Michael Langguth: Scaling Climate Tech Ventures for a Greener Future

Michael Langguth on fostering innovative ventures to tackle the world's most pressing climate challenges

This week, the TTI Interview Series covers our member Michael Langguth. Michael Langguth is a serial entrepreneur with a track record in building and scaling innovative companies. He co-founded Poq, a London-based SaaS platform that has grown into a $10M ARR powerhouse in the mobile shopping industry, powering apps for some of the world’s largest retailers. Over the past decade, Michael has successfully led Poq from its roots at University College London, where he earned an MSc in Technology Entrepreneurship, to its current position as a market leader.

Beyond his work with Poq, Michael is an active angel investor and serves as a judge and mentor for prestigious programs like TechNation's Net Zero initiative and BMW’s Respond Accelerator.

Michael, tell us a little about your work and how it intersects with the impact space.

Carbon13 is the venture builder for the climate emergency. Since 2021, we've invested £8 million into 71 climate tech ventures.

  • 63% of our ventures have a female co-founder.

  • Biotech and hardware now represent 50% of our portfolio.

  • Our companies have raised up-rounds from top-tier investors such as Ada Ventures, AgFunder, Cambridge University, DCVC, Octopus Ventures, Pale Blue Dot, Planet A Ventures and many others.

What is your own definition of impact?

Carbon13 initiates and supports ventures with the goal of protecting and strengthening the vital systems of our planet. The primary focus is on addressing the most pressing issue of our time—climate change. Every startup Carbon13 invests in needs to credibly show the potential to mitigate 10m tonnes of CO2e per annum once at scale.

What do you believe is one of the most important issues that need to be solved over the next 10 years?

I believe the most urgent problem we need to focus on is climate change. The next decade will set the direction for the 20-50 years after that.

What do you think are some of the biggest challenges in the impact space, standing in the way of providing solutions faster?

The financial sector tried to deal with climate questions with meaningless ESG ratings. That has destroyed a lot of goodwill from investors.

Governments need to act decisively against the goals they have chosen earlier. There seems to be a slight move back in recent months.

Tell us more about the long-term vision you have for your work and how you measure  & quantify your impact.

We aim to build a portfolio of startups which will directly impact 1 gigatonne of CO2e in 2030-35 per annum.

What are some of the misconceptions you’ve noticed regarding what impact is all about?

Impact is a very broad category. Some impact areas are harder and some are more straightforward to build a scalable, profit driven startup around.

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