Company Overview

I had the privilege of working at Prime Impact Fund for a semester in college as an Investment Analyst. Prime Impact Fund, owned by Prime Coalition, is a $50 million, 100% catalytic capital fund started in 2018. Prime invests in technology-based startups that have significant potential to help transition the world into a low-carbon economy using philanthropic funds.

My Work

As an Investment Analyst, my role was to discover promising new startups to add to the evaluation pipeline, conduct due diligence and technology feasibility studies to evaluate these startups, and to support the bigger team in the due diligence process as needed.

Not only did I work closely on the investment pipeline, I also worked closely with my manager Michael Campos on an investment thesis around iron and steel recycling. Notably, we found that the Iron and Steel industry is comparable in emissions to that of the Concrete industry, but recycling via Electric Arc Furnaces will be the best and easiest way to decarbonize the industry by a long shot.

However, much steel scrap tends to be high in copper content, which makes it hard to recycle fully without degrading the steel quality over time. By about 2030, demand for low-copper content steel will start to outstrip supply. As a result, we should look to invest in technologies that can make copper removal easier or increase copper tolerance while hitting the same material specs in the steel recycling process.

Key Learnings

I learned a lot by working at Prime, since it gave me insight into the other side of the tech industry: the side that funds technology development. Key learnings include:

• It's relatively easy to do simple nakpin math to check fundamental physics of any new technology proposal — this should be a first gut check to evaluating a startup
• It's also quick to do napkin math (with energy balance equations) to validate how much a technology solution will drawdown in GHGs to evaluate GHG reduction potential
• People relationships take time to build — as a startup founder, you should reach out to VCs and advisors early in the process to form strong networks
• There's a lot of exciting innovations and business models out there, but not every company is the right fit for venture funding
• For every new technology (especially in climate), it's important to understand the impact policy & regulation may have on your business model and supply chain

Summary Presentation