Technical (Science/Engineering) Cofounder - Net Zero Startup

Carbon13 is the venture builder for the climate emergency. Applications are open for scientists, developers and engineers. 

The Opportunity   

Become a cofounder of a high growth venture that will also reduce CO2e emissions by millions of tonnes by joining Carbon13's Venture Builder.  

Carbon13 are seeking scientists, developers & engineers to become founders of high growth startups which will have the potential to reduce emissions by millions of tonnes. 

On the seven month programme, you will: 

• Form a cofounding team with commercial or technical cofounders, all capable of executing and commercialising game changing innovation 
• Understand the biggest challenges and opportunities for reducing emissions so that your venture can maximise its potential impact on the climate 
• Understand how to ready your venture for investment and pitch for a net £80,000 
• Be part of a cohort of 60+ talented entrepreneurs, all united by their mission of reducing emissions through a startup; and join an ecosystem of hundreds of experts in entrepreneurship, decarbonisation, and the emitting sectors. 

We ask you to dedicate yourself to the biggest challenge of our time: the climate emergency. You will create a game-changing, scalable, carbon-emissions-reducing venture with the potential to reduce CO2e emissions by a minimum of 10m tonnes per annum.  

You’ll be highly motivated to work on the biggest problems of Net Zero, and see entrepreneurship as your chance to build something significant using your specialist technical knowledge. Your age and experience are less important than your ability. In a venture, you will likely be the CTO, or a role similar to a Chief Data Officer or Chief Information Officer.  

The next cohort will begin in Cambridge, UK on 26 April 2022.  Although much of the venture builder will be delivered virtually, some of Phase 1 will be delivered face to face without streaming, and attendance in Cambridge UK for this part of the programme is mandatory. Other than that, it is for you and your team to decide how and where you will work. The mandatory in person component of Phase 1 is planned to be on the below dates:

26-28 April
9-11 May
23-25 May

What you'll achieve  

If selected for the venture builder, you will begin the programme April 2022. The venture builder is split into three phases and supports you to:  

• Find an experienced, purpose driven commercial cofounder from the cohort of 60+ founders  
• Get beyond the prototype and transition to a commercially successful venture which can also credibly, measurable and significantly reduce CO₂e emissions   
• Make the maximum impact on CO₂e emissions through channelling your technical skills, career and experiences to focus on the biggest challenges in Net Zero    
• Understand which ideas are high-impact, high-potential and commercially viable, and avoid the incremental, slow or dead-end ideas  
• Start on your intensive journey of learning, around the challenges of Net Zero and sustainability and the best practices in entrepreneurship  

During Phase 1 (six weeks) you will receive a stipend of £1,000, and during Phase 2 (2 months) we pay a stipend of £2,000 per team member. After this, ventures judged to have high potential will receive a pre-seed investment of a net £80,000. In Phase 3 we will support you to prepare a funding strategy for post-Carbon13 life and help you bring in the next round of finance.  

Who should apply?  

While no two founders on the programme are the same, we expect technical founders to match one of our broad technical “Founder Types”: Technical (Science/Engineering) and Technical (Software, Data & ML).   

Technical (Science/Engineering): You are likely to be a scientist, an engineer, or someone with specialist technical knowledge relating to one of the CO₂e emitting sectors. 

You may already be working on a prototype or IP, or wish to apply your skillset to the biggest challenges in decarbonisation. In a venture, you will likely be the CTO, responsible for leading the development of the technology to at least proof of concept stage. 

Technical (Software, Data & ML): This founder type is for software developers, data scientists, and/or AI/ML specialists. 

Your age and experience are less important than your ability. In a founding team, you may take a CTO role, or a role similar to a Chief Data Officer or Chief Information Officer – leveraging the potential for data analysis, software, intelligent automation, and machine learning. 

You are highly motivated to work on the biggest problems of Net Zero, and see entrepreneurship as your chance to build something significant.  

The Cambridge Factor  

Carbon13 benefits from strong connections within the deeply creative and radical Cambridge entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem, and benefits from many academic and corporate partnerships.  

 Learn More   

We are running a series of webinars available to everyone who would like to learn more about Carbon13 and the Net Zero economy. Our next one can be found here - https://carbonthirteen.com/webinars/   

We caused climate change. Let's fix it.