Decarbonising Heavy Industry with Alexandra Iljadica, BHP Ventures

Ed Barker talks to Alexandra Iljadica, Principal at BHP Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the global mining and minerals company, about what hard-tech and climate investing looks like from inside a major industrial. Alexandra traces her path from a nutrition science degree in Australia through founding and scaling a sustainability nonprofit, then burnout, a year in Croatia, and a 2018 move to Seattle where she helped build the 5G Open Innovation Lab.BHP has a three-part thesis covering novel energy for decarbonisation, mining operations from AI-led exploration to novel extraction and processing, and changing end-market demand around the energy transition. The mandate is follow-on, $3 to $10 million, stage-agnostic, and free to invest in non-core commodities like hydrogen and lithium. The conversation gets into copper substitution and recycling, the resurgence of nuclear and uranium, fusion-grade high-temperature superconducting tape, tailings repurposed into cementitious materials, and the capital-stack squeeze on climate companies trying to get from facility one to facility ten in the wake of Fervo Energy's IPO, where BHP was an early Series B investor.There are hard-won lessons in CVC deployment and a reflection on Seattle's introverted culture. The episode closes with practical advice for founders: meet strategic investors years before you need them, think carefully about which strategics belong on your cap table and when, and do the basic homework on what each one actually produces.00:00 Introduction01:41 Alexandra's Origin Story05:25 About BHP Ventures07:33 Critical Minerals and Where BHP Invests10:59 Inside the Fund13:58 Lessons from Corporate Venture Investing23:07 Thesis Building and Looking Ahead27:50 Nuclear, Copper and the Climate Rollercoaster29:29 Founders in Mining32:19 Seattle's Venture Scene41:30 Advice for FoundersAbout Your HostEd Barker has enjoyed a weird and varied career. Ed is a Brit now resident in Seattle and has founded three startups, enjoyed a long career in corporate strategy, and most recently as a VC. Sound Investments shines a small light on the fantastic work being done in the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial community.Studio 1878Ed is Founder of Studio 1878, a podcast strategy and production studio focused on helping brands tell smarter, more human stories. We work with founders, operators, and marketing leaders to design shows that serve clear strategic goals. Studio 1878 handles the full process - from concept and positioning through recording, editing, and distribution. Our work blends editorial thinking with production craft, prioritizing substance over noise. The result is podcasts that build trust, credibility, and long-term brand value.Alexandra IljadicaAlexandra is an Investor at BHP Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the global mining and minerals company BHP, where she invests in industrial decarbonisation, novel mining operations from AI-led exploration to extraction and processing, and the commodities of the energy transition. She joined BHP Ventures four years ago after helping stand up the 5G Open Innovation Lab, the Seattle-based accelerator. Her earlier career was in Australia, where she co-founded Youth Food Movement Australia and spent seven years scaling it into a national community of more than 20,000 young people, serving as CEO. She describes her own career as a series of moves "upstream" toward root causes, and is a visible presence in Seattle's climate community.Connect with Alexandra: BHP Ventures: bhp.com/about/our-businesses/ventures LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexandra-iljadica Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.