Founder in Residence, Wastewater
Marble
About Marble
Marble is a climate tech venture studio. Our north star is to erase billions of tons from annual greenhouse gas emissions and create a thriving future.
We partner with scientists, engineers and operators to create new deep tech companies that solve hard climate problems — slash emissions, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and cool the planet — while reshaping multi-billion $ industries.
We're proud to be backed by leading climate investors across Europe and the US.
Transforming Wastewater
Wastewater treatment is among the world’s most critical infrastructure, especially for sewage at the municipal level, but also in industry and agriculture.
Wastewater treatment plants use 4% of the world’s electricity, and are responsible for more than 3% of global GHG emissions, especially methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide.
However, it could be possible to recover more energy from wastewater than what is required for treatment, along with nutrients and other valuable products, while slashing potent emissions. Various carbon dioxide removal methods have also been proposed to leverage the unique characteristics of wastewater treatment plants.
Meanwhile, several approaches could help mitigate freshwater scarcity and health hazards, such as advanced water treatment, zero liquid discharge, decentralised modular plants, and novel processes tailored for industrial use.
The impact potential is vast, but the wastewater sector is notoriously difficult to enter. We are exploring transformative approaches to overcome these challenges, and turn wastewater treatment into a massive climate positive industry.
The Opportunity
We aim to create a company which can maximise both the climate impact and economic value of wastewater treatment plants — at the largest scale possible.
Examples of opportunities we are considering:
- Energy recovery: increasing biogas yields from wastewater (with improved AD or another process) could slash methane emissions while unlocking massive clean energy resources. Alternately, heat, hydrogen, or syngas could be recovered.
- Sludge utilisation: new valorisation routes for sewage sludge could significantly reduce emissions and operational costs. Examples: construction materials, biochar, etc.
- Carbon removal: various CDR methods could be deployed as retrofits to wastewater treatment plants, using alkalinity, algae, biogenic CO2 capture, etc.
- Advanced water treatment: technologies to maximise water recycling and process novel contaminants, tailored solutions for industrial use cases, etc.
- Other ideas: this is a big problem: surprise us!
➡️ Apply Here or see the Programme Structure
Skills & Profile
We are looking for an entrepreneurial engineer with deep technical expertise (e.g. PhD level or equivalent work experience) to transform the wastewater sector with Marble.
Examples of relevant backgrounds:
- Civil engineer / environmental engineer, with direct industry experience in designing and deploying / operating wastewater treatment systems.
- OR Chemical / ecological / biological engineer with applied R&D experience to elucidate chemical and biological dynamics in wastewater treatment processes. Examples: Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC), Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBR), nanotubes, others.
- OR Industry experience in wastewater treatment, water management, or related
We encourage you to apply even if you don’t feel you meet all requirements. Above all, we value intelligence, creativity and Founder Potential.
Especially if you recognize 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 outcome focused and action oriented - you make things happen
- 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 a Founder-in-Residence, you will join stellar individuals who also believe in the need for deeptech solutions to solve hard climate problems.
Together, we would be scoping high potential approaches before converging on the most promising one and finding your future co-founders
We offer (among other things)
- A €2,500 to €3,000 monthly allowance during the programme
- A €250,000 pre-seed investment on startup creation if you’re successful. You and your team will own 80% of the company at pre-seed.
- Full-stack support in our venture creation programme
- Mentorship and guidance at every step of the way
- Hands on support across technology and market research, landing interviews with experts and customers, techno economics, roadmap and scale up strategy, IP strategy, team building, advisor sourcing, and more
- Access to an unparalleled network across science, industry, talent, investors, mentors, climate tech founders, curated vendors and suppliers
- Access to our research insights, knowledge base and resources
- Weekly check-ins, work sessions in our Paris HQ (or remote) and continuous peer learning with other programme participants
- Seed Fundraising support after the programme. Introductions to the best seed investors from our network and help with term sheet negotiation.
- Founder Visa sponsorship if you wish to relocate to France. Remote participation is possible, preferably from Europe and with regular in-person meetings.
How to Apply
We are currently taking applications for the next cohort, and we are interviewing on a rolling basis so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible!
➡️ Apply Here or see the Programme Structure
We believe that a diverse group of minds is key to solving the climate crisis. We encourage women and people of colour to apply.
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.
FAQs
For a full list of FAQs, please visit our website.