Climate Tech VC Panel

Join Austrade's San Francisco Landing Pad in welcoming 19 Australian climate tech and sustainability startups to San Francisco as part of Investment NSW and Climate Salad's mission to Verge 22. 

You'll hear from a panel of Silicon Valley based investors active in the climate tech and sustainability space, meet the companies and have the opportunity to network with our Bay Area startup community. 

Panelists:

Sam Smith-Eppsteiner | Partner, Innovation Endeavours 

Sam is a partner at early-stage VC firm Innovation Endeavors, where she invests in teams that leverage emerging technology to tackle real-world challenges. She spends much of her time looking at applications in climate tech, all things industrial, and synthetic biology. She’s an investor in Plotlogic, Machina Labs, Fero Labs, and FutureProof. Previously, Sam was a management consultant at Bain & Company, and has been a Product Manager at startups Nuro and Owkin. Sam holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in Political Science from Stanford University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Ludovic Copéré | Senior Investment Director, Sony Innovation Fund

Ludovic brings 17 years of experience in venture capital, new business creation and strategic partnerships at Sony. Based in Silicon Valley as a core member of Sony Innovation Fund (SIF) since its inception, Ludovic leads startup scouting, due diligence, venture investment execution as well as portfolio management in many core SIF focus areas such as Mobility, FinTech, InsurTech, PropTech, Drones, FoodTech, AgTech and Environment. A French native, Ludovic holds a MSc in Information & Communication Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden, and a MSc in Industrial Engineering & Management from the École Centrale in France.

Mary Hayes I Principal - Ecosystem Partnerships, BHP Ventures

Mary Hayes spent 13 years in the US Intelligence Community where she developed and fostered relationships across international, government, academic, commercial, and startup ecosystems to solve the government's toughest challenges. At BHP, Mary cultivates mutually beneficial partnerships, ensuring BHP provides value to the ventures ecosystem and in return that material impact is realized by the organization.

Stephen Wemple | Investor, Spero Ventures

Stephen is an investor at Spero Ventures, an early stage venture fund investing in the things that make life worth living. He leads the firm's sustainability efforts, working with companies like Singularity Energy, Euclid Power, and Clarity Movement. Stephen focuses on seed and series A stage investments in energy, carbon markets, transportation, and ag. Prior to Spero he worked at a venture fund focused on emerging markets, and was a Fulbright Fellow in Vietnam.

Moderator:

Odette Hampton | Trade and Investment Commissioner, Deputy Consul-General, Austrade

As Australia's Deputy Consul General and Trade and Investment Commissioner to San Francisco, Odette focuses on attracting foreign direct investment into Australia and supporting Australian business into the US including through Austrade's San Francisco landing pad. Odette also co-leads Austrade's Digital Tech team across the America's.

Event Timings:

• 5.30pm – 5.50pm: Arrival and casual networking
• 5.50pm – 6.05pm: Welcome and startup elevator pitches
• 6.05pm – 6.50pm: Panel
• 6.50pm – 7.30pm: Casual networking