Co-Founder in Residence, CEO, Anaerobic Digestion

Marble; À distance; EUR 125 000 - 150 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

A climate tech venture studio is seeking a CEO and Co-Founder to lead efforts in creating innovative solutions in anaerobic digestion. The candidate will drive product development, strategic partnerships, and fundraising efforts while collaborating with exceptional individuals in a specialized team. Ideal applicants should have demonstrated experience in startup environments and a passion for bioenergy. A monthly allowance of €3,000 and pre-seed funding of €250,000 are offered upon successful startup creation.

Prestations

€3,000 monthly allowance

€250,000 pre-seed investment

Mentorship and guidance

Access to a vast network

Weekly check-ins and work sessions

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in CEO-type responsibilities.
• Background in biogas or bioRNG industries.
• Experience in anaerobic digestion or fermentation.

Responsabilités

• Drive product, sales, and partnerships.
• Engage in fundraising activities.
• Lead team building and supplier management.

Connaissances

Entrepreneurial spirit

Experience in CEO-type responsibilities

Commercialization of novel technologies

Interest in biogas and biomethane

Strong communication skills

Description du poste

Co-Founder in Residence, CEO, Anaerobic Digestion

Marble is a climate tech venture studio. We partner withscientists, engineers, and operators to create companies solving hard climate problems in the world's largest industries.

Our first 10companies are building transformative products across energy, industry, agriculture, and climate resilience. 100% have been successful in raising follow-on to date. We are looking to partner with exceptional individuals to create our next venture.

Anaerobic digestion is a powerful tool to convert organic waste into energy - but today it’s too expensive to unlock the massive potential benefits of renewable methane.

Methane production depends on a delicate microbial partnership: microbes break down waste into fatty acids; microbes called syntrophs then break these down hydrogen and acetate, which methanogens convert to methane. However, this chain falls apart under stressвиг. In an unhealthy ecosystem methane production slows, fatty acids build up and the entire ecosystem collapses as methanogens die off.

This means that many waste streams can’t be used at all. High salt, acidity, or ammonia levels inhibit methanogenic microbes, limiting feedstock availability. Digestion rates also have to be kept slow to avoid overloading the capacity of the ecoystem. Overall, this means that operators are forced to use rare, energy-rich waste in massive, expensive facilities - keeping prices high.

Even when digestion works, low methane content (~60%) drives up the cost of upgrading biogas to renewable natural gas, with சொ purification tech like membranes adding significant CAPEX and OPEX.

The result: AD systems cost ~$5,000/kW to build, produce gas at 2-4x the cost of fossil alternatives, and remain dependent on subsidies or niche feedstocks. Many small or low-energy waste streams remain stranded.

The Opportunity

We have developed a fermentation platform to produce redox-active supplements able to modify the AD ecosystem. These can be used as consumables, without the need for any additional CAPEX.

These additives can increase digestion rates 2-3x, driving a 40-60% capex reduction. Optimised ecosystem dynamics also allow additives to boost methane yields by up to 20%. This means much higher biogas yield and methane content, unlocking cost parity with natural gas - even before accounting for feed-in-tariffs.

Tailored supplements can be adapted for any AD ecosystem, unlocking feedstocks that cannot be economically processed today. Our unique production platform also allows us to use directed evolution and AI-driven enzyme design to continuously optimise and invent new supplements.

Our vision is to transform the biogas and biomethane industry, adding 21BCM of production by 2030 in Europe alone, leveraging both retrofits of existing assets and expansion of AD infrastructure.

We’ve locked down our core scientific and technical thesis, identified target compounds with their production routes and have a comprehensive roadmap for scale up.

You will join a stellar CSO with deep experience across fermentation, metabolic engineering and industrial biotechnology. Having worked on engineering CO2 fermentation in new microbes at Imperial College London and the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, our CSO came to Marble to explore new ways to apply biochemistry to the climate crisis.

We are looking for a CEO and Co-Founder. Your role will be broad, across product, sales, partnerships, strategy, operations, fundraising (venture capital and non-dilutive), team building, supplier management, regulatory and stakeholder engagement.

Requirements

We are looking for an entrepreneurial individual with a passion for bioenergy and a driving motivation to create a massive company to mitigate climate change.

Must have: demonstrated experience/potential in CEO type responsibilities (see above) and the commercialisation of novel technologies, with strong interest for biogas and biomethane related industries such as agriculture, wastewater, municipal solid waste, RNG, etc.

The ideal candidate will have direct experience in in anaerobic digestion, fermentation, infrastructure project development, and/or scaling science based companies.

We’re primarily looking for someone in France, Germany, or the Nordics.

Example of relevant backgrounds:

• Startup founder / operator / investor - bioenergy, biotech, agtech, climate tech
• Biogas or bioRNG industry Zeker with experience in нич project development in the anaerobic digestion and biomethane space
• Industrial biotech Connectorర్క with experience commercialising fermentation-based chemicals production, or other synbio systems

We encourage you to apply even if you don’t feel you meet all requirements. Above all, we valueolahintelligence, creativity and Founder Potential.

Especially if you recognise yourself below:

• You can’t wait to start your own company (or your next one)
• You are a pragmatic optimist on a mission to tackle climate change
• You are a great communicator - you can convince others to follow you
• You love to break down ambitious goals into actionable milestones
• You understand that innovation starts with people - not ideas

What We Offer

As Co-Founder and CEO you will partner with a Marble Founder in Residence who has been developing this project and will take the CSO role. You will of course have the opportunity to meet and work with him before making any big commitments!

We offer (among other things)

• A €3,000 monthly allowance during your participation in the programme
• A €250,000 pre-seed investment on startup creation, if you are successful. You and your team will own 80% of the company at incorporation.
• Mentorship and guidance at every step of the way
• Hands-on support across technology and market research, landing interviews with experts and customers, techno economic modeling, newcomer experience, roadmap and scaleup strategy, sourcing your future co-founders and advisors, and more
• Access to an unparalleled network across science, industry, talent, investors, mentors, and other climate deeptech founders
• Access to our research insights, knowledge base and curated resources
• Weekly check-ins, work sessions in our Paris HQ (or remote) and continuous peer learning with other programme participants
• Seed Fundraising support afterкта programme. Introducing to the best seed investors and help with term sheet negotiation.
• Founder Visa sponsorship if you wish to relocate to France. Remote participation would a challenge, but we’re open to finding different partnership formats.

How to Apply

We are looking for the best candidate - so you are welcome to apply as soon as possible.

We actively welcome candidates of all backgrounds, gender identities and perspectives. We believe our work is strengthened when we bring together people with different lived experiences, cultures and ways of thinking.

Studies have shown that under-represented candidates are less likely to apply unless they feel they meet every single qualification. If you are excited about the opportunity but your experience does not align perfectly - we encourage you to apply anyways.

We are committed to a diverse, inclusive and mission-driven Founder community.