Oliver Gottfried

Oliver Gottfried is a postdoc at the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, conducting research on best-practice fundraising, go-to-market, internationalization and exit strategies for climate / deep tech startups and VCs within the U.S. and Europe. He received his PhD in environmental engineering from Tsinghua University and conducted research as a visiting scholar at Stanford University focusing on climate tech investments. 

Oliver’s working and research experience focuses on verticals like electricity, transportation, manufacturing, buildings, and agriculture. He researches both software- and hardware-focused climate tech startups and VCs from the seed stage to Series D. His research addresses the urgent need to combat climate change and provides valuable insights into the practical world of climate tech VCs and startups. Based on the results of his research, valuable hands-on fundraising, go-to-market, internationalization, and exit strategy workshops for VCs and their portfolio companies will be created. Furthermore, the knowledge obtained from the interviews will be integrated into an AI-powered custom ChatGPT that will answer questions from VCs and startups concerning fundraising, go-to-market, internationalization, and exit strategies. 

Oliver boasts 10+ years of hands-on experience in deep / climate tech VC investing. He is an investment director for AI.FUND, a German early-stage applied AI fund and has worked for HongDao Capital focusing on climate tech investments within the transportation sector involving AI technologies. He co-managed 25+ early-stage investments at the intersection between climate tech (hardware & software) and AI including several Chinese and European unicorns. Through his VC experience in Europe, the US, and China, Oliver has a strong global network of potential follow-on investors like PE firms, corporates & government adopters. In addition, Oliver is equipped with strong operational experience helping startups with fundraising, go-to-market, and exit strategies