Climate Tech Venture Financing and the Capital Stack Mismatch

Ely Sandler will host Ben Wolkon, a veteran Venture Capital investor and climate tech expert, for a discussion about VC investing, deep tech, and the need to close the “valley of death” in the capital stack.

The clean energy transition requires deploying physical infrastructure at a scale and speed unlike anything the private markets have previously coordinated. Much of this physical infrastructure will incorporate new technologies. Yet the dominant financing mechanism for early-stage companies, venture capital, was designed to fund software businesses with near-zero marginal costs and winner-take-all return profiles - qualities that don't apply to most early-stage climate-focused hard tech companies.

This guest session will examine the structural tension between venture capital's closed-end 10-year fund model and the reality of hard tech commercialization in spaces like climate and energy. Ben will trace how this mismatch manifests in the financial incentives of early-stage climate-focused companies, and explore what a better-designed capital continuum looks like, including emerging structures that are beginning to bridge gaps.

Ben Wolkon has spent the last 10 years leading climate investments for MUUS, and was Co-Founding Partner of the venture capital firm MUUS Climate Partners (MCP). MCP's portfolio of over 30 climate-focused companies included first checks into BrightNight, which is now developing over 30GW of renewable power and storage, and Panthalassa, a breakthrough ocean-based AI energy company. 

This event is open to all Harvard ID holders, with preference given to students in IGA415M, Financing the Clean Energy Transition.