# Zero Carbon Capital Zero Carbon Capital is a Private Equity based in Havant, United Kingdom. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Private Equity - **Headquarters:** Havant, United Kingdom - **Region:** Europe - **Address:** Lake House, 2 Port Way, Port Solent, Portsmouth, PO6 4TY, United Kingdom - **Founded:** 2019 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** zerocarbon.vc - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/zerocarbon-capital ## About 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. ## Sectors - ClimateTech - Energy Transition & Renewables - AgriTech & FoodTech - Industrial Tech - Mobility & Transportation ## People - Pippa Gawley — Founder & Managing Partner - Alex Gawley — Founder & General Partner - Chloe Coates, PhD — Research & Analysis Lead - Sarah Jones, PhD — Principal - Max Werny, PhD — Venture Associate ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at Zero Carbon Capital? Pippa Gawley, founder and managing partner, leads the investment function alongside her brother Alex Gawley, who serves as founder and general partner. The investment team also includes a principal and a venture associate — both PhD scientists — while an in-house research and analysis lead supports technical due diligence. ### What investment stages does Zero Carbon Capital typically target? The firm concentrates on pre-seed and seed rounds, entering at the earliest institutional phase. Its public materials describe backing 'visionary founders across Europe with pre-seed and seed investments,' and its portfolio composition — spanning university spinout-style hard-tech companies — reinforces that very-early-stage posture. ### Which sectors does Zero Carbon Capital explicitly avoid? The firm does not publish a formal exclusion list, but its mandate is visibly bounded by the intersection of hard-science innovation and industrial decarbonization. Software-only climate plays, consumer apps, and traditional clean-energy project finance do not appear in its 23-company portfolio, which skews toward chemistry, materials, and energy hardware. ### How is Zero Carbon Capital related to Sapphire Capital Partners? Sapphire Capital Partners LLP acts as the firm's regulatory principal. Zero Carbon Capital Limited is an appointed representative, meaning Sapphire holds the FCA authorizations (Firm Reference Number 565716) and is responsible for the regulated activities carried on by Zero Carbon Capital. Sapphire’s registered office is in Belfast, separate from Zero Carbon’s Havant base. ## Related profiles - [Zero2IPO Ventures](https://altss.com/profile/zero2ipo-ventures) - [Zero G Capital](https://altss.com/profile/zero-g-capital) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/zero-carbon-capital-limited Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology