Co-Founder in Residence, Preventing Methane Emissions from Biomass (Open App.)

ABOUT THE ROLE

This is an open application for expressions of interest. The role will begin in Q4 of 2024.

At DSV, we’re looking for future Founders: entrepreneurially-minded individuals with the technical and commercial expertise to solve urgent challenges through venture building.

You will join DSV’s venture-creation programme as a Co-Founder in Residence, working closely with the DSV team and using our methodology to spin out a new company. During the programme, you’ll work on derisking venture approaches, building a team, and building a viable business case. Once the new venture is incorporated with pre-seed investment from DSV, you and your co-founders will own the majority stake in the business. After spin-out you’ll continue to receive support from the DSV team.

The role is full-time and fully remote until venture incorporation and spin-out during the summer/autumn of 2025. 

THE OPPORTUNITY AREA

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, with around 80 x the warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year timescale. Globally-accelerating rates of methane emission, driven by anthropogenic activities and by the effect of a warming climate on natural systems, are responsible for around 30% of the current rise in global temperature. 

To date, carbon dioxide emissions have received far more attention than methane emissions. However, because atmospheric methane concentrations respond ~ 10 times as quickly to emissions reduction when compared to carbon dioxide, methane is just as - if not more - important in limiting near-term warming to < 2°C. 

Around 75% of global methane emissions originate from active biomass fermentation within natural systems, agricultural practices and waste streams, making this process a critical target for emissions prevention. However, the nature of methane emissions from biomass fermentation makes technological intervention challenging: fermentative sources typically produce diffuse, low-concentration emissions, often distributed over wide areas and across disparate environments. A technology that can effectively prevent these emissions must therefore be implementable at low concentrations, across wide areas in multiple environments, and without causing negative externalities in any one of these environments.

If these requirements can be met, the resulting technology would transform our ability to prevent methane emissions from biomass fermentation at scale, and by extension our ability to limit further temperature rise related to methane.

OUR APPROACH 

Using DSV’s unique scoping methodology, we have begun to systematically map the solution space to identify technologies capable of methane emissions prevention from biomass fermentation. This mapping identifies the principle constraints holding back current approaches to emissions prevention - concentration, disparate environments, and externalities - and, through first-principles thinking, converts these constraints into spaces for radical new innovation. We are now searching for an individual with the expertise and drive to build an impactful venture around this work, with spin-out targeted in the summer/autumn of 2025.

Requirements

WHO SHOULD APPLY

• You hold a PhD or have an equivalent level of technical understanding in: (bio)geochemistry; environmental chemistry; environmental or chemical engineering; biochemistry; biotechnology; or another relevant field
• You are someone with the drive and motivation to solve one of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges
• You have a strong interest in building a company, with previous experience of entrepreneurship or innovation
• You have commercial or product-development experience, ideally within the climate-tech or sustainability markets
• You are a good communicator, work well in a team, and have previous experience of project management and team-building
• You are a creative thinker and are capable of finding unconventional solutions to difficult problems

Note: At this stage, we are accepting open applications from candidates who would like to express an interest in this opportunity. Candidates with applications that align with the requirements for the role can expect to be contacted when we begin formal recruiting during Q3 of 2024. Thank you for your understanding.

Benefits

OUR OFFER

By joining DSV, you’ll be joining a team of operators who have led the translation of science and founded companies at globally-respected universities, charities, funds and government agencies. 2/3 of our team have founded or led a company at C-suite, and 65% have a PhD. Our team dedicates several hours every week to each Founder to provide tailored guidance, resources, and feedback. We cover every technical and commercial aspect required to successfully launch a new venture, including:

• Providing optimised, purpose-built, and proprietary resources to help create high-impact ventures from scratch through our venture-creation methodology (for example, information about one of our key tools can be found here);
• Drawing on opportunity area-specific knowledge provided by our network of Partners and Advisors;
• Providing £250k investment, governed by our Investment Committee, to incorporate the new venture and develop the early proof-of-concept data needed to attract high-profile VCs (this funding is also critical in obtaining grant funding, which often needs to be matched with private investment);
• Providing guaranteed income of £4,166 per month, paid to each Founder in Residence as a consultancy fee until the company is launched and pre-seed investment is secured, at which point you and your co-founders will own a majority equity stake in the company;
• Providing continuous support after spin-out, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment and team-building; 
• Providing access to a community of dozens of Founders across sectors at DSV, who work collaboratively and support one another - a unique resource to draw on.

Who you’ll be joining: As a Co-Founder in residence, you will be joining a talented Founder in Residence who has already begun work at DSV to identify opportunities for venture creation that prevent methane emissions from biomass fermentation.

ABOUT DSV

Deep Science Ventures is creating a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive. 

We use our unique venture-creation process to create, spin-out and invest in science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. 

We operate in 4 sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture and Computation, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first-principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.

This opportunity is funded by the Grantham Foundation, a 501(c)(3) private foundation whose mission is to protect and conserve the natural environment. The Grantham Foundation communicates the risks of climate change and environmental degradation, builds collaboration and alliances between like-minded groups and individuals, and invests in philanthropic and entrepreneurial missions to create new climate solutions.