A depth of operating experience and angel investing experience helped Virta’s Russell Sprole raise his first fund in a tough market for climate tech.
“I saw that these sectors and industries were getting large enough to support enabling technologies, picks-and-shovels businesses,” Sprole told ImpactAlpha.
His focus on software-centric approaches for decarbonizing energy, transportation, industrials, agriculture and the built environment comes from his operating experience at SunPower, Stem and Full Harvest. Virta has made nearly two-dozen pre-seed and seed investments of about $250,000 each, and expects to make another seven or eight this year.
Virta was an early investor in Tyba, which helps optimize energy storage and recently closed its Series A financing, led by Energize Ventures, and a seed investor in Treehouse, an electrification installation provider that last year closed its own Series A round.
Policy risk
One prospective LP backed out a day after last November’s US election, citing “too many unknowns,” Sprole said. Overall, he says he was able to raise at least half of his funding post-election.
“I’ve largely focused on companies that have less direct or no policy risk,” he said. That includes not only data centers and nuclear and geothermal generation, but climate adaptation solutions, including insurance. “Things that are just needed, given the realities of a changing climate, a changing world,” he says.
In addition to individuals and a fund of funds, his LPs include Istanbul-based Borusan Holdings, which has built a collection of manufacturing, power systems, automotive and logistics companies.
