Harshal Chokhawala, the CEO of ZymoChem, breaks down their exciting solutions to microplastics. In this episode, we explore ZymoChem’s groundbreaking efforts to decarbonize the production of everyday materials, providing real solutions to microplastics in the ocean, our bodies and the earth. 🧪 Harshal takes us on his journey from a young chemist fascinated by the magic of chemistry to a pioneer in using enzymes and microbes as nature’s own catalysts. He shares how ZymoChem is crafting bio-based...
Aug 20, 2024•42 min
Imagine turning everyday trash into a sustainable alternative to plastic. In this episode, I sit down with Albert Douer, CEO of UBQ Materials, to explore how his company is revolutionizing waste management and tackling the global plastic crisis. Albert shares the journey behind UBQ’s innovative approach, from overcoming skepticism to building trust in new technologies. Learn how UBQ is transforming household waste into valuable materials, creating a ripple effect that could reshape industries wo...
Aug 13, 2024•45 min
Ever wondered what it takes to scale a battery manufacturing company from one gigawatt to five in just five years? In this episode of Leaders on a Mission, I sit down with Priyadarshi Panda, CEO of the International Battery Company, to explore the transformative power of energy storage technology. Priyadarshi shares his vision of leading the global energy transition through manufacturing excellence and innovation. We delve into the company's ambitious goals, including scaling from one gigaw...
Aug 06, 2024•40 min
Is 3D-printed meat the future of our food? In this episode of Leaders on a Mission, I sit down with Arik Kaufman, CEO and Founder of Steakholder Foods, to delve into the fascinating world of cultured meat. Arik shares his insights on the industry's rapid evolution, from its nonexistence just a few years ago to the cutting-edge technology driving it today. We explore the significant hurdles faced in scaling cultured meat production, including the high costs inherited from the pharmaceutical ...
Jul 30, 2024•41 min
How can technology solve the wildfire crisis and save our forests? In this episode of Leaders on a Mission, I talk with Allison Wolff, CEO of Vibrant Planet, about leveraging technology to tackle the wildfire crisis and preserve our forests. Allison shares insights into her team's innovative strategies, from AI-driven wildfire management to conserving biodiversity and water sources. We also explore the history and current state of Western US woodlands and the role of top tech experts from c...
Jul 23, 2024•39 min
How is AI and innovation transforming the mining industry? In this episode of Leaders on a Mission, I'm joined by Corrado De Gasperis, CEO of Comstock, a trailblazer in the mining industry who is leveraging AI and cutting-edge technologies to drive sustainability and efficiency. Corrado shares his insights on pioneering breakthrough innovations that have the potential to make a global impact. We dive into Comstock's rigorous selection process for high-impact technologies, focusing on t...
Jul 16, 2024•45 min
Hydrogen's potential is vast, but so are the hurdles. Baruch Halpert, CEO of Electriq Global, joins me on this week’s Leaders on a Mission to dive into their cutting-edge innovative hydrogen carrier, which acts like coffee powder for a coffee machine. This groundbreaking solution simplifies the storage, transport, and use of hydrogen in off-grid applications, making green hydrogen more accessible and practical. Baruch shares his unique analogy of starting a business being like leveling up i...
Jul 09, 2024•41 min
How can we tackle the urgent challenge of global food waste, where every minute, we waste enough food to feed over one million people. Tune in to this episode of Leaders on a Mission with Moody Soliman, CEO of Ryp Labs for an inspiring conversation on innovation and sustainability in the fight against food waste. Moody explains how Ryp Labs is addressing this colossal issue with a simple yet powerful solution: a natural, food-grade bioactive sticker. This sticker can be applied anywhere along th...
Jul 02, 2024•45 min
Have you ever imagined that bacteria could revolutionize the protein in your next burger? This may soon be a reality thanks to one pioneering start-up. In this episode, meet Bryan Tracy – the CEO of Superbrewed Food and an entrepreneur developing the world's first commercial bacterial food ingredient. Through fermentation, his company cultivates microbes into a protein-packed biomass. Through fermentation, Brian cultivates microbes into an 85% protein-rich biomass. But the journey from lab ...
Jun 25, 2024•38 min
The cement industry is responsible for a staggering 8% of global CO2 emissions, heavily relying on coal furnaces for production. Most see this as a daunting problem, but Carbon Upcycling views it as a groundbreaking opportunity. This innovative climate startup is turning emissions into the raw materials of the future. In this episode, we sit down with Apoorv Sinha, CEO of Carbon Upcycling, to delve into the urgent issues his company is tackling. Learn how Apoorv transitioned from an engineering ...
Jun 18, 2024•39 min
Nigel Sharp, a serial entrepreneur with a social conscience created Aquagga to solve a great contamination issue. PFAS ( (Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are highly toxic man-made “forever” chemicals that have migrated into the air, soil, and water. Today, nearly all Americans have PFAS in their blood, with over 200 million people potentially drinking PFAS-impacted water Nigel’s small team is battling PFAS - "forever chemicals" contaminating communities everywhere. Tune in to hea...
Jun 11, 2024•39 min
Through a pioneering process of microbial fermentation, David Henstrom and Unibio are harnessing the power of nature's alchemists - microbes - to produce protein. No land needed, their breakthrough technology utilizes methane in a novel "gas-liquid brewing" approach. But scaling challenges loom large. Hear how David overcame the valley of death after 27 years as a biotech intrapreneur. Discover his journey of commercializing this planet-friendly nutrition source through global par...
May 28, 2024•37 min
Marc Washington, a health entrepreneur, was inspired by his sister's tragic passing to help others live healthier. Now, his startup Supergut is riding the wave of interest in appetite control to promote natural solutions. You'll discover how Supergut has evolved its vision from gut health to leveraging the "Ozempic conversation". Learn how the founder reinvented operations to break even after a difficult period. Find out their plans to raise capital and expand distribution na...
May 14, 2024•39 min
Our guest today is Scott May, the Head of MISTA, a unique innovation platform bringing food companies and the startup ecosystem together. Scott has seen the challenges in our food system up close and is on a mission to transform how we eat and farm. After discovering his passion for food science, he has dedicated his career to innovating sustainable solutions as a food tech pioneer. Hear Scott's inspiring journey - from his early days in university to founding innovation hub MISTA. Discover...
May 07, 2024•36 min
Cambrium CEO Mitchell Duffy is on a mission to reduce our dependence on petrochemicals and animal-derived products through the power of biology. In this episode, Mitchell discusses his journey from PhD researcher to entrepreneur, and his vision to create sustainable innovation by creating biobased high performance molecules Learn how Cambrium produces sustainable vegan collagen at scale to replace animal byproducts. Also, discover their plans to design revolutionary new biomaterials that outperf...
Apr 30, 2024•39 min
In this episode, we have an interesting conversation with Johan Cardoen, a Biotech executive who started his career in 1988, with Plant Genetic Systems which was the first biotech company in Belgium. Since then, he played a very important role in the growth and the evolution of the Belgium biotech ecosystem. Johan Cardoen shares how he grew Crop Design into an acquisition target through strategic deal-making. Tune in to hear how he led a young startup through an acquisition process in just 10 we...
Apr 23, 2024•35 min
Today, I sit down with the one and only Henrietta Moon, CEO and Co-founder of Carbo Culture, a climate technology company pioneering for scalable biochar carbon removal solution. Henrietta’s passion for the environment was ignited during her time as a scout and sailing trips, witnessing the deterioration of natural environments. Originally on track for international relations, she found herself drawn to entrepreneurship, co-founding Carbo Culture after participating in NASA's Singularity Un...
Apr 16, 2024•31 min
Summary: In this episode of Leaders on a Mission, CEO Shely Aronov discusses how her company InnerPlant is revolutionizing agriculture through real-time plant stress detection. By giving crops a way to optically signal when under attack from fungi and other threats, Inner Plant is transforming farming from an industry of guesses into one powered by data. Tune in to hear how their technology means farmers can pinpoint problems within days instead of weeks, helping boost yields and reduce waste. S...
Mar 26, 2024•34 min
Ever wonder what happens to all the leftover corncobs and wheat stalks after harvest? For most farms, it's waste. But for The Supplant Company, it's the key ingredient in a revolution. Founded by scientist Tom Simmons, this food tech startup is developing sustainable sugar replacements from agricultural byproducts. Hear how their unique process creates healthier ingredients that mimic sugar's texture while slashing calories. Discover the challenges of scaling up production and par...
Mar 19, 2024•37 min
In this episode, AgroSpheres CEO Payam Pourtaheri discusses how he tackled pesticide issues using RNA technology for crop protection. He shares challenges, including target specificity and scale-up. Payam learned to voice disagreements and focused on encapsulation for potent biomolecules, differentiating from microbial approaches. Transitioning from a student project to a startup, Payam stresses the importance of funding, technology validation, and building credibility. He highlights the difficu...
Feb 07, 2024•45 min
From a KTH student to a visionary in green technology, Karim is changing the game to revolutionize eco-friendly chemical engineering for mass production. I n this episode, Karim Englemark Cassimjee, CEO and co-founder of EnginZyme. A Swedish startup with the vision to make the chemical industry green by unlocking the potential in enzymes. Karim opens up about the growing opportunities in the biotech sector, juxtaposed with the fundraising difficulties that companies often face. Karim provides a ...
Jan 24, 2024•43 min
Episode 76:In this episode, Rob van Straten, CEO of Skytree, a cutting-edge climate technology company revolutionizes carbon capture using solid-state sorbent materials. Rob discusses the challenges Skytree addresses, emphasizing the urgency of carbon capture in combating climate change. He details the company's two innovative products: Cumulus, and Stratus. Skytree's vision includes the deployment of decentralized direct air capture systems strategically placed where CO2 is needed, di...
Jan 10, 2024•43 min
When Barbara Mazur, finished her Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Agricultural Biotech did not exist. Barbara was working in a central research group at Dupont, before the opportunity of developing a research and application group for biotechnologies in the commercial crop space. Barbara loved working with science and was initially reluctant to assume management and leadership responsibility for the group, thinking she may miss the day-to-day hands-on scientific input. She thrived in her role and ma...
Dec 11, 2023•41 min
When Aether Bio raised USD 49 mio in a Series A a few months ago, it provided much-needed good news across the synbio sector. I was so curious about the technology and the differentials between companies like Gingko. I wanted to understand how they built a novel material that could theoretically improve lithium production in the US by 30 times. Thanks so much to Pavle Jeremić, CEO and Founder of Aether Bio, for coming onto this week's Leaders on a Mission podcast and sharing his incredibly ...
Nov 22, 2023•52 min
Thanks to Todd Rands, CEO of Elo Life Systems for coming onto this week’s leaders on a mission podcast. Todd emphasized Elo’s mission and vision to solve big global health issues, such as the obesity crisis, and how he is growing a next-generation ingredient company that can take rare sugars that exist in nature, and re-create them naturally, leveraging modern advancement in biotechnology and breeding. Todd shared some great perspectives and learnings about building a great culture, the differen...
Nov 08, 2023•42 min
Thanks to Maria Cho, CEO of Triplebar, for a great discussion on this week's leaders on a mission podcast. As the CEO of an early-stage venture-backed Synthetic Biology Company, Maria spoke about her entrepreneurial journey and the excitement and uniqueness of early-stage environments building high-performance teams aligned with a mission to help provide solutions for a healthier world. With Triplebar developing solutions for nutrition and healthcare, using cutting-edge bioengineering tools...
Oct 16, 2023•40 min
I feel inspired after talking with Ali Wing, CEO of Oobli, on this week's Leaders on a Mission podcast. Oobli is on a mission to change the world with sweet proteins and has created a breakthrough precision fermentation platform to unlock the power of sweet proteins in foods. Ali shares her vision and mission for the company, discussing the future of sweet-tasting foods without the chronic disease and obesity associated with excess sugar consumption. Ali shares the insights from a varied ca...
Sep 21, 2023•41 min
With over 70% of the world’s wild fish stock depleted due to overfishing, Aquaculture has become a necessity, ensuring demand for fresh fish consumption is met. On this week’s episode of leaders of a mission, I discussed with Stian Rognlid, CEO of Aquaticode, his vision for innovation using Artificial Intelligence to solve significant Aquaculture challenges, whilst providing cost-efficient alternatives to subjective models and manual processes. Artificial Intelligence can recognize patterns with...
Sep 05, 2023•42 min
Thanks so much to Josh March, CEO and co-founder of SCiFi Foods, for coming onto this week’s Leaders on a Mission podcast to share his unique journey. Josh has been obsessed with cultivated meat since he read about it in a science fiction book over fifteen years ago. Using a unique scientific approach, SCiFi Foods is the first company in the world to successfully grow beef cells in suspension, allowing it to reduce the cost of cultivated beef by 1000 x. As a serial entrepreneur from a Tech backg...
Aug 23, 2023•41 min
Congratulations to Ari Melamud, and the Incredo team (formerly Doumatok) on their recent Series C investment. I had the great pleasure of hosting Ari on this week’s episode of Leaders on a Mission, where we discussed the company’s unique approach and technology in making great-tasting foods whilst curbing the overconsumption of sugar. Ari reflects on his responsibility, deep purpose, and fulfillment in working for a mission-driven company and the challenges and differences in working for a start...
Aug 07, 2023•45 min
