WEBVTT

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Eric, Cornelius, thank you so
much for joining us.

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Eric, this first question is for
you.

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Tell us a little bit about the
work you're doing right now at Rondo.

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Sure.

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Well, at Rondo, the objective of
the company is to take

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intermittent renewable
electricity and transform that

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into base-load availability of
industrial heat.

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And the reason why we do that
is--it's little known to most

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people--but approximately 1/4 of
global CO2 is due to industrial heat.

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So industrial heat is just
combusting fossil fuels on the

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side of industrial processes to
heat things up.

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So that's the problem we're
trying to solve.

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In many areas of the world,
intermittent renewable

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electricity is the cheapest form
of energy, and Rondo just makes

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that--this
intermittency--continuous, so it

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could be used in industrial
processes as steam heat or

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combined heat power.

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Expand on the challenges that
are associated with financing

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these green projects.

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So, interesting question.

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This area is projected to be
something around a $3.5 trillion

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infrastructure opportunity.

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So it's it's one of the largest
emerging classes of energy infrastructure.

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The challenge of that is when
you're developing

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first-of-a-kind technology, you
need to get from product and

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technology development in the
early stage to being able to

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attract infrastructure, capital,
and project finance.

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And there's something in the
industry called the "valley of death”.

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And that's where, you know,
startups that are venture backed

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are not able to attract
infrastructure finance or fund

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their first-of-a-kind projects.

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And Rondo was very lucky that we
have a great relationship with

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Breakthrough Energy Ventures,
which is a platform backed by

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Bill Gates, and that
Breakthrough Energy Ventures has

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a fund called Breakthrough
Energy Catalyst, which is

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specifically focused on this.

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And last year or, sorry, earlier
this year, we announced that we

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have three first-of-a-kind
projects that are already

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financed through this--through
Breakthrough Energy

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Catalyst--and through the
European Investment Bank.

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So that's a €75 million
nondilutive investment in those

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projects from these two entities
that allows us to bridge that

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valley of death and become
project financeable.

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Cornelius, what are the success
factors for scale-ups?

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Every situation is always a bit
different and, and I think there

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are a couple of patterns that I
see emerge, you know, over the

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discussions over the last few
months and years.

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One is I think, you know, don't
go it alone.

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You know, what could be
partners, what could be

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corporate partners, what could
be, you know, other partners in

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industry or associations or
other networks. I mean,

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breakthrough energy is probably
a good example for that.

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Don't go it alone.

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The other one, what I oftentimes
see happening, there's a shift

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in mindset in priorities,
etcetera, as you move from

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technology development to
commercial scaling up and

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go to market.

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And, on the commercial side, you
know, to be laser focused on,

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you know, what really matters
commercially speaking, and to

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kind of double down on that
rather than, you know, being

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tempted to chase after a bunch
of, you know, shiny objects that

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are always there.

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And lastly, and I think again,
that depends very much on the

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industry or the sector, you
know, spend time to understand

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how the rules of the game are
made and, you know, who defines

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them, which are the groups, the
tables, you know, where you want

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to be sitting in terms of
standard settings, in terms of,

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you know, regulatory
environment, in terms of market

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mechanism, chain of custody,
etcetera, etcetera. Because that

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is typically, you know, where up
and coming newer companies

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aren't that well represented,
but it's super important.

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Eric, do you have anything to
add?

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You know, I, I think from the
perspective of a company that's

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moving across this chasm to
first of a kind, the seriousness

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of the challenge, I don't think
it's to be underestimated.

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So all the early-stage focus on
product and technology

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development is a challenge.

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And once you get to this, it's
more about company development.

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So how do you build out
construction management?

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How do you build out supply
chain?

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How do you build out the legal
functions of your company?

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So this challenge of, you know,
how to move from technology

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company to infrastructure
development company is as much a

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company building exercise as it
is about raising capital.

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Thank you both so much.

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Thank you.