- Piva announced it has raised $250 million for its first fund to invest in next-generation energy, industry, and materials companies
San Francisco-based venture capital firm Piva announced recently that it raised $250 million for its first fund. This fund will focus on next-generation energy, industry, and materials companies. And the sole limited partner is Petronas — which is Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company. The fund will be operating independently.
“Clearly, there has been huge progress on renewable … but we see that now it’s the right time really to be in the middle of things since there’s huge potential in the next 10 to 20 years to do even more,” said Piva CEO and managing partner Ricardo Angel in an interview with CNBC.
Piva is going to invest in startups that have breakthrough technologies in the energy and materials space and new operating efficiencies for all industries. And this could include companies combining data with AI and sensors as well as those focused on decarbonization and greater resource efficiency.
Angel previously worked as a managing director at GE Ventures for 6 years and as an SVP of GE Energy’s Financial Services. Before that, he was a principal at Chevron Technology Ventures. Angel also did some work in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in 2001.
“Right now, there are a number of elements that really provide us tools to be able to come up with new, breakthrough solutions,” added Angel via CNBC. “Clearly there has been huge progress on renewables … but we see that now it’s the right time really to be in the middle of things since there’s huge potential in the next 10 to 20 years to do even more.”
This fund is going to invest in 15 to 20 companies in America and Europe. However, the fund will primarily focus on U.S. based startups at earlier stages. And investments will typically be $5 million to $10 million initially with an additional $20 million to $30 million invested over time.
Angel pointed out that its connection to the oil giant is an advantage for the venture firm. “If we can help Petronas make operations more cost-effective and efficient, greener, safer, or have them identify new elements for growth that would be a huge thing for Petronas and a huge thing for our portfolio companies,” added Angel via CNBC.
