How can Venture Capital be Regenerative with Alessa Berg from Top Tier Impact

Regeneration is gaining traction, but what does it take to finance and scale truly regenerative businesses? In this episode, Alessa Berg, founder of Top Tier Impact, explains why regeneration requires a systemic mindset, how financial instruments can support regenerative models, and what founders need to consider before taking funding.

Alessa shares practical distinctions between debt, grants, equity, and blended finance, and advises founders to get clear on their long-term vision before choosing a path. She explains how regenerative VC funds differ from traditional ones in capital structure, return expectations, and alignment with impact. The conversation also highlights overlooked local opportunities for regeneration, especially in Europe, and challenges in shifting global supply chains.

This episode is part of VC for Circularity – the Venture Capital Perspective on Circular Economy Startups.

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Alessa Berg, Founder at Top Tier Impact
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessaberg/

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypscher/

Chapters

00:00 Intro
02:26 Founding Top Tier Impact
03:40 Scaling and Mission of Top Tier Impact
06:00 Systemic Approach and Governance
07:07 Systematic Issues and Financial Options for Regenerative Businesses
13:28 Understanding Regeneration and Suitable Sectors
19:22 Financial Instruments for Early Stage Founders
22:20 Regenerative Terms
25:55 Regenerative-focused VC Funds
28:17 Capital Structures and Compromises in Regenerative Investment
32:52 Hotspots for Regenerative Transformation and Next Steps
38:23 Tip for Founders
39:44 Circular Trends in the Next Three Years
41:29 Who Should Contact Top Tier Impact

About

Top Tier Impact (TTI) is a global ecosystem uniting investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals dedicated to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges through impact and sustainability. Founded in 2019, TTI’s mission is to mainstream impact-driven thinking in investment and business management, catalyzing the shift toward sustainable economic systems.

With a network spanning over 50 countries and thousands of founders, corporate professionals, and investors managing $50 trillion in assets, TTI facilitates collaboration, investment, and innovation across sectors such as climate tech, regenerative finance, and food systems. The organization provides its members with exclusive networking opportunities, and access to events like the United Nations COP and Davos WEF, while also offering advisory services in ESG, climate, and policy to bridge private sector expertise with public policy implementation.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Intro

Alessa Berg: You know, for most funds there are different levels of intensity because aligning performance and financial incentives with the delivery of regeneration is a clear walk the walk type of way to do it. And it signals that there are strong values.

Jingle: My name is Patrick Hypscher, and this is Circularity.fm the podcast about understanding, building and managing circular business models.

Patrick Hypscher: Welcome to, VC for Circularity, the Venture Capital perspective on Circular Economy Startups. In the last episode, we listened to Jakob Röskamp CFO at Traceless Materials. Jakob talked about how to secure funding for asset heavy circular startups. Today’s episode is about regenerative entrepreneurship, the financial instruments that support it, and the systemic factors that shape the regenerative landscape.

But before we start, I have an offer for you. If you want to get the actionable one pager about this conversation, sign up for the Circularity.fm newsletter.

You can find it at  www.circularity.fm.

Patrick Hypscher: She graduated from University of Zurich and University of Oxford. Early in her career, she worked in M&A at Goldman Sachs, Private Equity at Blackstone, and Venture Capital at Mosaic Ventures. Six years ago, in 2019, she founded Top Tier Impact, a global ecosystem of impact investors, LPs, entrepreneurs, professionals, and public figures across more than 50 countries.

Welcome, Alessa!

Alessa Berg: Thank you so much, Patrick. Great to be here.

Patrick Hypscher: Alessa, what’s your favorite regenerative practice?

Alessa Berg: Mm. You see when I talk about regeneration, I think there is inner regeneration and outer regeneration. So when it comes to inner regeneration, for me it’s often yoga, Yin Yoga, and breath work. And when it comes to outer regeneration, well, that’s probably a big discussion we’re gonna dive into today.

[00:02:26] Founding Top Tier Impact

Patrick Hypscher: Okay, cool. Let’s start with that, and talking about starting, why did you start Top Tier Impact in the first place?

Alessa Berg: For me, when it comes to building companies, it always ends up being around something I cannot unsee and I cannot ignore. And so about six years ago, just before that, I came across the umbrella term of impact. And at the time, the impact investment space was much smaller and more narrowly defined as, for instance, microfinance, emerging markets, blended, just something between philanthropy and investing.

And so I saw a large and very meaningful opportunity to take it more into the mainstream because the more I looked at impact, the more I thought the values behind this are values that I would like to see in the mainstream, right? So sustainability, circularity, inclusivity, and I took it on as this ecosystem-based mission that TTI fulfills. But really for me, the driving force was noticing, getting familiar with the space, coming from a background in investments, technology, entrepreneurship, and uh, wanting it.

[00:03:40] Scaling and Mission of Top Tier Impact

Patrick Hypscher: Okay, wonderful. And what does scaling mean? So, what kind of activities do you do?

Alessa Berg: Yes, so let’s start with the mission at TTI, Top Tier Impact, because our mission is to take into the mainstream impact and sustainability as the way in which capital gets allocated and companies are being managed. So it is a systemic mission. Therefore in the early days, ’cause right now we have several different activities and revenue streams within top two impact as a group. But in the early days when I didn’t think it was gonna be my next company, these took the shape of how can we connect the dots better in these ecosystem to share knowledge, share success, share capital, and by accelerating the success of stakeholders, players in this ecosystem, accelerated space as a whole, right?

So that’s how the network was born. In other words, it was never about creating a network. It was really about creating more synergies for the people already in impact to grow impact as a whole. And so the network still today is at the core of TTI and what we’re all about. And today it’s really global, it’s across more than 50 countries. It has 33 chapters running our events very actively. There’s multiple TTI events in different places and continents every week. We also host online our working groups to connect members across borders in their sectors, right?

So whether it’s region practices uh, we have a new group on biomimicry. We have systems change, we have longevity. We have food systems. Um, we connect members who are investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals to discuss these topics together, to create synergies together. We also do do it during global gatherings uh, at the WEF in Davos, at The United Nations COP, several climate weeks, several tech conferences like Web Summit.

So, we gather in this way. And then beyond the network and all these activities I just described, there’s an investment advisory part and there’s a consulting part. And in those areas we have also tried to keep these systemic focus. In other words, try to do activities that bring additionality and develop the ecosystem beyond where it is today already.

[00:05:59] Systemic Approach and Governance

Patrick Hypscher: Okay, so you already mentioned a couple of times the systemic approach. What’s your understanding of systemic there?

Alessa Berg: That is my academic background, actually. My background covers governance, design system design. So when I used to write papers on governance systems during my studies and I would compare different governance structures in different countries around the world, people would always ask me, what is the best governance structure? And the thing is that there is no best or worst. This is also more philosophically speaking a vision hold for our reality. But I will leave different kind of conversation another time. So when it comes to governance systems, and how a system or a market are being shaped, it comes down to values and incentives, right? So, specifically for the governance code of countries, it’s very culture driven. It’s very value driven. So in other words, it’s not about best or worst, but it’s about the trade offs and the choices that you make, and what you want to prioritize in the incentives.

[00:07:07] Systematic Issues and Financial Options for Regenerative Businesses

Patrick Hypscher: Okay. So, and if we now take the perspective of a founder who wants to grow a business and that business should be regenerative, this person is also part of the system you just described, has some values and so on. So what are the financial options? You would say this founder has to build such a regenerative business.

Alessa Berg: Yeah, so right before we go into that, I want to acknowledge the fact that today, based on the design of the economic system we operate in, to fundamentally act and build companies that are regenerative rather than extractive, is not always straightforward, and yet it is about ultimately an evolution of these regenerative approaches are better for everybody and better specifically for the business models that take on and develop themselves and scale. So I just want to acknowledge that part, because in my opinion, there is a wider systemic issue to solve in here, right? So let’s start with that. Let’s also add, again, before going into financial instruments and specific options, let’s add that it has come a very long way this space today, both in terms of how specific areas of regenerative agriculture specific technologies for precision ag specific education for insurers, government officials, like where all of this is at is very encouraging.

I want to say that ’cause it’s easy to. Be immersed in the space day to day and not acknowledge the changes. I know there is so much more to change ’cause I am on it myself every day. Um, but I think it’s important to point this out. Now in terms of financial instruments, let’s uh, have a comprehensive overview here.

Because a founder of it, you come into this board, you want to build a business and you get told, okay, a VC funding, you need to go fundraise. I have been saying this for over a decade since I started mentoring at Startup Incubators. I’ve been saying it’s important to be clear and honest with yourself about what you want to be doing day to day, where you want to be in a few years from now, why you’re doing what you’re doing. So then from there you can, and, and hopefully you piece out your knowledge of like the, the financing ecosystem. You can make choices that support that vision. Because again, I think that VC funding is just one form of capital and it’s a very specific form of capital. It has to a certain extent been idealized.

And I think, you know, a lot of that is really good because I remember when I was at Oxford, it was still not trendy to build startups. You know, I was engaged with startups like during my studies and like. People were just like, why? And this is not long ago after all, you know, so it’s important to say it has been really good uh, for this culture to take on.

And yet there are different forms, so let me talk about that, and bonds. Now, it’s different if we have the discussion looking at the overall financial system versus as a founder, like what options I have. Because typically bonds, which are the largest part of green finance actually, so green bonds uh, sustainable infrastructure bonds, like command large volumes in global markets. Um, but often they tend to be related to large stakeholders, you know, major projects. So, you know, there is that part of the market and yet if you are approaching it as a founder to look at credit options outside of that whole area can make more sense.

Uh, I think at this point today we have plenty of platforms out there. Uh, There are also VCs that cover that side, so VCs funds that focus on that. Um, so it’s often a combination of local options, perhaps also government supported and schemes, and then let’s call them more international options or, you know, startup ecosystem options as well that have been crafted for that. Once again, if I compare it to 10, 15 years ago, we’ve gone a long way. There didn’t used to be any integration of, okay, what, what else can a startup do beyond raising equity or just bootstrapping? So that’s one part, and then blended finance as a founder in this space is important to understand. So blended means that you have different forms of capital, you may have a grant, you may have taken on some debts, you may also have given out some equity. And uh, trying to really understand, once again, what combination suits you and why based on the goals and the type of company you want to build is important.

And I can give you a parallel that’s quite interesting for a founder to understand actually, in the investment fund ecosystem, I spoke yesterday with uh, an investment fund in regenerative agriculture, that is structured very differently than a VC fund. In other words, they’re not gonna go and fundraise from the same LP investors in a classic climate tech fund, right? They’re gonna go and fundraise with much more of a blended finance approach and with much more of a realistic, not power law based. Power law is, you know, for VC funds, like the idea of there is a big success that returns more than the whole fund. Uh, you gotta push companies to perform in that way. Um, so you know, to see that kind of diversity also in the fund ecosystem is really good. I see more and more of that, and so again, I think as a founder, it’s really important to think about what you’re doing and therefore the right type of capital.

[00:13:28] Understanding Regeneration and Suitable Sectors

Patrick Hypscher: Okay, I like that intro statement. It already touches everything. And now I think we can talk about all these aspects you mentioned. Let’s maybe do also one step back again. Can you spell out your understanding of regeneration in that context?

Alessa Berg: Yes, so regeneration from my perspective, as we said before, it’s about adding and contributing rather than extracting ultimately. So from my perspective, regeneration leaves things better than they were before, right? So if you take it, and I wanna talk about inner regeneration for a bit, but if we take our soils, our soils are today currently depleted at record levels. A regenerative approach keeps on improving, but, but really like it keeps on living it better than it was before. At some point, you reach a balance, right? Because there is a difference between managing soils in a regenerative way or through regenerative practices, but soils that are already healthy and regenerating unhealthy soils, right? So there are fundamental differences between that.

You know, I think inner regeneration because ultimately these are mirrors of each other. You know, soil health and human health are fully interlinked. The same goes for our oceans and our health and our food supply chains. Everything is interconnected, but I think especially the parallel of human health and soil health is very pertinent because when you’re looking at how these well regeneration slash the depletion of our soil systems and, and their health has happened, and you draw the parallel of modern human issues and human health conditions, like you can connect the dots, right?

We all know that an apple today has, I believe it’s like 3-4x less average nutritional value than it used to be a couple of decades ago. So regeneration, depending on when it intervenes in the cycle can be just about the ongoing restoration, but then it can also become about maintaining things, and this is where I think circularity comes in as well: So maintaining things at their natural healthy levels or improving, but not having to improve in these, frankly, quite dramatic way that I see today in a lot of regenerative agriculture opportunities that we look at, right? Because it’s really going from something that has very little life left in it to something that is in its natural balance again.

Patrick Hypscher: At the end, every industry could be effective by regeneration, but it, it feels like also by listening to you that for some industries like agriculture, food, forestry, it’s more natural to talk about regeneration. Whereas in other industries let’s say a bit more from the technical sphere, where we deal with metals, plastics, and so on in a physical way, it’s, it’s a bit harder. So do you see different ambition levels and possibilities of regeneration, or should the ambition level be always the same in every sector?

Alessa Berg: Mm, well, starting with ambition level, it can be very high everywhere, it should be, because, you know, the bar is low at this point, so why not? Um, now with that said, I will talk about agriculture and uh, you are welcome to pick any other vertical to go into. But, what I see today that is frankly very baffling to me in some ways is the unprecedented disruption of certain supply chains, for instance, in cocoa and in coffee. And the inertia slash short term horizon activity of a lot of uh, large international groups that are impacted by this.

Now, obviously doesn’t mean that the data is all there, the understanding is technically there. It’s just that because of the nature of the business, the low margins, the complex corporate structure, however you wanna place that. You know, again, I’m an external, I’m no expert, I’ve only looked at it through the investment side of things. But the level of proactivity that you would expect, like given what we are facing in some of these supply chains is surprisingly not there. I have spoken with people who are in the industry, who are experts who are in those positions, and it’s in a way, baffling for them too. Or rather like it’s understandable why someone like myself looking at it through these investor lens would get a little shocked by that.

Um, and I think that, you know, again, this from my perspective would lead us to a broader conversation about why things are the way they are. ‘Cause it’s not one person’s fault, it’s not even one company’s fault, right?. And I think we’re facing big coordination challenges today if we want to steer our whole ship in a different direction and make regeneration really something that can go mainstream, more quickly than today. So that’s, you know, just a couple of thoughts that come to mind, if we’re talking specifically about agriculture. Uh, if we’re talking about ecosystems and, you know, the, the balance in which they are uh, there is, I would say also there are difference between managing forests uh, versus restoring. And, and then managing, you know, so all of that also has implications for how capital gets allocated.

[00:19:22] Financial Instruments for Early Stage Founders

Patrick Hypscher: Okay. Now I wanna come back to the financial instruments you mentioned. So still, let’s say, resisting the temptation to address the larger systemic discussion. Yeah, and going back a bit to the founder perspective who wants to get funding for regenerative business to fix some elements of what we just discussed.

So I understand you said there are bonds out there, there’s credit, debt, there are government loans, there’s startup ecosystems. So if we look at bonds and debt traditionally I would say it’s not so and not so well known and popular instrument in the startup landscape. Is this available to companies, founders that have, let’s say, no securities and not so much traction already?

Alessa Berg: Yeah, so that’s where we made a distinction, simple forms of that, that are either tailored specifically to the startup ecosystem or that have perhaps a grant component or a government support component can be very suitable. But yes, bonds and, and certain um, more complex, so to say, instruments, financial instruments, make sense for larger organizations, different kinds of organizations. So I think that getting very familiar with your local ecosystem and the startup ecosystems and what support is available is always the first step. And then also, I’ll just make a quick distinction because again, it depends on the type of venture and, and the ambition, the scope. But for instance, if you are in deep tech, that is a completely different approach than, let’s say you have a market ready solution that is about doing things better, or maybe it’s about the way it gathers and deals with people, with resources uh, whatever that is. I think on this side specifically, it’s very important to get traction first, because when the barrier is relatively low, the barrier to entry, then it’s really about knowing that there is demand right now, right? And so you want to validate it before you start committing with capital and uh, with more obligations.

That always goes and on the side of deep tech and really technologically driven approaches, then, especially if it’s out of a research facility, an university that is also the first ecosystem to start with and get education with. Um, alongside how would it look like in a few years, you know, if we do things well and if we continue moving into the, the technological progress scale uh, and get closer to being market ready, how would it look like? You know, you can educate yourself in advance so that you can start planning for that too.

[00:22:20] Regenerative Terms

Patrick Hypscher: Okay. And are these instruments then that are, let’s say specifically green or also maybe even claim to be regenerative from a financial point of view. In in what way are they different to traditional bonds, debt instruments or venture capital?

Alessa Berg: Look, if you’re talking about instruments that claim to be regenerative. I mean, to me, there is no actual regenerative financial instrument, right? A financial instrument is a financial instrument, so it’s more about the markets it targets and the focus that it has. If the focus is on the regenerative space. Let’s start again with acknowledging the fact that, especially for slightly more complex instruments within global markets, we’re not operating in a paradigm that fully aligns with what regeneration is truly about. The focus and the target on regeneration hopefully comes with much more education on what it means.

And I think that as we know today talking about resource efficiency, resilience, these are new buzzwords that are being used a lot. And I think it’s important to understand what we’re actually dealing with because from my perspective, sustainability has always been about better resource efficiency. You know, it’s on two sides, it can be either dealing more efficiently with resources or dealing more efficiency with pollution, right? So pollution control on one side, resource management on the other. That’s always been the case, I ultimately hold a view also that it’s just, you know, it is all obstacles included, a more effective and evolved path, right, so is circularity. Uh, so if you have to put this in the context of resource efficiency, resilience, I think it’s important to understand like where we’re coming from with these definitions and what the outcome of resource efficiency, resilience is about. Because you know, for a corporate, if you’re targeting companies as clients, it has an impact on the bottom line. It has a positive impact.

Patrick Hypscher: And. Then you basically say a financial instrument is a financial instrument, and then with that specific focus as just described, so are the, not even the terms of these instruments in some way, let’s say more suitable to regenerative businesses? Or is this also similar?

Alessa Berg: Yeah. Yeah, that goes with what I said about hopefully there is a good understanding of regeneration, so that should be reflected in the terms.

Patrick Hypscher: Yeah, is there anything specifically to watch out terms wise?

Alessa Berg: So actually we have flagged through our newsletter, we have a, a weekly newsletter that talks about these topics and we have flagged here and there a few initiatives, new instruments, some instruments focused on first of a kind financing, some instruments focused on aligning with regeneration. So there are some, some things to sort of like look for, but in terms of what specifically to look out as in, you know, challenges, quite frankly, I would say there is no shortcut. It’s about understanding these instruments in general first and then understanding the ones that are particularly tailored for regeneration.

[00:25:55] Regenerative-focuse d VC Funds

Patrick Hypscher: Okay, and if you now move on and look more closely at Venture Capital, you also mentioned you frequently talked to venture capital funds that have a regenerative ambition. In what way are they different to the traditional VC funds?

Alessa Berg: The theory of change, uh, so how impact and how change is being affected and the entry points, right? The overall thesis, the overall vision as well for why investing in these areas and, and what the outcomes would be like, that has to incorporate regeneration. There are a lot of frameworks out there on this, and rather than mentioning uh, a couple of them, it is my view that the more diversity of frameworks, the better actually. I know that the talk tends to be what’s the best framework? What’s the framework to rule them all? Remember what I said about governance, same thing here.

Not just because there is no better or worse, but also because I think that the idea paradigm we build is one where frameworks are interoperable and can be adjusted based on conditions such as the geography, the sector, the stakeholders involved and impacted, right? Like all of that needs to be reflected. There is no top down approach, nature doesn’t work like that, right?

It’s like nature is the opposite of that, and so it has to be reflected here too. So those are a couple of things I would mention. And then um, once again, you know, for most funds there are different levels of intensity because aligning performance and financial incentives with the delivery of regeneration is a clear, you know, walk the walk type of way to do it. And it signals that there are strong values, right? A strong drive of the people uh, operating the structure to really deliver on this. So yeah, there are different levels of intensity, in other words, and the intensity can go from nice to have that is regeneration. But really everything else is business as usual to fundamentally different approches.

[00:28:17] Capital Structures and Compromises in Regenerative Investment

Patrick Hypscher: At the beginning, you mentioned the power law when it comes to the, let’s say, risk strategy of venture capital funds so that there has to be a 10 x investment within your portfolio. This is not necessarily applied for regenerative investments or by regenerative funds. So what’s their risk attitudes towards their investments? What’s the expectation in terms of return on investment there?

Alessa Berg: So if we look beyond the outside name, right, like a fund can mean a hundred different things. So a fund that follows a power law that is structured in a typical tech VC fund type of way has a certain set of investors. LPs that come into those kind of structures. It has expectance in terms of like what, what the timeframe, what’s the return should be like, what the level of risk is. All of that is, let’s say, up to debate as you move in the scale of how a fund is structured, right? The example that I gave you before uh of this regenerative fund I just spoke with that I found uh, quite different in the market is actually going to a completely other side of the spectrum. Different timeline, humble return targets, but also much less risk, and a few other things that are different.

I think the challenge is in the in-between areas, because I’ve seen in the past years and since, you know, the, the latest climate tech VC bubble, quite a few VCs entering the market with um promises and expectations that don’t necessarily align to where the industry was at and how the industry has developed as well. And these is reflected in how challenging it is for many funds out there to go into their second fundraisers in, in terms of like first time funds I think these often happens and is natural when an ecosystem that is just entering a new phase of growth, understanding widespread adoption, culture is faced with uh, you know, the growth cycle and learning throughout it. But I think that the direction we’re moving towards, hopefully, is one where these education on different type of structures and where they make sense will be much more integrated, both on the fund manager side and on the entrepreneurial side.

Patrick Hypscher: Mm-hmm. So, and are you then also basically seeing that funds do make compromises when it comes to the financial returns?

Alessa Berg: Yes. Well, the compromises, they happen in different places because again, it’s not a compromise if it’s within your structure, right? So if you understand that it might be more feasible and you understand who the investors are for that, for your fund, who the target companies are and all of that, it’s no compromise, right? I think the compromise, in my opinion, when we’re talking about the space happens in terms of actually delivering impact and regeneration. And, you know, people throw around the word greenwashing um, I think it lacks a bit of understanding, a bit of compassion for the fact that everybody is to a certain extent figuring this out. And figuring out the balance between bringing in capital that and more capital that can mean potentially more impact but also delivering very clear, tangible impact results.

Patrick Hypscher: And you also referred multiple times to the investors of the fund then so what’s the attitude and motivation of the limited partners that are more inclined to invest in a regenerative fund?

Alessa Berg: There is always, again, a theory of change and an angle on the kind of targets that need to be delivered. And typically it comes paired with a good understanding of risk and a good understanding of timelines. In other words, adjusting to what we could once again call compromises, but really to some of the parameters that need to be applied.

[00:32:52] Hotspots for Regenerative Transformation and Next Steps

Patrick Hypscher: Mm-hmm. You have the privilege of observing many activities around the world. Where are the hotspots be it geography wise, or be it also industry wise, organizational wise when it comes to that transformation?

Alessa Berg: For sure the Global South when it comes to regeneration, there is so much that’s happening in Latin America. Exciting examples of really applying regeneration successfully in many different types of areas. Whether it’s like, you know, nature or agriculture. The same goes with uh, Africa, Southeast Asia in different ways. This is about where the richness and density of natural resources is at, and so I think that there, there is a lot that has been happening and hopefully a lot more that can be catalyzed in these regions.

Patrick Hypscher: Mm-hmm. And what would be the next level? So if we want to bring that further that let’s say movement of regeneration. So what, what would be the next step that is missing right now?

Alessa Berg: I think that applying localization more because the second I finished telling you about emerging markets, which are the geography we cover very actively, and you know, in the past three, four years our advisory has been involved in there, I’ve spent time myself. That, here in Europe, where we are based, there’s a lot of low hanging fruit when it comes to regeneration. There is a lot to do here and in my opinion, a next step where localizing strong approaches that are community driven or perhaps, you know, driven by certain institutions that can support it, that really promote regeneration, but also promote better connection and understanding, right?

So for example, I’m based in Lisbon and uh, in two days we’re hosting an event about regenerative innovation here in Lisbon, and we have regenerative entrepreneurs coming from all around the country. We’re gonna hear many different perspectives on regeneration. These ecosystem is evolving and requires or wants more engagement, more talent, more resources, right? So doing it in this kind of way is essential and then very meaningful. So the localization could be, let’s say talents that recently moved here. It’s uh, you know, this is a very, uh, active international community of entrepreneurs, of investors, of professionals who have chosen to be based here. So, to get that local angle of understanding what’s going on around you and how you can be involved in what’s around you. I think this is the low hanging fruit that is present everywhere across the Northern Hemisphere

Patrick Hypscher: Mm-hmm. So this is a low hanging fruit in the Northern hemisphere. What would be a challenge we need to solve to make the next step then afterwards forward, when it comes to regeneration? What’s the next barrier we need to break?

Alessa Berg: So there is often an elephant in the room in this whole discussion, which is this global, this intermediated supply chains that we have built. Because for as much as you might feel a resonance, a care, a connection to the Amazon rainforest if you haven’t been there, if you live thousands of miles away. You know, I went there last summer, I spent time with local people, I observed. And frankly, as we were flying in a little plane over these forests and parts of this forest, like being uh, subject to deforestation as well, I just couldn’t help thinking about, what the whole structure is of why we ultimately end up in that position.

Because if it comes down just to local people providing for their local life, you wouldn’t see the scale of soybean and beef production um, as an industry that is subject to global export, moving into such large scale deforestation. And so, we have to admit that our global supply chains are very much behind that.

So I covered in our newsletter uh, several weeks ago how the unintended benefits of tariffs might be this, you know, because less global trade can equate to building more self reliance, local ecosystem. And it’s a complex discussion because for people to polarize on one side or the other or get upset, you know, because it’s not simple, right? So you may make a statement and there are three unintended consequences on the other side. But so I think that to really reflect on policies and approaches that can support regeneration to happen, well, in various ecosystems will be one of the steps here.

Patrick Hypscher: It sounds like a good opportunity to start a new regenerative business.

Alessa Berg: For sure. Oh, there’s plenty of opportunities around all of this.

[00:38:22] Tip for Founders

Patrick Hypscher: Yeah. So let’s wrap it up, Alissa. What’s your tip to founders that might follow up on, on one of these ideas and want to apply for funding these days?

Alessa Berg: Yes. As I said before, understanding what your company’s all about, what your targets are, and also how the market responds if you have something that is not reliant on deep tech innovation or fundamentally science driven innovation, then clear early adoption and clear early traction is fundamental. And then from there, knowing your options, knowing what the local and the startup ecosystem around you is about when it comes to debt and grants. Uh, knowing what equity, so VC options you have, if that’s applicable as well. And really thinking a bit mid to long term, because often what happens is that I’ve, you know, I’ve been on both sides of uh, these equation. And even though I deal with the investment space all the time, I see myself very much as an entrepreneur as well. But when I’ve been in the shoes of having to just close around, that’s all you know. And yet afterwards you need to deal with what that means day in and day out. So it’s important to reflect about the mid to long term as well.

[00:39:44] Circular Trends in the Next Three Years

Patrick Hypscher: Talking about mid to long term and what trends do you see in circular business in the next three years?

Alessa Berg: Well, when it comes to circularity and circular businesses, there are so many different trends playing out at once. Like one that pops to my mind I’m quite excited about is like the the gradual but relentless introduction that I’ve been observing now for several years of robotics and of AI into the waste sorting and overall like the waste supply chain. There are companies like AMP robotics that have been doing this for quite a while. Uh, And there are companies like tackling this from many different angles. So AI has a lot to do, especially when it comes to integrating with businesses that are already in these supply chains, you know, and have an entry point. Or for new businesses that just focus on a specific part, I think focus is important, these are, uh, complex supply chains.

So yeah, that is an area that I’m excited about. And overall, the introduction of AI you know, all technology, my opinion is just a tool. It’s neutral in that sense. It comes down to the intentions with which we use it. And so from my perspective, you know, I choose to see all the incredible ways in which AI is supporting, both in terms of like the day to day, myself, my team, and then companies we get involved with. And so to really see it as an ally as well, and hear of how we can accelerate circularity. Uh, And the economic case for circularity is very exciting to me.

Patrick Hypscher: Mm-hmm. Alessa my final question is about people as many people are listening right now and probably also got inspired, who should reach out to you these days?

[00:41:29] Who Should Contact Top Tier Impact

Alessa Berg: Definitely anybody that can benefit from plugging into a global network to scale their impact. Again, we’re not just limited to investors, we’re not just limited to entrepreneurs, for all the above for professionals, we have scientists, we have public figures, we have kinds of industries. But driving change, driving positive change, and that’s the commonality. The culture is strong. So for me, this is about a movement that grows this positive paradigm. So anybody who feels compelled, who feels like they might meet people that can make both a difference to their business and activities, but also to how they live their life, you know, and how inspired they are, um, that’s where to reach out. And then on the investment side uh, we’re focused mostly on emerging markets, growth stage, pre IPO stage, that equity blended forms. So anybody with projects in any areas of impact that cover that.

Patrick Hypscher: Wonderful. Thanks for initiating that movement and thanks for sharing your perspective.

Alessa Berg: Thank you so much, Patrick

Patrick Hypscher: This was Alessa Berg, founder of Top Tier Impact. This episode is part of our series VC for circularity. If you want to get the actionable one pager about this conversation, sign up for the Circularity.Fm Newsletter. You can find it at www.circularity.fm.

Let’s drive a profitable circular economy. And please don’t forget, the most abundant renewable resource is your imagination.

Jingle: My name is Patrick Hypscher And this is Circularity.fm, the podcast about understanding, building and managing circular business models.