Continuing Our Mission: Energize Ventures Announces Fund II
By: John Tough
Today is an exciting day for Energize as we are officially revealing that we have closed on $330M for our latest ventures fund! Through this new fund, Energize Ventures Fund II, our team will continue to invest in the best companies accelerating the energy and sustainability movement.
In our first ventures fund, a $165M vehicle closed in 2018, we made investments in 14 technology companies advancing the transition towards more sustainable energy and industry. At Energize, we believe we can accelerate this transformation by providing financial, operational and commercial support to the best digital-first startups serving the energy, industrial and critical infrastructure industries.
The Energize team is able to provide this valuable support because we gain an incredible advantage from our Limited Partners. Our LP base provides the Energize team with an information asymmetry advantage through rare insights into the energy and sustainability transition. None of those insights is as valuable as those we receive from the world-class operators and engineers at our anchor LP, Invenergy. As a global renewables leader, Invenergy helps the Energize team see the sustainable future more clearly.
In Fund I, we were fortunate to get to know dozens of entrepreneurs who are shaping the future of sustainability, and in turn converting our capital support into financial and impact returns. It was only a few years ago when these two were not directly aligned; there were impact investors and financial-first investors, but rarely was there overlap. In today’s market, these characteristics together are positive multipliers for returns, and at Energize we are able to optimize for both.
Looking back, perhaps one of the most important lessons learned is that success in the venture capital industry is determined by human capital. Strong decision-making, diversity of thought, skill and effort are the core inputs to a successful fund. At Energize we have assembled a world-class team of operators and industry experts to help us identify and support our entrepreneurs. Our support comes in the form of strategic guidance, industry insights and access, and commercial value-add. When we went to market for this second fund, our entrepreneurs and co-investors were our greatest advocates. They have shared stories about how we jumped in, delivered customers, and became the “first-phone-call” board member. We are going to deliver the exact same set of values and energy in our second fund.
I’d like to end this note by expressing gratitude to a few important groups:
Thank you to the Energize team. I really mean it when I say “The CEO is second. Your team is first.” We are better today than ever before, and we will be better every year going forward. I can’t wait to see what we do over the next decade.
Thank you to our LPs. We are fortunate to have institutional, corporate, impact and family office investors among our LP base. Each of them selected us to deliver financial and impact returns. Pressure is a privilege and we take the responsibility seriously.
And most importantly, thank you to our existing and future entrepreneurs. Energize is nothing without your passion, vision and execution. Being able to support you in your endeavors is the greatest part of this job. We wake up every day looking to help you advance your missions and will continue to do so for decades to come.
