萝莉视频

Growth investor , with $84 billion in assets under management and around 200 companies in its portfolio, is already one of the most established names in the tech sphere. Increasingly, the firm is looking to make a bigger mark in climate tech as well.

Enter , a cleantech investment arm GA launched last July to focus on high-growth companies it believes will have a meaningful positive impact on climate. Structured with its own pool of limited partners, BeyondNetZero hasn鈥檛 disclosed a set fund size. With plans to invest $50 million to $300 million per transaction, however, it鈥檚 clearly a big-ticket initiative that I鈥檇 guestimate in the range of a couple billion dollars.

To see where this effort is going, 萝莉视频 News sat down with , a longtime energy- and environment-focused venture investor who joined BeyondNetZero as managing director. Also on the call was , CEO of , the latest addition to the firm鈥檚 current portfolio of three known investments.聽

There鈥檚 a lot of money going into BeyondNetZero, indicating you see a huge market opportunity at hand. How聽 would you describe the mission?

Bevan: We believe that society has waited too long to address climate change. In the next decade, we as a society need to cut global emissions by 50 percent. We believe over the next decade, supply chains are going to be rewritten, and this is going to be the next industrial revolution.聽

Are there particular industries you鈥檒l focus on around that concept?

Bevan: We have four segments in which we are focused. One is decarbonization, removing carbon from the supply chain and industry. Second is energy efficiency, using less power. Another is resource conservation, the concept of letting the resources we have already extracted be used more effectively. The last is emissions management and monitoring.

Note: Looking at BeyondNetZero鈥檚 three initial disclosed investments, we see those themes at work. RoadRunner, which helps commercial businesses make arrangements to recycle waste, fits in the conservation space. , a vertical farming upstart that uses renewable energy, checks the conservation box. And provides supply chain planning software with a聽 focus on sustainability.

For your latest investment, you led a $70 million Series D for RoadRunner, which is working on increasing recycling by businesses. What attracted you to that deal?聽

Bevan: There are many countries in Europe where as much as 60 percent of all waste is recycled. In the United States, we recycle less than a third of all waste, and it鈥檚 largely because most of the participants in the U.S. waste process own the landfills and own the trucks. They get paid to put waste into landfills. RoadRunner is trying to break that cycle.

Note: It was also a competitive round, per RoadRunner鈥檚 Rihn, who found himself in the position of choosing among multiple interested backers.

Cleantech investment is still somewhat associated with 鈥淐leantech 1.0鈥濃�搕he period in the mid- to late-2000s when a lot of VCs made big bets in infrastructure-heavy companies that did not produce hoped-for returns. What鈥檚 different about the latest cleantech investment boom?聽

Bevan: One of the starkest differences between the previous investment environment and this one is that in the first generation of businesses, we were pulling people from other industries. This time we鈥檙e seeing repeat entrepreneurs in this industry. Many of the first generation of businesses were also capital intensive. They ignored the fact that there were incumbents with pricing power.

Note: Another theme, touched on by Rihn and Bevan, is the notion of 鈥渁sset-light鈥� businesses, which investors currently tend to favor over 鈥渁sset-heavy鈥� businesses. RoadRunner puts itself in the former category, with an Uber-like approach to commercial recycling, connecting businesses with existing freight trucks, and drivers who can transport recyclable materials.

(Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article contained incorrect information: 听丑补蝉聽around 200 companies in its portfolio.)

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