Emin Askerov
Cleantech FOAK Advisor

Venture investors watch the world burn and seek refuge in virtual worlds

Why should you avoid Green Premium and look for 10x value?

Twice in my career, I’ve dealt with intellectual property (IP). Both times, I came out with one big realization: IP isn’t the holy grail investors think it is—especially when scaling hardware. The first time, I was buying a license to manufacture wind turbines. It looked promising: a ton of encrypted files, sent to our HQ with much fanfare. But when we finally cracked open the IP treasure chest, we discovered it only explained how to build one  wind turbine. The know-how to m

Observations from the second week of meeting EU battery players

A Climate First VC artile got me thinking

Hydrogen is like real estate, there are three main criteria for project success: location, location, and location.

Northvolt’s stumble is not a death knell; it’s a wake-up call.

$𝟭𝟮 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻/𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿? $𝟯 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻? 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 $𝟭 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁ion

AI and lithium-ion electrode manufacturing

Why is free public transport economically and environmentally better?

What’s the most cost-effective way to decarbonize the grid? Surprisingly, it’s long-term operation (LTO) of existing nuclear power plants. With a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of around $30/MWh and capital expenses between $500 and $1,100/kW, extending the life of existing reactors is a top-tier solution for clean, reliable power. 🚀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗧𝗢 Aging reactors, some over 40 years old, face growing regulatory and maintenance demands, partic

Reality-check for the latest rush for Small Modular Reactors

🔋 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗨 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆? 🚀

McKinsey’s New Report Says It’ll Cost a Pretty Penny. 💶🚗 

What makes batteries so tough to crack? Here are lessons from 15 years ago, which still have a familiar ring today.

Some VC investments are head-scratchers, right? I thought so too. So, I took a deep dive into the world of climate VC investing.

Unlike some of their European counterparts, the Netherlands hasn’t been making waves in the battery headlines. But don’t let that fool you.

We had three to six months. After that, the full weight of corporate procedures would bear down on us, slowing our growth by a factor of ten. This wasn’t my first corporate scale-up rodeo. Our wind turbine manufacturing project, funded by a Russian state corporation, had a clear expectation: return to the fold quickly. And while we eventually did, we made sure at least our manufacturing unit stayed out of the mothership’s reach. Why? Because once you're back under full corpor