Belong, a brand new wealth-building platform has officially launched after securing £2.95 million in pre-seed funding - the largest pre-seed round ever raised by female founders in europe.

It was highly anticipated in the literary world, as it follows his debut novel, Everywhere You Don't Belong, which won the 2020 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.

One of the 2023 mantras for my firm Energize Capital has been: “There has never been a better time to work in climate software.” From the billions of dollars entering the space through private and public investments to cultural shifts toward mission-driven careers, the influx of talent we’ve seen come into the climate space has been incredible.Recently, the climate tech sector reached a new talent milestone: attracting and retaining seasoned tech executives. Many growing climate companies are hiring for certain C-suite level positions – such as Chief Strategy Officers and Chief Revenue Officers – for the first time, and traditional SaaS executives are entering the climate space to fill the roles.Climate software is ready for the C-Suite Energize CapitalWhy now? The climate market has reached a point where it is both good for the world and good for customers’ wallets. Climate companies are growing into resilient businesses with sizeable annual recurring revenues. As those companies scale, they become capable of supporting more executive-level positions – and they increasingly require those executives’ expertise. More and more climate companies are recruiting people who have experience expanding internationally, lobbying, creating paths to public markets, and all the other business functions needed by large companies.To highlight this blossoming area of the climate workforce, Energize has interviewed a roster of impressive talent who have joined our own portfolio in the last year from leadership roles at major tech companies like WhatsApp and Robinhood. Here they share their backgrounds, their motivations for switching to a career in climate and the knowledge they’re transferring from their time in traditional tech.Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.Matthew Idema, President & Chief Operating Officer at Aurora SolarMatthew Idema Aurora SolarStarted role: June 2023Before working in climate: Matt worked at Meta for 12 years, joining the company in 2010 to work on products to help small- and medium-sized businesses use Facebook, including Facebook Pages and Promoted Posts