“There are many more startups that are coming up with cutting-edge solutions to capture and reduce CO2 – we just need to find and support them in the best way possible.”
This issue features Julia Zhou, Co-Founder of Tidal Impact.
Ms. Zhou is the co-founder of Tidal Impact, and serves as an executive board member of the Sigma Squared Society (previously known as the Kairos Society), a global community of some of the world’s most ambitious founders in their early 20s. She also speaks four languages.
What does Tidal Impact do?
Tidal Impact is an impact management and investment holding firm catalyzing companies that prioritize social and environmental performance. With our impact measurement and management expertise, we also support companies in achieving their impact objectives while accomplishing long-term financial outperformance.
How did it start?
It all started when Mohannad El-Khairy, my co-founder and our CEO, approached Dima Alashram and myself about the idea of an impact investment holding company at the end of 2019. I know Mohannad through the Kairos Society (now rebranded to Sigma Squared Society). The organization created the Kairos fund which Mohannad invested in through his previous fund of funds.
We then met in person at the Kairos Europe Summit in Venice, which I organized in 2019. We started talking about today’s challenges in the world of impact investing and brainstormed new models that would allow both impact and financial return to co-exist without one being compromised for the other.
When he pitched the idea of a revenue-generating impact investment holding company to me, I got really excited, and was immediately on board. Dima, my other co-founder and our Chief Impact Officer, has known Mohannad for 10 years, as he had previously advised a startup she founded. The three of us decided to found Tidal Impact together in mid-2020 which has been an exciting journey so far.