They say everything’s bigger in Texas, including climate change. That’s why Houston is leading the energy transition. Here in H-Town, the fourth largest city in the United States, entrepreneurs from across Texas and around the world are gathering to work with titans of industry to build the technology that will reduce emissions and power a low carbon future.
Welcome to Energytech Startups with Nada Ahmed and Jason Ethier. We sit down with those change makers and wildcatters who are solving the toughest energy challenges with trillions of dollars on the line. We dig into how Houston will bring technology to market on a massive scale. Join us as we talk with the leaders of the energy capital of the world as they show us how the energy transition gets done.
Eric Rubenstein, managing partner at New Climate Ventures, joins Jason and Nada live from Ceraweek to make the case that what we’re calling an energy transition is actually a new industrial revolution. He breaks down why data centers are only the fifth biggest driver of power demand, how his 35-company portfolio is shifting toward localized production and supply chain resilience, and what founders absolutely need to nail before walking up to an investor at a conference.
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Click here to view the episode transcript.
00:00 – Intro and Ceraweek impressions
07:11 – What is actually driving power demand growth
13:41 – The all-of-the-above energy reality
19:12 – NCV fund thesis and origin
22:28 – Portfolio breakdown and data center exposure
25:07 – Upcycling waste into value
28:30 – How the portfolio informs investment strategy
34:19 – Is venture capital broken for hard tech?
37:01 – The missing middle and how startups are bridging it
40:11 – Industrial customers funding their own first commercial plants
45:38 – Raising fund two and what LPs want
48:45 – How NCV communicates with investors
56:37 – What founders should know before approaching investors
01:01:09 – Talking valuation with investors
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