The 1% mission: why Europe’s climate tech future runs through industrial giants, not consumer apps
Fri Feb 06 2026
“We are looking for one thing: people who want to start a business in climate, and want to start it now.”
In this episode of Angel Insights, host Tom Britton sits down with Michael Langguth, Founding Partner of Carbon 13, the venture builder for the climate emergency.
While much of the climate conversation focuses on consumer habits, Michael and his team are focused on the "hard stuff": the industrial transformation required to mitigate 400 million tonnes of CO2e of global emissions.
Michael shares his journey from a £20m exit in mobile commerce to building a venture engine in Cambridge and Berlin that has already launched over 300 companies. We dive into why the average age of a Carbon 13 founder is 37, the death of the "green premium", and how the UK’s tax ecosystem provides a global edge for deep-tech innovation.
In this episode, we discuss:
The "green discount": Why the most investable climate plays today are cheaper and more efficient than fossil-fuel incumbents.
The venture builder model: How Carbon 13 vets 2,000 applicants a year to find the postdocs and serial entrepreneurs capable of engineering a gigaton-scale future.
Strategic geography: How Carbon 13 bridges the gap between the UK’s early-stage capital and Germany’s industrial Mittelstand.
The role of tax incentives: Why schemes like the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) make the UK the world’s best laboratory for high-risk, high-impact deep tech.
Find out more:
Explore the Carbon 13 investment opportunity on SyndicateRoom.
Follow Michael Langguth on LinkedIn for insights into the European climate-tech ecosystem.
Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.
For more insights into the world of angel investing, subscribe to Angel Insights on Spotify and visit www.syndicateroom.com.
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“We are looking for one thing: people who want to start a business in climate, and want to start it now.” In this episode of Angel Insights, host Tom Britton sits down with Michael Langguth, Founding Partner of Carbon 13, the venture builder for the climate emergency. While much of the climate conversation focuses on consumer habits, Michael and his team are focused on the "hard stuff": the industrial transformation required to mitigate 400 million tonnes of CO2e of global emissions. Michael shares his journey from a £20m exit in mobile commerce to building a venture engine in Cambridge and Berlin that has already launched over 300 companies. We dive into why the average age of a Carbon 13 founder is 37, the death of the "green premium", and how the UK’s tax ecosystem provides a global edge for deep-tech innovation. In this episode, we discuss: The "green discount": Why the most investable climate plays today are cheaper and more efficient than fossil-fuel incumbents. The venture builder model: How Carbon 13 vets 2,000 applicants a year to find the postdocs and serial entrepreneurs capable of engineering a gigaton-scale future. Strategic geography: How Carbon 13 bridges the gap between the UK’s early-stage capital and Germany’s industrial Mittelstand. The role of tax incentives: Why schemes like the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) make the UK the world’s best laboratory for high-risk, high-impact deep tech. Find out more: Explore the Carbon 13 investment opportunity on SyndicateRoom. Follow Michael Langguth on LinkedIn for insights into the European climate-tech ecosystem. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. For more insights into the world of angel investing, subscribe to Angel Insights on Spotify and visit www.syndicateroom.com.