Hampus Jakobsson urges climate tech founders to tackle ‘boring’ industries and make them ‘10x better’

Solar farms in space, giant carbon capture machines, flying taxis – climate tech is full of flashy tech.

But some of the richest opportunities are lying in the less glamorous corners of the economy, argues one of Europe’s leading climate tech investors.

“If I was a founder I would take a boring-as-possible sector – say water treatment or sewers – and figure out how it is done today and see if I can come up with an approach that is 10x better using tech and modern tools,” Hampus Jakobsson, general partner at early-stage investor Pale Blue Dot, tells Impact Loop.

Focus on the 'boring things'

A significant chunk of climate tech funding in recent years has been funnelled into cutting-edge technologies. However, Jakobsson believes there’s just as much value to be had in tackling inherent inefficiencies that plague most legacy industries.

In other words, moonshots aren’t always the best bets if you want to make a significant impact. “I personally believe we should spend more time on the boring things,” says Jakobsson.

That thesis has found its expression in some of Pale Blue Dot’s portfolio companies – from Overstory, which uses AI to modernise vegetation management for utilities and infrastructure, to Cirplus, digitising Europe’s recycled plastics market, and Monta, streamlining the messy world of EV charging infrastructure.

Another untapped niche, according to Jakobsson, is “operations, maintenance, and refurb” across multiple sectors, from roads and energy grids to vehicles and data centres. “So many companies here are not having ‘startup velocity’ and I think we clearly need it – and there is willingness to pay," he says.

Decouple from politics

Whatever sector or industry a startup founder aims to tackle, Jakobsson believes that all early-stage ventures should build products that aren’t dependent on regulation or a green premium, echoing the views of several investors we’ve spoken to in recent weeks.

“Get customers who will pay you independently of what the government, Brussels, or the White House says. Lower their costs and decrease their risks. Don't create reports,” he says.

Tackling the unsexy stuff

While many climate tech companies push ahead with frontier technologies or attempt to create whole new sectors – which isn’t inherently a bad thing – there’s a whole tranche of them looking to green the ugly, often ignored industries as well.

One of them is Hydryx, which has found a way to help landfills capture more of their methane emissions for energy production. The Dutch startup raised €2.5m this week as it looks to scale, Impact Loop exclusively revealed. Another is Sweden’s Helios Innovations which recently raised €1.2m from BackingMinds to purify toxic, dirty, and downright dangerous waste water.

Together, startups like these reflect a quieter but crucial side of the climate tech movement – one focused not on moonshots, but on cleaning up the mess we’ve already made. In other words, the “boring stuff,” as Jakobsson likes to call it.