Slush returned at full strength this year, bringing together around 13,000 attendees, including more than 6,000 startups and 3,500 investors who together manage over 4 trillion dollars in assets. The event covered a wide spectrum of themes such as deep tech, AI, industrial innovation, life sciences, mobility and sustainability. Among the standout moments was Climate Day at the Slush Climate Summit, where conversations highlighted a clear shift toward practical, science-driven and impact-focused innovation across Europe’s tech ecosystem.
TFN partnered with global impact investment platform Lightrock for the Climate Summit. Our founder and editor-in-chief, Akansha Dimri, moderated the opening investor panel, which explored the modern climatetech playbook and offered guidance for founders navigating changing market conditions.
The panel brought together Christopher Steinau of Lightrock, Danijel Višević of World Fund, Rebecka Löthman Rydå of Norrsken Evolve and Torben Schreiter of Extantia. Their discussion examined the current realities of climatetech, the shift toward profitability, the strategic use of AI and the need for clear positioning in a world where China’s industrial strength shapes global competition.
Here’s the full panel video below
The end of the green premium
The panel was clear that the era when a strong sustainability narrative alone could secure investment is now behind us. This shift has pushed out what Christopher Steinau, Partner at Lightrock, described as “tourist capital” and replaced it with a healthier focus on fundamentals. “We are much more surgical when we look at investments,” he explained. Although a company might market itself as green, investors are increasingly prioritising capital efficiency and competitiveness. “Companies have to be competitive in their products,” he added.
The speakers were careful to note that this shift does not mean profit has overtaken climate. Instead, the mission has been reframed. Danijel Višević, General Partner and co-founder at World Fund, stressed that all startups, regardless of their impact focus, must demonstrate a path to profitability. “We proactively talk about the returns our companies want to create, whether climate is trending or not,” he said.
Rebecka Löthman Rydå, General Partner at Norrsken Evolve, put it succinctly: “This is the time of realism.” A climate startup cannot help the planet if it cannot financially sustain itself. “You need to position yourself as cost-competitive,” she advised. “You must have a business strategy that makes sense from a return-on-investment perspective.”
AI’s climate dividend
Artificial intelligence often dominates discussion, sometimes being treated as a one-size-fits-all solution and attracting funding at the expense of other sectors. The panel chose to look beyond the hype.
“AI is not a sector,” Löthman Rydå said. “It is an enabling technology with enormous potential for climate solutions.” Rather than viewing AI as competing with climate innovation, she argued it can accelerate critical R&D. Simulations that once required slow and expensive physical testing can now be performed at a massive scale inside computers, speeding time to market.
Višević agreed, noting the growing interdependence of climate and AI. “AI is at the heart of climate, or every technology today,” he said. “You cannot separate the two.”
AI’s soaring energy demand is also creating new opportunities. With trillions being invested in data centres, there is a rising need for climatetech solutions to offset their environmental impact. “These are energy guzzlers,” Steinau observed. “There is a huge opportunity for climate investors.”
Execution, not just excellence
The discussion turned to global competition, with China highlighted as a key example of what execution looks like in practice. Torben Schreiter, Partner at Extantia, referenced a recent visit to Chinese manufacturing hubs. While European teams often lead academically, Chinese companies are releasing commercially viable products quickly and improving them through rapid iteration. “Execution is the key ingredient to win the market,” he said.
European founders should not try to replicate the Chinese approach but instead lean into their own strengths. Löthman Rydå commented that Europe often acts as “the R&D department for China,” a dynamic that highlights both opportunity and risk. Steinau suggested a hybrid strategy where European companies focus on intellectual property and software, then collaborate with Chinese partners to improve speed and capital efficiency. “European startups are inviting Chinese engineers to help them be faster and more nimble,” he noted.
From startup factory to a scaled giant
Europe has no shortage of ideas in climatetech, but its challenge lies in capital. “We need to improve our exit market,” Višević said. “Only then can venture capitalists prove that we can return large sums of capital within Europe.”
Löthman Rydå agreed, adding that the lack of later-stage funding affects the entire tech landscape, not just climatetech. Much of Europe’s capital sits in pension funds that are not yet incentivised to invest significantly in local innovation. Progress is happening, but at a pace too slow for current needs. Višević captured the sentiment simply: “We talk a lot and walk too slowly.”
The pragmatic optimist
Despite the hurdles, the success of climatetech ultimately comes down to founders. The panel emphasised the importance of diversity within leadership teams. “Diverse teams consistently make better decisions in complex environments,” Löthman Rydå said.
Resilience also matters. Schreiter noted that founders from immigrant backgrounds, who have often faced and overcome significant challenges, frequently demonstrate the grit required to survive in climatetech.
The panel closed with a clear message. Startups are not for the faint-hearted. Climate innovation needs more than hopeful narratives. It needs realism, strong execution, and the willingness to learn from global peers. The urgency for climatetech continues to rise, but green credentials alone are no longer enough. The next era is not about idealism. It is about building companies that can deliver climate impact at scale.
This article is part of our editorial partnership with Lightrock.
