across the UK

* AND the small detail of having swum 37 km across the English Channel. Solo.

“When Jo told me that, I thought: that’s my co-founder.” — Marc

Marc: Finance × Corporate Venturing × Climate Investor

* Started in banking

* Moved into corporate innovation at Telefonica

* Corporate VC background

* Venture investor across three funds, including climate impact

* Deep experience helping technical founders shape markets & GTM

Together, they’ve invested in 45+ companies, deployed €47M, and generated a 2.3x cash multiple across realised and unrealised positions.

Why Industrial Deep Tech Is Hard And Worth It

Jo breaks down the core challenge:

“Industrial systems are massively complex. They’re interconnected. You can’t treat them like linear problem-solution sets.”

And this is where most generalist VCs fall short. They underweight:

* The technical nuance of scientific innovation

* The systems thinking needed to see the leverage points

* The interdependencies between processes, supply chains, and energy flows

* The capital efficiency constraints that make something venture-scalable

Industrial systems run on 20th century technology. They’re inefficient. Dirty. Expensive. And ripe for transformation.

But they require investors who can combine:

* Technical depth (to assess what’s real vs. hype)

* Commercial design (to find capex-light, scalable business models)

* Systems mapping (to identify the leverage points with outsized impact)

Almanac is built to operate in this overlap.

Why Industrial Tech Is Venture-Backable

There’s a myth that “industrial tech is too hard for venture.”

Marc disagrees:

“We look for credible technical pathways that hit value-creative milestones within 2–5 years.”

Jo adds:

“Not every scientific breakthrough is venture-backable. But when you find drop-in solutions, capex-light models or early revenue paths — that’s where deep tech works.”

This is where Almanac’s scientific and financial complementarity becomes a competitive edge.

Portfolio Examples

Two investments illustrate their thesis:

1. Hot Green: Industrial Heat Pump Electrification

A UK-based company building high-efficiency heat pumps that operate in the up to 200°C range, unlocking electrification for:

* Food & beverage

* Chemicals

* Light industry

Their breakthrough: A new compressor design as the most expensive part of the heat pump, delivering high performance at low cost.

Backed by Almanac alongside Empirical Ventures and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.

Why Almanac invested:

* Massive industrial heat decarbonisation need

* Drop-in adoption potential

* Capex-efficient hardware innovation

2. Reclinker: Recycled Cement with a Systems Advantage

A spinout from Cambridge University connecting cement recycling directly with electric arc furnace steelmaking.

Why this is deep tech and systems thinking combined:

* They piggyback on the heat already present in steel arc furnaces

* Turn waste into high-quality recycled clinker

* Eliminate the CO₂-intensive chemistry step in traditional cement production

* Decarbonize both cement AND steel in one system

It’s a Nature-published breakthrough with a low-capex deployment model.

Exactly the kind of hidden industrial leverage point Almanac exists to find.

Do You Need Operator Experience in Deep Tech VC?

While Jo believes her experience as a deep tech operator helps her connect with teams, both founders push back on the idea that this is the only profile you need to invest in deep tech.

Jo:

“Founders appreciate talking to someone who has both a PhD and has been in the trenches. But venture teams need diversity — technical, financial, systemic.”

Marc:

“Corporate experience matters too. I know how industrial buyers make decisions, how internal champions work, how innovation is adopted. That’s a huge unlock.”

In Almanac’s model, technical credibility meets commercial reality.

Almanac’s Fund & Strategy

* Stage: Pre-seed & Seed

* Check size: €300k–€1M

* Portfolio: 25–30 companies

* Focus: TRL 4–7

* Geography: Pan-European

* Capital allocation: Meaningful reserves for follow-on

* Role: Often the first institutional investor helping founders cross the “first valley of death” (lab → first commercial deployment)

Investor Takeaway

If Europe is serious about climate and industrial competitiveness, we need funds that:

* understand scientific nuance

* can decode industrial systems

* know how to design capex-efficient, venture-scale pathways

* support technical found...