Martijn Lopes Cardozo (Regeneration VC): Circular Economy VC Playbook

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🌊 Why Circularity Is the Real Climate Lever

Why staying within planetary boundaries demands a rethink of how we design, use, and reuse everything.

We’re joined by Martijn Lopes Cardozo, Partner at Regeneration.VC, one of the world’s leading investors in the circular economy.

In this episode, we dive into why climate alone isn’t enough, and unpack what it really takes to build venture-scale companies that protect biodiversity, water, materials, and supply chains, not just CO₂. Martijn argues that even at 1.5°C, we can still lose the planet, unless we radically rethink how products are designed, consumed, and regenerated.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why circularity impacts 90% of biodiversity loss, not just emissions

→ The real VC opportunity hiding in design, use, and reuse phases

→ Why competing on a “green premium” is a losing strategy

→ How brands like IKEA, and H&M pull circular startups through the supply chain

→ What Martijn looks for in a “big seed” (late-seed) circular startup

→ How better measurement could unlock capital

→ The rise of asset-utilization models (and why sharing beats owning)