A Day in the Life with Our Investment Analyst, Xinxin Zhang
It’s not just a circular technology that creates change, but the team behind that technology. Meet our Investment Analyst, Xinxin, who joined Itero to find work that aligned with her values.
What motivated you to join Itero?
I started to see the importance of sustainability for businesses in a previous role at a financial consultancy company. Slowly at first and then more and more strongly, I felt that I wanted to work in the field of sustainability, so started looking for work at a company that better aligned with my values. When I spoke to the Itero team, I could feel their passion and dedication for both creating circular solutions as well as doing their work in a sustainable way. Their integrity inspired me, and I could see immediately it was exactly the kind of company and team that I wanted to join.
Can you provide insight into what a typical day looks like for you as an investment analyst at Itero? What various tasks and responsibilities do you handle in a typical week?
Depending on the day, I work on a variety of different tasks. One of my key responsibilities is preparing and presenting reports. I prepare monthly budget reports for our investors and regular internal budget reviews, which help to keep our finances on track.
Alongside that, I work in the team tasked with fundraising for our Brightlands demonstration plant. This includes working on financial models, speaking with potential investors to answer their questions, and preparing the technical and business documents they need.
What does Itero look for in potential investors or partners?
We look to build long-term relationships with organisations committed to circularity and sustainability that align with our company’s purpose of engineering solutions for a circular carbon economy. Another thing we look for is partners we know we can build a synergetic relationship with, who have expertise in the industry and can provide strategic guidance.
How do you engage across Itero’s various stakeholders on a day-to-day level?
Internally, I work across teams on finance and fundraising, as well as reaching out to our engineering teams to understand better their roles and workflows, so I can better convey what our company does to external stakeholders.
Externally, I present the changes and updates in our business to existing investors during our monthly reports. I also engage with potential investors to prepare required documents, answer their questions, and with our grant authorities on applying for grants, managing the budget, and reporting on our progress.
How does your role contribute to the company's mission of creating a sustainable and circular carbon economy?
Essentially, my job mostly lets our engineers work their magic improving and scaling our chemical recycling technology to build a circular economy. I help to ensure healthy finances at Itero to ensure the proper allocation of resources while mitigating potential risks. This plays a big part with building investor confidence. In doing so, my role contributes to raising capital for our Brightlands Demonstration Plant, which assists in the development of our circular solutions for plastic waste.
What milestones are you excited about achieving within the next year?
I’m most excited for our upcoming investment funding round. This will be a significant milestone for our Brightlands project and will mean that we have passed all necessary evaluations including financial viability, technical feasibility, and regulatory approvals (we were already granted our environmental permit in April!). I’m very excited about Itero being ready to proceed with construction of the Brightlands plant later this year.
What are your goals for Itero’s growth and impact?
IIn the short term, I’m excited about the successful delivery of our Brightlands demonstration plant. Beyond this, our long-term goal would be to scale our circular solutions in Europe and to other continents.
I also look forward to Itero driving circular sustainable industry transformation by forming new partnerships with stakeholders across the industry from upstream partners, researchers, NGOs, and downstream partners to make a real impact. The changes we need will only come once these new collaborations are established.
Read more about Itero’s upcoming Brightlands demonstration plant here.