Climate VC Dealmaker Live at KALW: Inside Anku Madan's Science-to-Investing Journey
Get a front-row seat as Michael Gold interviews Anku Madan, tech-minded Principal at Obvious Ventures, during this live recording of Climate Swings, Michael's new podcast about climate career trailblazers.
From co-founding a "world-positive" startup to investing in groundbreaking climate technologies at Hitachi Ventures, Anku brings a unique engineering mindset to climate investing. Now at Obvious Ventures—where he's hunting for the next Beyond Meat—he's reimagining trillion-dollar industries through breakthrough technologies.
Come hear Anku's insights on:
How a mechanical engineer PhD dropout pivoted to climate VC dealmaking
How to build a career around "world-positive" technologies
What Obvious Ventures looks for in planetary health founders
Where carbon removal and nuclear fusion are headed
Whether you're plotting your own science-to-business climate swing or hungry to understand how VCs evaluate tomorrow's climate unicorns, this live session delivers behind-the-scenes access to a pioneering climate-tech career.
📅 April 25, 1:00–2:00pm
📍 KALW Studios, San Francisco
ABOUT ANKU
Anku brings to Obvious a technical mindset and deep tech investing experience, and a passion for accelerating business-first solutions to solve climate change. Before joining Obvious, Anku was an investor at Hitachi’s venture capital arm, Hitachi Ventures, where he focused on investing and supporting early-stage companies in areas such as carbon dioxide removal, nuclear fusion, biomanufacturing, and robotics. Prior to Hitachi Ventures, Anku co-founded Undercover Colors, a world-positive company focused on ending drug-facilitated sexual assault, and worked at Propel(x) and Plug and Play Ventures.
ABOUT OBVIOUS VENTURES
We founded Obvious Ventures on a simple belief that the most valuable companies of our time will be the ones solving humanity’s biggest problems. Our purpose is to support the world positive entrepreneurs building these disruptive solutions. Together we can reimagine huge sectors of the global economy in ways that move the planet forward.
We place great value on values and culture. We hold ourselves and our companies to the highest ethical and moral standards. We select for, and cultivate, values-based leadership across our entire portfolio.
We practice humility by reminding ourselves we’re not perfect and we will make mistakes. We practice audacity by taking bold risks and investing in companies that we wish existed. We use our operating experience to help define the big vision and sweat the little details.
Ultimately, we see profit and purpose as a virtuous circle. In the right combination they form a flywheel that will deliver enormous financial returns while transforming capitalism in a world positive way.
ABOUT MICHAEL
Michael is a media professional and content specialist with over a decade of experience in top-tier outlets like Reuters and The Economist Group. At Word Clouds Consulting, he helps people and organizations talk about climate change in an authentic, impactful way. From climate-tech startups to established energy companies to educational platforms, his clients are telling climate stories to an audience seeking solutions and tired of the fatalism often associated with this daunting topic.
His decade-plus experience living and working in greater China and fluency in Mandarin has given him a perspective that cuts across cultures. In 2019, he moved back to his hometown of San Francisco, just in time for the devastating wildfires of summer 2020. The day that the sky turned the same color he recalls from his days in Beijing was a turning point. He made up his mind to focus on global warming and contribute a piece, however small, to solving this puzzle.
ABOUT CLIMATE SWINGS
Want to work in climate but don’t know where to start? Climate Swings takes you inside the minds of people who’ve made the leap. From reformed bankers to ex-academics, corporate sustainability chiefs to climate-tech founders, host Michael Gold explores how professionals from all walks of life found their path to meaningful climate work.
Each episode unpacks a unique climate career journey, revealing the pivotal moments, unexpected detours, and lessons learned along the way. Whether you’re a climate-curious professional eyeing a career shift or already working in the space, you’ll discover actionable insights to help navigate your own climate path.
Join us as we swing from vine to vine across the expanding climate career jungle. New episodes drop every other Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts, on Substack at climateswings.substack.com, and on YouTube @ClimateSwingsPod.
By registering for this event, you agree to share your registration information with the organizers of SF Climate Week.