Welcome back to EUVC Live at Malmö, where we bring you unfiltered conversations with the voices shaping Europe’s venture ecosystem.
In this episode, Rokas Pečiulaitis, Founder & Managing Partner at Contrarian Ventures, joins Andreas on stage to unpack one of the most fundamental questions in climate and deep tech: why the technology of today becomes the infrastructure of tomorrow.
Rokas takes us from Rockefeller’s Standard Oil to today’s climate transition, explaining how every technological revolution ends in infrastructure and why venture capital must evolve to bridge the gap between innovation and deployment.
From energy transitions and the rise of China’s solar dominance to why investors must learn to fund the “missing middle” between venture and project finance, Rokas lays out a vision for Europe’s climate future — and a roadmap for how to fund it.
🎧 Here’s what’s covered:
00:30 Standard Oil & the Tech-to-Infra Thesis
How Rockefeller’s oil refinement monopoly explains why technology success always ends in infrastructure dominance.03:00 From Fossil Fuels to Electrons
Why the next 150 years of global growth will be powered by electrons — and why infrastructure, not IP, will capture the value.04:30 Bridging Venture and Infra
Why 80% of capital in climate tech will flow into infrastructure — and how founders and VCs must learn to speak both venture and project finance.05:10 Risk Discipline: Product or Market — Not Both
Rokas’ hard-learned rule for climate investing: if you take both technology and market risk, you end up “in the cemetery.”06:00 The Wedge Strategy
How to enter consolidated industries like pulp & paper or agriculture — solve one problem, give the solution away, and monetize through embedded transactions.07:40 Vertical Integration Wins
From Amazon to climate tech: why owning the full stack from technology to infrastructure creates the real moat.09:00 From Rockefeller to Google
Why today’s tech giants mirror Standard Oil — accumulating monopoly power until the system forces a break-up.10:30 The Missing Middle in Climate Capital
Why Europe doesn’t have a “growth gap,” but an “emerging infra gap” — and how to fill it with blended venture and project finance.13:00 China’s Lesson in Scale
How China captured solar’s value by building, not inventing — and what Europe must learn about owning deployment.14:30 Long Cycles, Real Impact
Why true infrastructure transitions take decades — and why those who get it right redefine economies and history itself.
You can listen to the full session on Apple Podcasts and Spotify 🎧
✍️ Show Notes
About Rokas Pečiulaitis & Contrarian Ventures
Founder and Managing Partner at Contrarian Ventures — a pan-European climate-focused VC backing early-stage technologies with the potential to scale into infrastructure.
Key Concepts
Tech → Infra: Technology innovation always ends in infrastructure adoption.
Bridging Capital: Climate tech needs investors fluent in both venture risk and infra discipline.
The Wedge: Solve one problem deeply, monetize at scale through ecosystem control.
Product vs. Market Risk: Taking both kills startups; focus on one.
Europe’s Climate Imperative
Energy transitions take decades — but scale wins, not invention.
China dominated solar by deploying, not discovering.
Europe must own its infrastructure buildout or risk losing the value chain again.
💡 One-liner takeaway:
Climate transitions aren’t won by inventing new tech — they’re won by turning that tech into the infrastructure the world runs on.
