Irene Maffini is a seasoned investor and start-up operator with 15 years of experience in climatech innovation. Her expertise covers textiles, new materials, circular economy, water treatment, waste management, green chemicals, renewable energy, building technologies, mobility, food and agriculture. She has invested in 40 climatech companies and mentored over 100, directly supporting them to raise more than £70 million in funding. As an angel investor she focuses on operational roles in companies driving sustainability in the textile industry.
Irene is Non-Executive Director and CCO at DyeRecycle and advises a portfolio of sustainable fashion innovators. She is an Expert for the European Commission and European Innovation Council, a Mentor for the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership. Previously she was an adviser at PDS Ventures, building investments in next-generation materials, sustainable processing and circular economy for textiles, and Portfolio Director at Sustainable Ventures, where she managed 27 climatech investments across four funds. She holds bachelor’s degrees from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Northeastern University, an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College awarded with top grades and merit scholarships, and is completing a UKERC-funded PhD at UCL on crowdfunding for clean energy projects, collaborating with FCDO and UNDP on blended finance for rural electrification in Africa.