Harpswood

There’s no better way to celebrate a successful year than with a Christmas party, especially when it’s done Harpswood-style! Following a year in review (and a “Harpswood Wrapped” courtesy of Steve Myall), we headed to the nearby Marksman pub for a delicious Christmas lunch 🍴 The team were thrilled by their “Bad Santa” gifts, ranging from a Harpswood and friends edition of ‘Who is it?’ to a karaoke mic with Harps-themed lyrics 🎅 From there, it only seemed fitting to finish the party off by heading to a karaoke bar - the team were thankful they got the weekend to get their voices back! 🎤 We also had a surprise visit from Harpswood alumni Arpana Rai back from her studies in Singapore bearing gifts and delicious homemade momos! ✨ With Chiara Parma and Christina Hofmann in town from Milan and Munich we also took the opportunity to introduce them to British Sunday roast culture with a Yorkshire pudding wrap. A fantastic week full of food and festivities, what a brilliant way to cap off the year 🎄

Look who’s in town! Chiara Parma took a whirlwind trip to London last week to visit the Harpswood and Octopus Energy HQs, and what a visit it was ⭐ It has been action packed, meeting the brilliant teams in person, soaking up the energy (😒 😆), Christmas drinks, and some work thrown in too 🌍 💡 Safe to say, Chiara is bringing back a suitcase full of inspiration to Milan—and maybe a few stories from the Octopus crew too! 🧳

Supply chain bosses have always had to focus on efficiency and productivity. Now they have other pressing priorities: how to make the industry more sustainable and transparent. It’s clear that customers care too. 80% of consumers say they are willing to pay more for sustainably produced or sourced goods, including those produced in a supply chain with a lower carbon footprint. However, we’ve got it on good authority that in some supply chains innovative tech is both driving efficiencies, reducing environmental impact and cutting costs. In our latest blog we look at some of the businesses doing it faster and better than pretty much anyone else out there. These are the supply chain “ones to watch”. https://bit.ly/3ZWNjev Bristol Superlight FERNRIDE Emitwise Clearly Urb-it (acquired by Fin)

Great to see these brilliant businesses working together to support sustainable farming 💪 Velvet Green Media Sustainable Ventures Chirrup.ai Nature Friendly Farming Network

Harpsmas is here! We’re well and truly getting into the festive spirit this week 🎄 The Harpswood Christmas tree went up adorned with some little creatures you might recognise Octopus Energy 🐙 The team in London were delighted when the Divine Chocolate UK advent calendars arrived… and Chiara Parma in Milan and Christina Hofmann in Munich also had a special delivery ✨ We’re going to be powered by chocolate and mince pies all the way to Christmas 🎅

A round up of all the events we attended last week! On Tuesday night we were at Anderson Quigley’s NED Exchange Event for an in-person panel and networking event. Helene Usherwood, AQ Board Practice lead, hosted the evening and chaired a diverse panel discussion with experienced NEDs. Wednesday was a packed day at the London Climate Technology Show and London EV Show. We met with some amazing startups including RenEnergy UK that provide businesses with solar, energy storage, solar carports and electric vehicle charging. We also ran into Kiran Patel at Velvet Green Media - which creates high-quality video and images to help drive climate organisations forward. The evening was reserved for Subak’s green-themed Christmas party, hosted at the Garden Museum in St Mary’s Church. Packed full of people from Subak’s community, we were treated to award-winning canapés, a themed festive quiz, and live music from a handful of talented Subak members. We also made it along to Climate Connection’s third birthday party. The night was filled with fantastic speakers including Karishma Gupta from Eslando, Joyeeta Das from SamudraOceans and Noamaan S. from Bristol Superlight. Founder Juliette Devillard also asked everyone what they’re most proud of this year - and there were some inspiring responses from people at every stage of their journey. We heard from a founder celebrating two years of running their own successful startup and someone moving to London to follow their passion of helping early stage startups grow. When Thursday morning rolled around we headed to the 1st ☕ Climate Coffee in London at Vermuteria. It was amazing to see a packed crowd Max Bray and going forward will be a regular in our diary. 

Fantastic to see three of our clients featured in TechRound’s 100 startups revolutionising sectors across the U.K. and Europe! Including… Be.EV - the UK’s fastest growing EV charging network. It manages a growing network of over 750 live charge points, with an additional 250+ scheduled to go live across the UK by the end of 2024. Consultant Connect - one of the UK’s leading telemedicine providers, supplying technology services and clinical capacities to improve patient care in the NHS. The App connects primary care clinicians to consultants in record time, cutting down the number of unnecessary trips to hospital. Naked Energy Ltd - a British design and engineering business, leading the global innovation in solar thermal and solar PVT. Its mission is to displace fossil fuels in global commercial and industrial buildings through the deployment of its high impact, cost effective and versatile solar heat and power technologies. Congratulations to the other businesses that made the list ✨

‘Inside the London landmark where they're trying to save the Earth’ 🌍  Fantastic to see this article focused on Sustainable Ventures on BBC News Online. We first approached BBC Journalist Tim Stokes in April to introduce him to Sustainable Ventures - Europe’s leading climate tech hub. In June, Tim visited the space and met with the Sustainable Ventures team, along with some of the amazing startups including Alive Labs, who have created living walls, U-Build, who made the meeting pods and desks, and Propelair, the low-water toilet maker. You can read the finished article here - https://bit.ly/3CXYRVJ Andrew Wordsworth, Nicholas Naidu, Hannah Towler, David Hollander

Thank you Anderson Quigley for the invitation to your research launch dinner last week at Brasserie Blanc, Southbank. Bringing together CEOs, Chairs, and non-executives of school trusts, the dinner focused on Anderson Quigley’s latest research report titled “Good Governance Matters: The importance of the relationship between Chairs and CEOs in Multi-Academy Trusts”. The night included group discussions on the report's key findings, including the importance of clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of the Chair and CEO and creating a meaningful appraisal system for both. We also had the pleasure of dining with Dan Worth, Senior Editor at Tes (formerly the Times Education Supplement). We’re looking forward to the next one!

Battery storage is one of the fastest-growing areas in renewable energy. When renewable energy sceptics ask “What happens when the sun stops shining and the wind stops blowing?”, a big part of the answer is batteries. Growth in the sector is only set to accelerate – the International Environment Agency has said that batteries will need to lead a sixfold increase in global energy storage if the world is to meet its 2030 climate and energy targets. We’ve pulled together a list of some of the most exciting companies leading the charge in this space, including Powervault, Voltfang, Field, Statera Energy, Eelpower and Integrals Power. You can read more here… bit.ly/40O6sQO