🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, VC edition.
Today, we are talking to Russell Sprole from Virta Ventures
In this episode, some of the biggest ideas we discuss are…
Marketplace models in climate, specifically the current potential of a hydrogen energy marketplace
The limitless potential of AI to impact climate tech, particularly in the built environment and the management of distributed energy resources.
Why Russell is bullish on the electrification of transportation
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The Guest: Russell Sprole
Russell Sprole is Managing Partner of Virta Ventures, bringing over 12 years of experience in investing and operational roles
Russell was CFO at Full Harvest, the leading B2B marketplace for produce in North America. At Full Harvest, he led finance, accounting, HR, and legal and often many other hats as the team scaled from 5 to over 60 people and Full Harvest raised over $45 million in capital.
Prior to Full Harvest, Russell was VP of Business Development and Business Operations at RePower through its successful sale to Soligent and VP of Strategy of Product at Admirals Bank, focused on the bank’s rapidly growing solar and home improvement lending business. Russell also led FP&A and Sales Operations at Stem (NYSE: STEM) during a critical early growth period for the company, which debuted on the public markets in 2021.
Prior to Stem, Russell spent four years at SunPower developing and financing hundreds of megawatts of solar across all three business lines - utility, commercial, and residential.
Russell holds an MBA from Wharton Business School and a BA from Yale University.
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The VC: Virta Ventures
Virta Ventures focuses on pre-seed and seed stage climate tech companies working to decarbonize energy, mobility, the built environment and food/agriculture. They target equity-light businesses - typically SaaS, marketplaces, software-enabled services, and fintech/insurtech.
Virta Ventures aims to partner with founders from “day zero” — leaning on their operating and investing expertise to get startups through the early stages.
Don’t get it confused — they aren’t a SaaS VC. They invest in “equity-light”innovation that enables hardware—bits powering atoms.
Their four focus areas are:
Support the development and management of our energy grid
Lower barriers and costs for electrifying transportation
Decarbonize our existing building stock—residential, commercial, and industrial
Speed up the transition to regenerative agriculture
📝 Show Notes:
Topics
4:00 Starting Virta Ventures
10:22 Equity Light Solutions
13:50 Software Solutions in Antiquated Industries
17:07 Common Equity Light Business Models
22:55 Investing in Tiba
28:33 Investing in Crowded vs. Nascent Markets
34:41 Lessons from Full Harvest
47:46 Investing in Hydrogen Marketplaces
1:01:52 The Impact of AI on Climate Tech
1:06:54 Effective Practices of Portfolio Companies
1:08:33 Opportunities in the Electrification of Transportation
1:11:12 Fundraising Advice for Climate Tech Founders
Links
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This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.
🗓️ Upcoming Events
Reminder 🔔 that we have another CleanTechies in-person networking event on January 11th
Contact Somil or Silas on LinkedIn to be included and receive details on the location.
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🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in, and see you all next episode!
#147 Scaling "Equity-Light" Climate Tech: Marketplace Solutions, Equity-Light vs. Software, and Electrification of Transportation w/ Russell Sprole (Virta Ventures)