Zero Carbon Capital

Zero Carbon Capital

Zero Carbon Capital was founded in 2019 by Pippa Gawley, its managing partner, and Alex Gawley, its general partner. The firm registers in England and Wales and operates from Havant on the UK’s south coast, channeling capital into early-stage companies across Europe that replace high-carbon industrial processes with novel scientific approaches. The firm writes pre-seed and seed cheques exclusively for deep-tech climate ventures. Its website lists 23 portfolio companies covering a broad technical palette: Epoch Biodesign uses engineered enzymes to depolymerize synthetic textiles and plastics, Exergy3 builds thermal battery systems that deliver zero-carbon heat up to 1200-1300 °C, and Spark e-Fuels produces sustainable aviation fuel from captured CO₂ and hydrogen. Other backed technologies include sodium-ion battery anodes (Anaphite), cell-cultured dairy (Nutropy), and nitrogen fixation alternatives to the Haber-Bosch process (NitroFix). Co-investors are not named on the firm’s site, but the list of portfolio positions is long enough to imply a syndicated, fund-driven model. Geographic concentration clusters in the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Public headcount sits at five — the two founding partners, a research and analysis lead, a principal, and a venture associate — all of whom hold scientific doctorates except the investment lead. In May 2024, the firm continued to operate its standard pre-seed-and-seed deep-tech mandate with no announced vehicle close, team expansion, or strategy pivot detectable from its public materials. The firm is an appointed representative of Sapphire Capital Partners LLP, an FCA-authorized firm that carries the regulatory permissions; Zero Carbon Capital itself is restricted to professional clients and eligible counterparties only. Its website redirects from zerocarbon.capital to zerocarbon.vc. Zero Carbon Capital’s regulatory setup is its structural differentiator: it acts as an appointed representative rather than a directly FCA-authorized manager, leaning on Sapphire Capital Partners for regulated permissions while retaining internal investment discretion. That architecture allows a small, scientifically trained partnership to manage closed-ended limited-partnership vehicles without building a full compliance infrastructure — a lean model common among emerging UK venture managers but still distinctive in an early-stage climate cohort that often operates as pure EIS funds.