#72 - Venturing to Accelerate Circular Innovation

In this episode of the Circular Coffee Break, Michael Hanf speaks with Costas Papaikonomou, co-founder of Una Terra, a 200-million-euro early growth venture capital fund investing in solutions that accelerate the shift to a more circular and regenerative economy. Costas brings more than twenty-five years of experience in engineering, manufacturing, innovation consulting, and entrepreneurship. He has helped global consumer goods companies turn creative thinking into real products that work at scale. Today he applies the same hands-on mindset to impact investing.

The conversation explores what it truly takes to finance the transition to a circular world. Costas explains why circular innovation is still grounded in the physical realities of making things and why the fundamentals of commercial adoption determine whether impact can grow. He outlines why desirability always comes before impact and why technologies must fit into existing manufacturing systems if they are going to scale. A good idea is not enough. It must be something that large companies can buy, produce, and integrate with as little disruption as possible.

Michael and Costas dive into the long sales and adoption cycles that challenge early stage circular ventures. They discuss why many startups struggle to cross the gap between promising technology and successful industrial integration, and how investors can support them in staying flexible, reducing unnecessary capital expenditure, and using existing manufacturing capacity instead of building from scratch.

A key theme is the critical role of technical sales and customer fit. Costas shares how circular startups often underestimate the number of stakeholders involved in making a material or product switch inside a large organization. Success requires engaging procurement, R&D, product design, logistics, and innovation teams. It also requires being able to tell the difference between customers who are serious about adopting a solution and those who are engaged in what he calls pilot washing. He explains how simple signals can help startups protect their time and focus their efforts on real opportunities.

Looking ahead, Costas sees strong momentum for circular investment. Environmental pressure, new regulation, concerns around human health, and the need for supply chain resilience are creating a perfect storm that will push industries to rethink how materials are produced, used, and reused. He argues that circularity is not only an environmental requirement. It is also a strategic and commercial one that will shape Europe’s competitiveness in the decades to come.

The episode closes with an optimistic but grounded reflection. The circular transition is a century scale journey. It requires investors and innovators who understand the realities of physical products, industrial systems, and commercial adoption. Una Terra aims to be part of this shift by backing companies that combine strong impact potential with practical pathways to market.

Tune in to learn how capital can become a catalyst for systemic change, what it takes to scale circular solutions, and how the next generation of ventures can reshape the material basis of our economy.

---

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.