Piva Capital is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm investing in disruptive energy and industrial companies across North America and Europe.
The firm’s team of seven full-time investors and eight advisors focuses on finding and backing technology companies bringing new hardware and software solutions to the world’s industrial markets. And the firm invests in climate and deep-tech startups working to make traditional industries like energy, mobility, and materials greener, more efficient, cheaper, and safer. Piva typically invests in Series B stage companies in North America and Europe with an initial check size of $10 million to $15 million.
Pulse 2.0 interviewed Piva Capital investors Claire Yun and Jillian Noel to learn more about the firm.
Background Of Claire Yun and Jillian Noel
(Piva Capital’s Claire Yun and Jillian Noel)
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): Could you tell me more about your background?
Piva Capital (Jillian Noel): I grew up on Vancouver Island in Canada and studied finance and sustainability at McGill in Montreal. My undergrad was a chance to understand how the business world worked and consider how sustainability can be a part of it.
I started my career at McKinsey, working with Fortune 500 companies on their plans to face decarbonization and the energy transition. My time there exposed me to the immense challenge of creating a net zero world and sparked my interest in bridging the technological gaps through startup innovation. I found myself drawn to participating earlier in the innovation cycle, trying to catalyze bringing technologies out of the lab and into a scale where a large company can deploy commercially. I left consulting to join General Fusion, a company working to bring fusion energy, a zero emissions, baseload energy source to the grid. It was there that I experienced how hard-tech startups can be very capital-intensive and slower to iterate and scale – challenging factors for the typical technology investor to contemplate.
My time in the fusion space was a fascinating demonstration of how capital flows drive technology development. When I returned to business school, I found myself attracted to the investing side of the ecosystem. It was a way to be part of that capital allocation that steers the market and ultimately decides what gets funded. It was also a way to broaden my own horizons beyond a single technology and be able to amplify impact beyond one company or technology into the broader sectors transforming the industry.
Piva Capital (Claire Yun): I’m originally from Austin, Texas, and I studied Finance at the University of Texas in Austin. I started out in investment banking at J.P. Morgan, working on M&A transactions largely for industrial companies, before going in-house to a corporate & business development role at Vox Media, a leading digital media company. There, I had the chance to support amazing journalism covering the biggest issues of our time, from politics to technology to social issues to climate change. This inspired me to think about how I could have a direct impact on my career and skills, and I decided to educate myself further at Stanford to figure that out.
At Stanford, I quickly honed in on climate as a problem space with an enormous global impact, where my financial skills could be put to good use. I added an MS in Sustainability to my MBA and got involved with all things climate – from working at a long-duration energy storage startup to being part of a team developing a novel battery material idea, to being an investor in the student-run GSB Impact Fund, to leveraging my media background as a member of the Climate Tech VC newsletter team. Immersing myself in the thriving Bay Area climate tech ecosystem naturally led me to an opportunity to join the Piva Capital team, where I have been working since I was a Summer Intern in 2022.
Evolution Of Piva Capital’s Thesis
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): How has your firm’s thesis evolved over time?
Piva Capital (Jillian Noel): Overall, our thesis at Piva has always been the same: we invest in the technologies that will usher in the next industrial era. However, over the last few years, we experimented a bit and are now honing in and building conviction for how we invest best.
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): Why did you join Piva Capital?
Piva Capital (Jillian Noel): I looked around at the landscape of investors in the space, and I was drawn to the ones who were not scared of hardware and deep-tech and the technical risks that come with those types of investments. I found the Piva team incredibly willing to roll up their sleeves and understand the technologies, which can be a little scary to the average venture capital investor. The experience the team brings to the table as operators and investors is really amazing. Beyond having the technical chops to assess these technologies, I liked how the team leaned in to support companies once we invested.
Piva Capital (Claire Yun): On the surface level, I liked the early-growth, Series B stage where Piva typically invests. At this stage, there is enough history and data to gauge a company’s performance but still enough risks and unknowns to make it an exciting bet on future potential. I also liked that Piva directly addresses hard-to-decarbonize heavy industries with a significant emissions impact. As I got to know the team, however, I found that there were many more qualitative factors that set the firm apart – namely, a rare combination of empathy and expertise with which the team approaches founders, peer investors, and each other.
Thoughts On Climate Tech Investing Sector
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): What are your thoughts on the Climate Tech Investing Sector?
Piva Capital (Jillian Noel): The market has realized that funding climate tech that shifts the fundamentals of how the world works is going to look VERY different than investing in software. There are inherent challenges in making venture returns in this space, including the need for substantial capital and patience for slow technological advancements, to name a few. What is exciting has been the rise of innovative funding strategies that combine various forms of capital, including strategic investments and government funding, to support breakthrough technologies alongside private financial capital.
Piva Capital (Claire Yun): There has been an incredible amount of capital that has flowed into this sector over the last several years, but investors and LPs need to understand how the risk and return profile differs compared to other categories of venture capital. Climate tech can be uniquely vulnerable to risks like political winds, novel science, and slow adoption and iteration cycles. Still, it can also uniquely benefit from the accelerating energy transition, rising public awareness and interest, decarbonization imperatives from governments and corporations, and an influx of impact-minded talent.
Favorite Memory
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): What has been your favorite memory working for your firm so far?
Piva Capital (Jillian Noel): For me, it was a visit to the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore Lab. Getting to see some of the most advanced nuclear fusion research in the world in action and meet some of the brilliant scientists leading it, was surreal. NIF and its role in the fusion startup landscape is a great example of the intersection between the private sector and the public sector and advancing key technologies.
Piva Capital (Claire Yun): I’m a foodie, so for me, it was visiting a cultivated meat company and trying a $10,000 hamburger as part of our food-tech diligence. Decarbonizing the food industry, and meat in particular, is a huge challenge. Still, there are many incredible startups pushing the frontier forward (including two in our own portfolio – Plantible and Oobli).
Investment Success Stories
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): Would you like to share any specific investment success stories?
Piva Capital (Claire Yun): One of our portfolio companies Pyka, a company developing autonomous electric aircraft, is one of our success stories. The fact that they are one of the first commercially approved to fly electric autonomous aircraft for agriculture, and they’re actually in the field with them right now, is impressive.
Piva Capital (Jillian Noel): I think another thing to celebrate has been a couple of our portfolio companies who have raised really large rounds in this challenging capital environment. Boston Metal, a company decarbonizing steel, raised $262 million in the fall. And in January, we led a $129 million round investing in Ineratec, a pioneering e-fuel company based in Germany.
Industry Focus
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): What are some of the industries that your firm is focused on?
Piva Capital (Claire Yun): We invest in energy and mobility, which includes nuclear, long-duration energy storage, and industrial heat; materials and production, which includes building materials, critical minerals, and food & ag tech; and future of industry and work, which includes AI, automation, digitalization, and cybersecurity.
Piva Capital (Jillian Noel): We see these as the industries that make up the foundations of our economy – how things are made, how they move, how they are powered. The world is facing so many challenges right now – climate change being at the forefront – and a lot of change and innovation is required to interact with it. Disrupting global industrial value chains isn’t simple. Still, we believe there are entrepreneurs out there with transformational technologies and business models that are up for the challenge, and we are excited to support them.
Differentiation From Other Firms
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): What differentiates your firm from other firms?
Piva Capital (Jillian Noel): What truly sets Piva apart from other firms is our team’s unique mix of technical prowess and real-world experience. We dive deep into the technologies we invest in, which entrepreneurs usually deeply appreciate or, sometimes, find a little overwhelming. Our hands-on approach demonstrates that we are true partners, committed to understanding and supporting the complex technologies we back.
Piva Capital (Claire Yun): The breadth and depth of our network and our willingness to work closely with the companies and work through all the problems. We really get deep into the weeds in a business and our founders are always blown away by our depth of knowledge of the sectors we invest in.
Future Firm Goals
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): What are some of your firm’s future goals?
Piva Capital (Claire Yun): Support our portfolio companies from Fund I as they come of age and eventually exit. Keep finding brilliant teams to invest behind as we continue deploying out of Fund II. Foster our collaborative, high-performing culture and help the climate tech investing ecosystem mature and evolve.
Being A Young VC In The Climate Tech Space
Pulse 2.0 (Amit Chowdhry): What’s it like being a young VC in the climate tech space?
Piva Capital (Jillian Noel): The climate tech space is a uniquely collaborative ecosystem that cares about a mission beyond profit. It’s very forward-looking and with a lot of young people who are both smart and driven.
Piva Capital (Claire Yun): I love that this sector is also very diverse. At Piva Capital, we have seven women on staff, and we are seeing this at other climate-focused VC firms, too. Also, climate tech investors come from all different backgrounds – they are founders, PHDs, engineers, and finance people – which brings together diverse perspectives and interesting conversations.
