CIRCLE ZERO COMMUNITY

Building the circular economy.

We actively build the circular economy by investing in and building throughout the entire textile value chain, and by advising startups, scale-ups, imcumbents and VCs/PEs on scaling circular solutions.

CAWA Ventures was founded in 2024 by Carl Warkentin who previously has built and exited companies along the entire textile value chain - from material science to footwear, retail and recycling, as well as a non-profit for circular economy multi-stakeholder projects.

CAWA Ventures is based on a strong network of the world's largest family business owners, family offices, VCs, PEs and business leaders from Asia, Middle East to Europe and North and South America with the one goal to create zero waste industires.

We have raised XXX and created over XXX job.s

How we work

Build

Our longterm comitment to zero waste solutions. We invest in and build companies by co-founding innovative solutions and taking on board and advisory seats in startups and scale-ups.

Growth

Access to capital and industry are key for early stage solutions. We provide both in short-term commitments and enter the collaboration with our own entrepreneurial commitment.

Scale

We commit to scale and advise scale-ups over a short- and mid-term time by enabling access to capital partners, investors and industry players for offtake-agreements and commercial contracts.

Advisory

Next to our work with McKinsey GBB we offer fractional C-level work and interim management support as well as expert advisory on specific areas like team growth, offtake agreements, commercial strategy, fundraising strategy, business development and shareholder management as well as mediation.

About Me

I work where industrial reality meets capital. Over more than a decade in textiles, materials, and manufacturing, I have founded and scaled companies, sat on boards, and backed the founders building what comes next. That operating background is the point: I evaluate this space the way an investor needs it evaluated, not the way a pitch deck presents it.

I have built companies from inception to scale, co-founded ventures across materials, products, and manufacturing, and taken chairman, board, and venture-partner roles with companies and funds across the circular economy. I co-initiated CIRCULAR REPUBLIC within UnternehmerTUM, Europe's largest entrepreneurship hub, where I built and led the textiles platform and helped design Germany's textile EPR scheme. Today I advise founders, SMEs, and international incumbents, and I invest in the companies I believe are real.

Textiles is where I went deepest — but the throughline is industrial judgment that travels across materials and manufacturing: I have lived the supply chains, the unit economics, and the distance between what a material does in a lab and what it costs at scale. That is what I bring to a board, an investment, or a hard strategic call.

I founded CIRCLE ZERO, a curated, high-trust community for the people building the circular economy, and I host the LOOPED IN podcast.

More info about Carl Warkentin.

Selected Work

Venture Partner

Co-Founder & Executive Chairman

Co-Founder

Founder & Host

Senior Advisor

Senior Advisor

Family Enterprise Governance & Stewardship

Deal Partner

Member of the CPSC Textiles Stewardship

Member of the Textile Leadership Group

M&A Advisor

Founder

Board Member

Co-Founder & Co-CEO

Co-Founder & Co-CEO

Advisor

We are building the Circular Economy

CIRCLE ZERO is a curated, high-trust community for entrepreneurs building the circular economy. We offer founders a platform to exchange as well as exclusive access to industry leaders and investors in order to scale the solutions shaping tomorrow's industries.

Let's Build a Regenerative Future Together

Building something real in circular materials or manufacturing, or backing someone who is? Let's talk.

I am based in Los Angeles, California.

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