Expert voices: Investing amid climate churn and tension
Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Courtesy of VoLo Earth Ventures
Whether cutting-edge carbon removal or basic energy management, climate technologies are fundamentally "energy services," Joseph Goodman, managing partner of Volo Earth Ventures, tells Axios. "If you lose sight of that, it's hard to do well in this industry."
Why it matters: Volo Earth is an early-stage climate firm that invests "in both the demand and the supply side," Goodman says.
Context: The Snowmass, Colorado-based firm has recently backed geothermal developer XGS Energy, metals recycler Nth Cycle, and biomass startup Loamist.
This interview was lightly edited for length.
What's been the big news in climate tech this month?
- "We're starting to see the execution of bigger B rounds and C rounds from 2022 and 2023. Some of it is going well, some of it isn't, and it's creating a dynamic hiring market.
- Layoffs can be a good thing: there are some big battery companies where people understand what went well, what the pain points were, and are going out and commercializing on their own."
What would you add to the narrative?
- "This churn — the lifeblood of venture capital going back to the semiconductor days — is healthy.
- When you have too much capital flowing in, and everybody gets too comfortable, you don't get that circulation of human capital as much as when there's tension in the market."
By contrast, what's going undernoticed?
- "The metals industry is emerging as one of the most interesting plays in the global economy. Especially battery metals.
- This is not some linear commodity that you pump, sell, and it goes away. You put battery metals in a car or home, use them for a few years, send them to a processor, and the integrity hasn't changed."
Four fun things:
💼 First job: "Rewinding motors and fixing turbines for GE."
👑 Proudest investment: "Blue Frontier. They deliver radically more comfortable and more efficient HVAC systems. The install videos at, like, Waffle House, are so freaking boring — they look like just an HVAC system. Who knew it's the lowest-cost form of grid storage?"
🤦 Facepalm investment: "Quest Renewables, a solar carport company. It's a phenomenal techno-economic solution, but immature in terms of business cycles and what it takes to produce VC-level returns. If your cycle time on projects is 9-12 months, it's hard to get steep growth rates."
💡 One tip for climate founders or funders: "Take some quiet time. Fast-forward 20 years and think through likely climate scenarios and the conversations you'll be having with the people you feel accountable to."
