📚Top 10 pieces of advice and book recommendations from 2022
PLUS Inclita Seaweed Solutions has raised €3.2 million, and my ecosystem services poll
“When it comes down to it, strive to do what you really enjoy, and what you're good at. Then try to apply these things to climate topics. You don't have to be a deep-tech science whizz to make a difference. Using your skills in the right way can be critical.”— Patrick Sieb, Investible
Dear algae technologists - Happy New Year and welcome to the Paxtier Report!
In case you missed it, here are the results of the Twitter poll I ran at the end of December:
But what do you think? 🤔
In today’s report:
Markets: 💸 DOE awards $1 million for bioenergy research.
Deals: 🤝 Inclita Seaweed Solutions has raised €3.2 million.
Lessons: 📚 The top 10 pieces of advice and book recommendations from 2022.
Around the web: 🏠 Meet the designers using bio-materials to create amazing 'grown' homewares.
Markets and Investing
✂️Algae Market Snippets
Some big moves in recent weeks:
Circular Biobased Europe recently published its Annual Work Programme for 2023.👏 €215.5 million will be dedicated to advancing competitive circular bio-based industries in Europe. And there are several exciting opportunities for algae (Read more HERE).
Inclita Seaweed Solutions has raised €3.2 million. 👏 The funding will help Inclita commercialise their production of functional seaweed extracts for nutraceutical, pet care, food/beverage, and cosmetics industries. The investment round was led by Indico (Read more HERE).
Growth equity firm General Atlantic has held the final close of its inaugural BeyondNetZero fund. Following the fund’s close, the company has a total of approximately $3.5 billion in capital to invest in climate solutions (Read more HERE).
Finamatrix has tokenized Crude Algae Oil (CAO) for global access to tackle climate change (Read more HERE).
Eco Cascade CIC is crowdfunding and hoping to raise £50,000 🐟 (Read more HERE).
🌊 The Running Tide team have completed a successful deployment of their sensor buoys - providing real-time measurement data from the North Atlantic (Read more HERE).
DOE awards $1 million for bioenergy research (Read more HERE).
KRIBHCO launches SIVARIKA, a seaweed bio-stimulant (Read more HERE).
The Murcia regional government has allocated €4.7 million to the process of removing algae biomass from the Mar Menor lagoon (Read more HERE).
Jeonnam Marine Bio Research Center has developed a pet dental care product using antibiotic material extracted from kelp (Read more HERE).
The LAND Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) said outstanding loans to the fisheries sector hit P2.8 billion (USD$50M) at the end of November (Read more HERE).
Indonesia sets $7.6bn Fishery Export Target for 2023 (Read more HERE).
Legislators in Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province passed a law on December 6th to permanently protect the Mitre Peninsula, a region known as the country's most important carbon sink thanks to its extensive peatlands and giant kelp forests (Read more HERE).
On December 20, 2022, in Bac Lieu, Solagron Vietnam Company launched its new product: Thalas*Algae (Star Microalgae) (Read more HERE).
In depth with Peter Green
📚Top 10 pieces of advice and book recommendations from 2022
As we look ahead to 2023, I wanted to mix things up in this episode of the Paxtier Report. Over the past year, I've received an overwhelming number of great book recommendations and pieces of advice. And I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of my favorites with you all. Let me know what you think!
Books
"Disciplined Entrepreneurship" by Bill Aulet: This book stresses the importance of developing innovative technology, understanding your value proposition and target market, and clearly communicating these when pitching your technology as a business idea.
"How to Blow Up a Pipeline" by Andreas Malm: This book illustrates how the legal system can sometimes protect exploitation and emphasises the need to address and discuss these issues in order to bring about significant change.
"How to Avoid a Climate Disaster" by Bill Gates: In this book, Gates shares insights and lessons learned from over a decade of researching and investing in climate technology innovations.
"Designing Regenerative Cultures" by Daniel Christian Wahl: A wide-ranging analysis of what's wrong with our societies, organisations, ideologies, worldviews and cultures - and how to put them right.
"Doughnut Economics" by Kate Raworth: Raworth identifies seven critical ways in which mainstream economics has led us astray and sets out a roadmap for bringing humanity into a sweet spot that meets the needs of all.
"Consilience" by E. O. Wilson: Wilson discusses the ways in which the sciences have been united in the past and how they might potentially be united with the humanities in the future.
"Regeneration" by Paul Hawkins: A radically new understanding of and practical approach to climate change by noted environmentalist Paul Hawken
"Speed & Scale" by John Doerr: This book offers a broad overview of the algae tech space and it's interesting to hear from someone who was involved during the first wave of clean tech.
“Light to Life” by Raffael Jovine: "Read this book and you will learn how photosynthesis was discovered, how it works, and how we can produce more food to feed the world."
“The Ecology of Wisdom” by Arne Naess: This collection amasses a definitive group of Naess' most important works in which he calls for nonviolent, cooperative action to protect the Earth.
Advice
Collaboration: “It's so important to bring stakeholders together and learn from as many people as possible. By teaming up with folks with different skillsets, you can really start to move the needle.”
Timing: “Keep an open mind and be patient. If the timing's right, who knows where you'll end up.”
Financing: “Be sure to assess your capital needs early on, and secure sufficient financing. Getting things off the ground, proving your tech, hiring people and marketing your products requires plenty of capital - and raising money for algae tech nowadays can be really hard.
Business: “If you come from a more scientific background - get clued up on business. Can you answer questions around monetisation, exit strategies, ROI, marketing, and distribution? Take time to learn these aspects if you want to stand out from the crowd.
Persistence: “I’d encourage you to prepare for more failure than success. But work around this by being agile and persistent.”
Additionality: “When I first moved into this area, I suffered a bit from imposter syndrome. But after a while, I realised that additionality was more important than my background. Essentially, it became clear that the industry can still benefit from my knowledge, despite me not being an expert in macroalgae cultivation.”
Connections: “I’d encourage myself to reach out to more people who are on interesting and inspiring journeys. There's a lot you can learn from a simple 15 minute chat and it can open up a whole new world.”
Skills: “When it comes down to it, strive to do what you really enjoy, and what you're good at. Then try to apply these things to climate topics. You don't have to be a deep-tech science whizz to make a difference. Using your skills in the right way can be critical.”
Beginner’s mindset: “It often boils down to having a beginner’s mindset. I received this advice from one of my colleagues, Chuck Templeton. Approaching every idea with an open mind is critical. If you surround yourself with good, hard-working people with that mindset, you can be successful.”
Goals: “Never lose sight of the mission. To get through those tough days and obstacles, taking note of that overall mission will often guide you through.”
🐦Tweet of the week
🔥 What else was hot in algae tech?
(Paper) Economic and biophysical limits to seaweed farming for climate change mitigation (Read more HERE).
(Paper) Japanese marimo balls at risk from deadly winter sunburn, study shows (Read more HERE).
Strengthening gut health with macroalgal extracts (Read more HERE).
A type of freshwater plankton has become the first organism seen thriving on a diet of viruses, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the US (Read more HERE).
(paper) In form of fucoidan, brown algae could remove up to 0.55 gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year (Read more HERE).
Empowering fisherwomen in Madagascar and the Philippines (HERE).
National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, has developed a biopolymer from marine algae (Read more HERE).
Cultivating Dominica’s seamoss industry from shore to land (Read more HERE).
A study published in Science Advances provides evidence that marine phytoplankton are much more resilient to future climate change than previously thought (Read more HERE).
Microbes on farmed kelp aren’t a food safety risk, say researchers (Read more HERE).
Chinese researchers identify gene that makes algae an ideal aquaculture and biofuel candidate (Read more HERE).
Belgian scientists are looking to mass algae farming for future of food reserves (HERE).
Meet the designers using bio-materials to create amazing 'grown' homewares (Read more HERE).
This year has been particularly notable for the emergence of the seaweed sector, according to Harrison Karisa, senior aquaculture specialist at the World Bank, which has over $9 billion relating to the ocean portfolio. (Read more HERE).
That’s all folks!
Thanks again for joining us this week. Hope you have a great day and stay tuned for more algae tech updates soon!
Peter