We are excited to welcome Francesca Whitehead. As a Vice President at Fifth Wall, Francesca brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective on the intersection of property technology (prop tech) and climate innovation.

Fifth Wall, known for being the largest venture fund in real estate and prop tech, plays a pivotal role in decarbonizing the built environment, aligning perfectly with Francesca’s passion for impactful climate investing.

Francesca shares her journey from growing up in Hong Kong and Vietnam, where the impacts of climate change were a daily reality, to her roles at Goldman Sachs and KKR, where she honed her investment skills with a focus on climate-related projects. She dives into her time at G2VP, a climate tech-focused fund, and discusses her current role at Fifth Wall, highlighting her strategic moves in the climate tech space, especially in Europe.

We dive into the significance of heat pumps in reducing home emissions, the challenges and opportunities in carbon accounting, and the evolving landscape of climate tech investing. Francesca's insights into the complexities of the built environment, from materials to construction and building management, shed light on the potential for significant climate impact.

This episode is brought to you by VSC Ventures, a leader in supporting and promoting climate startups.

About VSC Ventures:
For 20 years, our award-winning ⁠⁠PR agency VSC⁠⁠ has worked with innovative startups on positioning, messaging, and awareness and we are bringing that same expertise to help climate startups with storytelling and narrative building.

Last year, general partners Vijay Chattha and Jay Kapoor raised a $21M fund to co-invest in the most promising startups alongside leading climate funds.

Through the conversations on our show CLIMB by VSC, we're excited to share what we're doing at VSC and VSC Ventures on climate innovation with companies like ⁠⁠Ample⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Actual⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Sesame Solar⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Synop⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Vibrant Planet⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠Zume⁠⁠ among many others.