We’re beyond thrilled to introduce Sarah Jones as the first Venture Associate at Zero Carbon Capital. The first hire for any startup is an exciting and daunting experience, and it's no different if that startup happens to be a VC firm! Fortunately for us, from our first meeting with Sarah it was obvious that she would be a fantastic fit for us. She shares our passion for startups working on deep-scientific innovation and our drive to tackle the global climate crisis. She also brings her own perspectives gathered through a wealth of relevant experience that will help us expand our thinking as a team.
When Alex worked at Google, Laszlo Bock was fond of saying that you should always hire people that are smarter than you. With Sarah's resume we think it's pretty obvious we followed that advice! She has a background in Bioprocess Engineering and Environmental Biotechnology, with a PhD and PostDoc from the University of Cape Town researching bioreactor design and sustainable products from microalgae. She then worked at Imperial Innovations followed by Oxford University Innovation, helping academics to commercialise their science-based innovations. In 2020 she joined the Creative Destruction Lab as an early employee of the Oxford University-based mentorship program for science and deep-tech startups. At CDL, Sarah launched and led the Health stream and then advocated launching a Climate stream which she then built and led. Phew! Like us, Sarah likes to get outdoors as much as she can. For her this means exploring London's parks, taking walking/hiking trips and has recently discovered the joy of swimming in the Hampstead Ponds.
Sarah's main focus will be helping us find and nurture exceptional startups. She'll be getting out into the European ecosystem to work with our existing partners and find new ones and, most importantly, talking to as many founders as possible. But we're a small team with a lot to do so you'll see her popping up in lots of other capacities too from marketing to fund-raising. If you see Sarah out and about, please say hi!
Welcome Sarah!