About This Event
Discover the breadth of deep tech innovation across energy and climate. Join leading investors and founders of top startups showcasing cutting-edge technologies spanning thermal storage, autonomous systems, advanced manufacturing platforms, and next-generation infrastructure. Hosted by Lowercarbon Capital.
Investor Panel
Moderated by Augustus Doricko, CEO & Founder @ Rainmaker
Startup Showcase
Speakers
Shawn Xu
Partner, Lowercarbon Capital
panelistShawn is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, a multibillion dollar venture fund founded by Chris and Crystal Sacca that backs companies making real money slashing emissions, sucking carbon out of the sky, and buying us time to unf*ck the planet. Shawn has led investments on everything from energy transition to earth observation. Prior to investing, Shawn was an operator leading international go-to-market at companies like Square.
Sean Liu
Partner, Founders Fund
panelistSean is a Partner at Founders Fund. Prior to joining Founders Fund, Sean was CFO of Solugen, where he led the finance, strategy and operations functions, and supported the company’s scale up from initial pilot to its first commercial facility. Prior to Solugen, Sean held various investment and operating roles across Asia and the US at Silver Lake, Google and SoftBank. Sean eared a BS in International Economics from Georgetown University, and is an avid long distance runner and biker.
Augustus Doricko
Founder and CEO, Rainmaker
moderatorAugustus Doricko is the founder and CEO of Rainmaker, a next generation cloud seeding company. He is a UC Berkeley dropout, Thiel Fellow, and member of the El Segundo hardtech scene. Rainmaker uses weather resistant drones to increase precipitation, and novel radar hardware to measure how much man-made precipitation is created. Our first priority is reversing the desertification of the American west, and ultimately we will terraform deserts into abundant, green, arable land.
Justin Briggs
Founder & COO, Antora Energy
presenterDr. Justin Briggs is co-founder and the Chief Operating Officer of Antora Energy. Antora builds and deploys American-made thermal batteries to power always-on industrial operations with low-cost energy. Dr. Briggs holds a B.S. in physics from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University. During his Ph.D., Dr. Briggs developed next-generation
Mitch Lee
CEO, Arc Boat Company
presenterMitch Lee is cofounder and CEO of Arc, a company modernizing the maritime industry by vertically integrating boats around electric powertrains. He has a degree in mechanical engineering and spent his first years after college working as an engineer on helicopters. He later transitioned to software development, where he founded a venture-backed startup acquired by Credit Karma. And of course, he’s a lifelong boater.
Olya Irzak
CEO, Frost Methane Labs
presenterOlya is a technologist and executive with deep expertise in methane, carbon markets, electricity grids in multiple geographies and reforestation. She is the Founder & CEO of Frost Methane - a company turning waste into value while keeping methane out of the atmosphere. Previously, she was system architect at Zola Electric - minigrids in remote communities, Google X - early stage climate projects in geothermal HVAC (Dandelion) and long duration storage (Malta) and at Google Energy on smart grid technologies. She previously lectured Computer Science at the University of Toronto, started the Diamond List and speaks 5 languages.
Vishnu Sridhar
Cofounder/CEO, Matter Intelligence
presenterVishnu Sridhar is the CEO of Matter Intelligence, a deep-tech company advancing sensors and geospatial AI to address global data challenges. He spent several years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), serving as lead Instrument Engineer for SuperCam on the Perseverance Mars rover, achieving breakthrough science and the first microphone recording on Mars. He also served as Flight Director for the Opportunity Mars rover and led NASA’s thermal tiger team during the 2018 Mars dust storm. Vishnu founded Matter while attending Harvard Business School, applying deep-space technologies to Earth and providing unique remote sensing data and analytics solutions to industries globally.
Garth Sheldon-Coulson
CEO and Co-Founder, Panthalassa
presenterGarth Sheldon-Coulson co-founded Panthalassa in 2016 to solve one of the defining challenges of our time: how to deliver enough energy for a future shaped by AI-scale compute. That search led his team to the open ocean, Earth’s most power-dense and untapped resource. After years of engineering, they created a first-of-its-kind at-sea power and compute platform. Now in manufacturing, Panthalassa is built to scale to terawatts, delivering cleaner, cheaper tokens and making energy abundance possible for humanity.
Will O'Brien
Co-founder, Ulysses
presenterWill O'Brien is the Co-founder of Ulysses, a company associated with climate and energy initiatives based on his speaking engagements. He brings expertise in these sectors, contributing to discussions on sustainable technologies. His role involves leading efforts in deep tech applications for environmental challenges.
Genevieve Kinney
Investor, General Catalyst
panelistGenevieve Kinney is an investor at General Catalyst, a prominent venture capital firm, where she focuses on early-stage technology investments. With a background in product management and operations from previous roles in the tech industry, she has contributed to the growth of innovative startups. In her current role, she plays a key part in identifying and supporting companies in emerging tech sectors.
