CapitalG founder Scott Tierney lands $175 million for investment fund

On Thursday, Scott Tierney, cofounder and former partner of CapitalG (formerly Google Capital), announced a new $175 million fund for his venture firm, Valo Ventures.

Tierney, who also held senior roles in Google's hardware and Nest divisions, started Valo Ventures in July to invest in companies tackling climate change with clean energy and reusable good technologies.

The fund is backed by Fortum, a Finland-based energy company that is developing clean energy alternatives. Tierney told Business Insider several Valo Ventures portfolio companies have already launched pilots with Fortum.

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After less than ideal returns in the early '00s, investment in sustainable technology is having a major moment in the sun.

On Thursday, CapitalG cofounder and former partner Scott Tierney announced his firm, Valo Ventures, raised a new $175 million fund that will focus on investing in companies developing technology for clean energy and reusable goods. CapitalG was formerly known as Google Capital, the search giant's later-stage fund, now housed under the corporate umbrella of Alphabet.

“Being at Google is like being a kid in a candy shop,” Tierney told Business Insider. “They have great aspirations and mission and values for the team, but I want to have an impact in the next 20 years, so I wanted to create a new type of fund.”

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Tierney left his role at Nest, Google's smart home device division, in July to start Valo Ventures with Mona ElNaggar and Julia Brady. This fund is the firm's second, and is backed by its first major corporate limited partner, Fortum. The Finland-based energy company is focused on developing clean energy alternatives, and Tierney told Business Insider that several of Valo's portfolio companies have already completed or been approved for pilot programs with Fortum.

“Every company I've admired has had a clear mission and if we could take some of the learnings from my consumer tech product experience at Google and apply that to some of the key social mega-trends that we're interested in, we might have a greater impact,” Tierney said. “We want to find out how [clean technology] can be applied proactively and aggressively in the physical world.”

Tierney said he was always impressed with Google's environmental sustainability initiatives, especially its project to ensure a close-to-zero carbon footprint for all its data centers. He credits his time at Nest and Google's hardware division with giving him a crash course in the electricity and energy markets.

“I liked themes that have social, economic, and environmental pull,” Tierney said. “These are our trends where, in the past, it was just tech trends. We're focused on tech as an investment but adding a layer with these themes.”

Tierney says that the new fund will allow Valo Ventures to write checks between $1 million and $10 million across early and growth stage rounds.

“We're really more focused on our risk judgement, returns, management, and product and that doesn't always correlate to a certain stage,” Tierney explained.

Tierney's fund isn't the first to try to tackle climate change and other environmental “mega-trends,” as he calls other initiatives like reducing plastic and reusable goods.

Many legacy venture firms, most notably Kleiner Perkins, made large bets on green technology like solar panels in the early 2000s with less than ideal returns. A recent Fortune report blamed Kleiner Perkins's declining status in Silicon Valley in part to its intense focus on environmental sustainability investments that ultimately flopped.

“If anything, we want to attract more capital towards these megatrends,” Tierney said when asked about getting out from under the dark cloud hanging over environmental investments.

周四，CapitalG（前谷歌资本）的联合创始人兼前合伙人斯科特·蒂尔尼（Scott Tierney）宣布为他的风险投资公司Valo Ventures筹集1.75亿美元新资金。蒂尔尼，同时也是他曾在谷歌的硬件和Nest部门担任高级职务，7月份成立Valo Ventures，投资于使用清洁能源和可重复使用的优质技术应对气候变化的公司。该基金由位于芬兰的能源公司Fortum提供支持清洁能源替代品。 Tierney告诉Business Insider几家Valo Ventures投资组合公司已经推出Fortum的试点。访问Business Insider的主页以获取更多故事。在00年代早期的回报不太理想之后，对可持续技术的投资正在进行周四，CapitalG联合创始人兼前合伙人斯蒂芬蒂尔尼宣布，他的公司Valo Ventures筹集了一笔1.75亿美元的新基金，该基金将专注于投资开发清洁能源和可重复使用商品技术的公司。 CapitalG以前被称为Google Capital，这家搜索巨头的后期基金，现在位于Alphabet的公司保护伞下。 “在谷歌就像在糖果店里当孩子一样，”蒂尔尼告诉Business Insider。 “他们对团队抱有很大的抱负，使命和价值观，但我想在未来20年内产生影响，所以我想创建一种新型的基金。”阅读更多：Al Gore的环境可持续发展基金筹集了10亿美元，用于投入专注于健康和财富不平等的新市场.Tierney于7月离开了他在谷歌智能家居设备部门Nest的职位，与Mona ElNaggar和Julia Brady共同创办了Valo Ventures。该基金是该公司的第二家，并得到其第一家大型企业有限合伙人Fortum的支持。总部位于芬兰的能源公司专注于开发清洁能源替代品，Tierney告诉Business Insider，Valo的几家投资组合公司已经完成或被批准用于Fortum的试点计划。我很钦佩的公司有一个明确的使命，如果我们可以从谷歌的消费者技术产品经验中学到一些知识并将其应用到我们感兴趣的一些关键社会大趋势，我们可能会有一个更大的影响，“蒂尔尼说。”我们希望了解如何在物理世界中积极主动地应用[清洁技术]。“蒂尔尼说，他对谷歌的环境可持续性举措总是印象深刻，尤其是确保其所有数据中心的碳足迹接近零。他将自己的时间归功于Nest和Google的硬件部门，为他提供电力和能源市场的速成课程。”我喜欢有社交的主题，经济和环境拉动，“蒂尔尼说。”这些是我们的趋势，在过去，它只是技术趋势。我们专注于技术作为投资，但增加了一层具有这些主题。“蒂尔尼表示，新基金将允许Valo Ventures在早期和成长阶段轮次中支付100万至1000万美元的支票。蒂尔尼解释说：”我们真的更专注于我们的风险判断，回报，管理和产品，并不总是与某个阶段相关。“蒂尔尼的基金不是第一个尝试应对气候变化和其他环境”大趋势“，他称其他举措，如减少塑料和可重复使用的商品。许多传统的风险投资公司，特别是Kleiner Perkins，在早期对太阳能电池板等绿色技术下了大赌注最近的财富报告指责克莱纳珀金斯在硅谷的地位下降，部分原因在于其对最终失败的环境可持续性投资的高度关注。”如果有的话，我们希望吸引更多资金用于这些大趋势，蒂尔尼的当被问及在环境投资的阴云笼罩下走出来时，他们会提供援助。