Leveraging our deep roots in Silicon Valley, the Technology Impact Fund and
Technology Impact Growth Fund are venture capital and growth funds which
invest in deep technology companies focused on climate solutions.
Hydrogen is key to decarbonizing fuel and industry, and green hydrogen costs must decline significantly to enable rapid scaleup of production.
Fervo will expand geothermal production beyond limited hot spring areas to many new sites representing GW of capacity.
Form Energy’s batteries can discharge at rated power for over 100 hours, allowing for integration of 100% renewables into the grid.
Helion’s modular reactor is much smaller (~50 MW) than proposed Tokamak reactors. Helion is close to the critical combination of conditions required to exceed energy breakeven – a global first.
InSyte’s gas spectrometry sensor is small and power-efficient enough to be integrated into smartphones, consumer home electronics and industrial applications.
Joby Aviation aims to save a billion people an hour a day with best-in-class safety, energy efficiency, and low noise and cost.
Navitas’ GaN-powered chip can provide up to 40% increase in energy efficiency and a 3X increase in power density at a lower cost.
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Nuvia’s data center server chip could more than double the performance while cutting energy consumption.
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Raxium’s monolithic MicroLED technology increases display pixel density by >300X and increases brightness by >1000X.
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Redwood Materials can recover nearly all of the nickel, cobalt, copper, aluminum, lithium and graphite in a lithium-ion battery.
Saildrone is deploying 1,000 saildrones for global coverage, enabling realtime quantification of the planet’s heat and carbon budgets.
SPAN’s smart panel will enable rapid adoption of efficient and clean electrical devices in the home, from HVAC to EV charging.
A single SummerBio robotic diagnostic system can perform tens of thousands of COVID tests per day at a fraction of the current price.
Twelve provides for the reuse of captured CO2 for a circular carbon economy, as a key component in fuels and chemicals.
Chement is reimagining cement production (which accounts for around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions) by eliminating the need for highly polluting coal-fired kilns.
Steel production accounts for 7% of total global carbon dioxide emissions per year.
Eridan’s technology shrinks equipment size and power required while enabling greater data transmission in existing frequency bands.
Eridu seeks to lower the energy consumption and unnecessary costs associated with today’s AI models.
Erthos’ solar installations strongly reduce the use of steel, pilings and cabling and thus the costs and footprint of utility scale solar farms.
Limelight’s technology will enable an emissions reduction of 80% in the steelmaking process (which accounts for 7% of the total global CO2 emissions each year).
Magrathea’s technology secures a supply of low cost, low carbon metal and preserves our natural ecosystems by minimizing mining.
Native InGaN® technology will fundamentally reduce the energy consumption and size while increasing the brightness of AR/VR, display, lighting, and laser projection products.
Propel Aero’s innovative technology is designed to increase the efficiency and viability of electric air travel while limiting environmental consequences.
Seurat is transforming the way metal parts are manufactured by improving quality and flexibility while decreasing costs and reducing environmental footprint.
Summit Nanotech’s technology doubles yield, reduces GHG emissions, uses no fresh water, minimizes the use of chemicals, and cuts chemical waste by 90% compared to traditional processes.
TeraDAR’s novel sensors may prove disruptive to advanced driver assistance and autonomous driving systems, with additional groundbreaking applications in robotics, security and other industries.
Whisper Aero’s ultraquiet electric propulsor improves efficiency in an industry that is shifting towards electric and relies on limited battery lives.
Photonic quantum computers will solve important computational problems key to health and sustainability.
Halio’s smart glass can reduce a building’s energy consumption by up to 10-20% across a range of climates and improve comfort inside.
Innovium’s Teralynx chips enable highest performance data center networks with over 2X performance per watt.
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Joby Aviation aims to save a billion people an hour a day with best-in-class safety, energy efficiency, and low noise and cost.
Planet’s satellites image the earth’s surface every day, creating global transparency and accountability for our natural and built environments.
QuantumScape accelerates the transition to EVs by cutting battery weight nearly in half. The solid electrolyte is also safer than flammable liquid electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries.
SpaceX has launched over 2,000 satellites as part of its Starlink constellation with the aim of delivering universal internet access.
Hydrogen is key to decarbonizing fuel and industry, and green hydrogen costs must decline significantly to enable rapid scaleup of production.
Erthos’ solar installations strongly reduce the use of steel, pilings and cabling and thus the costs and footprint of utility scale solar farms.
Fervo will expand geothermal production beyond limited hot spring areas to many new sites representing GW of capacity.
Form Energy’s batteries can discharge at rated power for over 100 hours, allowing for integration of 100% renewables into the grid.
By offering an environmentally friendly vehicle without a price premium, Harbinger aims to bring reduced carbon emissions to all fleets.
Helion’s modular reactor is much smaller (~50 MW) than proposed Tokamak reactors. Helion is close to the critical combination of conditions required to exceed energy breakeven – a global first.
Redwood Materials can recover nearly all of the nickel, cobalt, copper, aluminum, lithium and graphite in a lithium-ion battery.
Saildrone is deploying 1,000 saildrones for global coverage, enabling realtime quantification of the planet’s heat and carbon budgets.
Seurat is transforming the way metal parts are manufactured by improving quality and flexibility while decreasing costs and reducing environmental footprint.
SPAN’s smart panel will enable rapid adoption of efficient and clean electrical devices in the home, from HVAC to EV charging.
Twelve provides for the reuse of captured CO2 for a circular carbon economy, as a key component in fuels and chemicals.
*The portfolio investments identified do not represent all of the investments purchased, sold, or recommended for portfolios advised by the Firm. A full list is available upon request. The reader should not assume that all investments in the companies identified were or will be profitable. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Tenured Team of Operators, Entrepreneurs and Scientists
Partner | Investments
View BioPartner | Investments
View BioChief Technologist | Investments
View BioEntrepeneur in Residence | Investments
View BioSenior Advisor | Investments
View BioEntrepeneur in Residence | Investments
View BioExecutive Assistant | Investments
View BioPartner | Investments
Dipender Saluja is a Partner and member of the Investment Team. He serves as a Co-Managing Partner of Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund. He joined the firm in 2007.
Prior to Capricorn, Dipender was Chief of Staff at Cadence, a global market leader in electronic design. Prior to Cadence, he worked at Data General (EMC), Honeywell, ROLM (IBM), and the GF Energy Research Center. Dipender serves on the boards of AST, Electric Hydrogen, Encell, Eridan, Halio, Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY), Navitas (NASDAQ: NVTS), QuantumScape (NYSE: QS), Saildrone, SPAN.IO, summerbio, and Summit Nanotech, on the Leadership Council of Cyclotron Road, the Advisory Board of the International Solar Alliance, the investment committee of PRIME, the Advisory Board of IonE, and is a commissioner of the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty (GCEEP). He is based in Palo Alto.
Dipender is an electrical engineer by training and attended UND, University of Minnesota and Stanford University.
Partner | Investments
Ion Yadigaroglu is a Partner and member of the Investment Team. He is also a Co-Managing Partner of Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund and serves on the investment committee for all Capricorn strategies. He is responsible for co-leading the investment management of individual client portfolios as well as the Sustainable Investors Fund. He joined the firm in 2004.
Prior to Capricorn, Ion was a Director of Business Development with Koch Industries. Prior to Koch, he was a founder and Chief Executive Officer at Bivio, a software startup in Colorado, and an Analyst for Olsen & Associates, a foreign exchange analytics company. Ion is an early investor in iconic technology companies including Tesla, SpaceX, Planet, QuantumScape and Saildrone.
Ion was a research fellow at Columbia University and holds a Master's in Physics from Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich in Switzerland and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Stanford University.
Chief Technologist | Investments
James Lyons serves as the lead technologist for the venture team. He joined Capricorn in 2011.
Prior to Capricorn, Jim was Chief Engineer for Electrical/Electronic Technologies at GE Research - leading the creation of GE’s wind energy business during his tenure.
Jim holds 40+ patents and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering/computer science from Cornell University.
Entrepeneur in Residence | Investments
Jy Bhardwaj is an Entrepreneur in Residence on the venture team. He joined Capricorn in 2019.
Prior to Capricorn, Jy served as CTO and SVP R&D at Philips Lumileds since 2010. During this period, Lumileds was spun out of Philips Lumileds in 2018 being acquired by the private equity leader Apollo LLC. From 2002 to 2010 Jy served at JDSU where he served as CTO of Optical Communications after over 6 years of business unit leadership, as Vice President and General Manager of JDSU's market leading optical transport product lines. Jy joined JDSU through an acquisition of Scion Photonics, a Silicon Valley based photonic chip start up, which he co-founded and served as the CEO. Prior to Scion, Jy served as CTO at STS for over 7 years, which was a Sumitomo owned company that IPO’d on the AIM Stock Exchange in London in 2000.
Jy holds a bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. in Engineering from Liverpool University.
Senior Advisor | Investments
Knut Simonsen is a Senior Advisor to Capricorn Investment Group where he supports decarbonization, energy storage, renewable and technology investments.
Knut has deep expertise in renewables, electric utilities, pipelines, oil & gas, venture capital and M&A. Prior to Capricorn, Knut served 20 years in leadership roles at DTE Energy; as VP of corporate strategy and M&A and as President of DTE VC group. Prior experience includes McKinsey & Company, ChevronTexaco, Den Norske Bank, and the Norwegian Navy.
Knut has an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BS in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University.
Entrepeneur in Residence | Investments
Konrad Jarausch is an Entrepreneur in Residence on the venture team. He joined Capricorn in 2015.
Prior to Capricorn, Konrad led Passport Capital’s public market (long-short) and venture investments in cleantech/energy, materials and semiconductors. Konrad started his career working on a development line at Intel Corporation where he managed a failure analysis group in the yield organization.
Konrad holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from North Carolina State University where he was trained as a microscopist.
Executive Assistant | Investments
Claire Cruz-Reyes is an Executive Assistant for the venture team. She joined Capricorn in 2019.
Prior to Capricorn, Claire served as an Executive Assistant supporting three managing partners at Artiman Ventures. Prior to Artiman Ventures, Claire held various roles within the Legal/IP and Human Resources groups at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Claire received her B.A. in management from Menlo College in Atherton.