About
Capella has invested in deep-technology startups since 2016. Through Capella Partners and our broker dealer affiliate, Capella Securities, we began by facilitating early stage and growth equity investments with clear strategic alignment for family offices and corporate investors.
In October of 2020, we made the decision to focus Capella’s platform exclusively on the most important issue of our time: The Energy Transition. Today we invest exclusively in the solutions that move the world forward from antiquated fossil fuels to clean, sustainable, renewable power.
We believe the clean energy transition must not sacrifice cost or reliability of power. The world’s demand for energy is growing - driven by population growth, improving living standards, and increased density of industry. These demands must be met reliably, at costs that compete with hydrocarbons, as cleanly as possible: clean, reliable, and affordable energy is fundamental to a truly sustainable energy transition.
What is achievable from the energy solutions of 2030 and 2050 will look starkly different than what is possible today. Our duty as investors is to back the very best available energy solutions at each moment in time, capitalize & accelerate their journey into the infrastructure market, and by doing so, deliver exceptional returns to investors by fundamentally enabling The Energy Transition.
Principles & Values
First Principles First
There is a dizzying array of strategies to pursue in the energy transition, from carbon capture to low-emissions base-load power and the development of renewables. The winning strategy for each of our capital partners is developed from the first principles that dictate the underlying conditions for success. Approaches that rely on rosy subsidies or hyped-up public relations aren’t durable or optimal - they’re easy, but unsustainable. We don’t pick the lowest hanging fruit; we identify and pull the most consequential levers for achieving sustainable outcomes.
Truth Matters
Techno-economic analysis is the mechanism by which we separate what works from what doesn’t, making sense of the ever-more complex landscape of energy transition opportunities. We do this by evaluating market needs and novel solutions from the ground up, allowing us to identify where real value exists at the intersection of the two. For a given set of priorities and conditions, there is always a dominant solution. Our analysis de-emphasizes features in favor of techno-economic analysis, allowing comparisons to be made on a level playing field. For every technology we evaluate, we must understand the levelized cost of its key outputs in real-world conditions.
Power Change With Established Operators
Capella has a fundamental belief in the ability of established operators to create disproportionate value by combining their institutional wisdom, assets, and position in market with the vision and expertise necessary to innovate. The tech & venture market biases toward ‘disrupting’ established companies in a target sector. This is an emotional approach which ignores the fact that incumbents are often in the best position to create new value when properly led. It’s for this reason that we align so closely with our corporate partners.
Strategy Drives Structure; Not The Other Way Around
The best investor for a given opportunity is not always an independent venture capital firm. There are thousands of aligned entities capable of accelerating the energy transition who are structurally restricted from investing in third party funds. We believe in funding the right entrepreneurs with the most strategic capital, regardless of the source-capital structure. As a hybrid asset manager, adviser, and broker-dealer, all under one roof, Capella is structured to act as a fiduciary, agent, or hybrid thereof, in the service of each of our capital partnerships.
