ABOUT THE ROLE

At DSV we’re looking for future Founders, entrepreneurially minded individuals with industry-specific technical and commercial domain expertise eager to solve urgent unmet challenges through venture building.

You will join DSV’s venture creation programme as a Founder in Residence and work closely with the DSV team, using our methodology, to spin-out a new company. During the programme, you’ll work on all aspects related to venture creation in this opportunity area, including working out the optimal approach to solve for the desired outcome, building a team and building a viable business case. Once the new venture is incorporated with pre-seed investment from DSV, you and your co-founders will own the majority stake in the business and continue receiving support from the DSV team post-spinout.

The role is full-time and fully remote until venture incorporation and spin-out, after May 2025. 

THE OPPORTUNITY AREA

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, with around 80 x the warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year timescale. The increase in atmospheric methane concentrations since the pre-industrial era - which has accelerated at a record-breaking rate over the last decade - is responsible for around 30% of the current rise in global temperature. To prevent catastrophic global warming, it is essential that methane emissions are reduced. 

To date, removal of carbon dioxide emissions has received far more attention than methane emissions. However, because atmospheric methane responds ~ 10 times as quickly to emissions reduction when compared to carbon dioxide, methane emissions are just as - if not more - important in limiting near-term warming to < 2°C. New technologies, capable of preventing methane emissions at source, could therefore be instrumental in avoiding the 2°C threshold.    

Natural systems - including wetlands, freshwater systems, and permafrost - account for approximately half of all methane emissions. Earth System feedbacks mean that these natural sources are growing in response to climate change, with some projections suggesting they could increase by a factor of two by the end of the century. Natural sources are therefore a critical target for new methane emissions technology.

Technologies targeting natural emissions face a set of fundamental challenges. First, it is currently not possible to capture emissions from the diffuse, low-concentration sources that characterise natural systems such as wetlands and permafrost. Second, it is currently not possible to intervene in natural systems without environmental externalities. Finally, it is currently not possible to deploy a single technology across multiple different natural systems, all of which may contribute approximately equivalent methane emissions. 

By overcoming these constraints, the first scalable technology for prevention of natural methane emissions might be developed. This would open up a new world of emissions reduction: creating a huge climate impact.

OUR APPROACH 

Preventing natural emissions of methane at source is essential in limiting near-term global warming. Technology that meets this challenge must:

1. Be able to capture low-concentration, diffuse sources of methane at scale (> 100 Tg/yr by 2050), ideally across multiple different natural systems
2. Have no environmental externalities
3. Be able to remove atmospheric methane at below the current voluntary market cost (4500 USD) and ideally below the current emission cost penalty (e.g. 1500 USD in USA), or provide a specific value-add to industry
4. Be verifiable

At DSV, we want to explore whether it is possible to create this technology. This will require an innovative approach, inspired by anything from ancient metabolisms to cutting-edge engineering. For example, it might be possible to concentrate diffuse methane sources by learning from the pressure-temperature swing engineering used in carbon dioxide capture. Alternatively, it might be possible to capture methane without disruption to natural ecosystems by promoting the growth of natural sinks - methanogens - already present in the system. As another option, it might be possible to create a single oxidative reagent that is capable of methane removal within multiple different natural systems.

If an optimal technical and commercial solution is found, it will be used to develop a new venture for methane abatement. As a Founder-in-Residence, you would be leading the identification of solutions and, if possible, the subsequent venture creation process!

Requirements

WHO SHOULD APPLY

• You are someone with the drive and motivation to solve one of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges
• You have a strong interest in building a company, and ideally have previous experience of entrepreneurship or innovation
• You are a good communicator, work well in a team, and ideally have previous experience of project management or team-building
• You are a creative thinker and are capable of finding unconventional solutions to difficult problems
• You hold a PhD or have equivalent industry experience in: (bio)geochemistry; environmental chemistry; environmental or chemical engineering; biochemistry; biotechnology; or another relevant field.
• Ideally, you have technical knowledge or work experience in: atmospheric chemistry; freshwater or marine chemistry; environmental microbiology; or another area of Earth or Environmental Science.
• You have broad knowledge of climate change mitigation, market-based strategies for mitigation, and/or innovation in emissions reduction

Benefits

OUR OFFER

By joining DSV, you’ll be joining a team of operators who have founded companies and led translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds and government agencies. 2/3 of the team have founded or led a company at C-suite and 65% have a PhD. Our team dedicate several hours every week to each Founder or founding team to provide tailored guidance, resources and feedback covering every aspect of what it takes to successfully launch a new venture from both the tech and commercial perspectives:

• We provide optimised, purpose-built, proprietary tools, resources and processes to help create high-impact ventures from scratch, using our venture creation methodology. Read more about one of our key tools here.
• We draw on opportunity area specific know-how provided by our network of Partners and Advisors;
• We provide £250k investment governed by our Investment Committee to incorporate the new venture and develop early proof-of-concept data that’s needed to attract high profile non-venture studio VCs. This funding is also key to get grant funding, which most often needs to be matched with private investment;
• We provide guaranteed income of £4,166 per month paid to each Founder in Residence as a consultancy fee until the company is launched and the pre-seed investment is secured;
• You and your co-founders will own a majority equity stake in the company;
• We provide continuous support after post spin-out, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment and team-building (amongst other things); plus
• There are dozens of Founders currently at DSV across sectors working collaboratively and supporting one another - a unique resource to draw on.

ABOUT DSV

Deep Science Ventures is creating a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive. 

We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out and invest into science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. 

We operate in 4 sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture and Computation, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.

This opportunity is funded by the Grantham Foundation, a 501(c)(3) private foundation whose mission is to protect and conserve the natural environment. The Grantham Foundation communicates the risks of climate change and environmental degradation, builds collaboration and alliances between like-minded groups and individuals, and invests in philanthropic and entrepreneurial missions to create new climate solutions.