Welcoming 2024 with VoLo Earth

PORTFOLIO

Shout out to our wildfire autonomous containment technology company Rain for being listed in American Dynamism 60 - AI Edition by Andreessen Horowitz. We joined their Seed round about a year ago.

Traxen increase fuel efficiency through advanced cruise control

Heimdal announces landmark partnership to locate Direct Air Capture facility at CapturePoint's Oklahoma Carbon Hub

Congratulations to our portfolio Bloc Power and Nth Cycle to be included in the 2024 Global Clean Tech 100 List!

Not to mention VoLo Earth Fund featured in the Pitchbook 2023 impact investing update

READING

Harnessing the heat beneath our feet: Geothermal’s past and future

@VoLoEarth: In this article Canary Media does a great job on Geothermal’s backstory. It also tells the story of how fracking (and more broadly well technology) can accelerate enhanced geothermal like FERVO. From an investment perspective, geothermal has very diverse subsurface and regulatory/permitting conditions that will prefer different technologies. For example, Fervo requires formations and permitting jurisdictions that support fracturing and re-injection. We hope Fervo is wildly successful and are also excited by the potential of geothermal technologies that will also benefit from oil and gas well technology AND apply to regions that do not support induced fractures.

How Thixomolding is Redefining Electric Vehicle Production

@VoLoEarth: This article written by Magrathea’s Metallurgical Engineer, Mellsa Zirps, makes the argument that Thixomolding, a magnesium injection molding process, is poised to redefine the manufacturing landscape for EVs. From a vehicle view, thixomolding offers advantages such as lightweighting, cost reduction, and improved structural performance. From a market perspective; the parallel development of Magnesium production (see Magrathea) and Magnesium based part production provides a strong signal for the evolution of automotive.

The Great Reallocation

@VoLoEarth: “Financing the energy transition is a story of capital reallocation.” In this report, RMI provides statistical analysis to show that the buildout of renewable energy supply won’t require massive new capex infusions, but rather can be a reallocation of capital from fossil fuel availability as that capex drops. This further aligns with our view that scale and deployment of the technology in our portfolio will not be challenged or constrained from market forces, and differentiated technology with winning economics will define out-sized impact this decade with incredible potential for superior returns. It also aligns with our thesis that fossil-fuel technology is stagnated, while there is still tremendous innovation upside in technology underpinning the energy transition.

Prepare for a ‘Gray Swan’ Climate

@VoLoEarth: “Predictable and Unprecedented” is the weather outlook for coming decades according to this Atlantic article. Based on our experience, this suggests that if you do not like the current amount of capital, talent, or policy allocated to climate, just wait a year or two.

Certainly there will be noise along the way due to politics, macro and security events but the trendline of climate response is up and to the right as long as climate events become more frequent and severe. Catastrophically, this response is late and much less likely to avert the worst effects of climate change.

The tech industry laid off 25,000 jobs in Jan. on top of 260,000 in 2023

@VoLoEarth: This Forbes article makes clear that tech layoffs provide for 1) a larger hiring pool for growing companies and 2) more founders launching new startups. We expect talent pool and valuation resets to set up 2024 as a great vintage.