Volta Industries, Inc., the industry leader in commerce-centric electric vehicle (EV) charging networks, today announced that it has entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE: SNPR), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). When the transaction closes, the combined company is expected to be publicly traded under the symbol “VLTA”. The pro forma enterprise value of the transaction is about $1.4 billion.

Volta will use this financing to further expand their network to meet the growing demand for electric vehicle infrastructure. Founder and CEO Scott Mercer will continue to lead the company, as he has since 2010.  Scott brings a rare, market-visionary approach to the energy transition. Chris Wendel, Co-Founder and President, will also continue in his lead role for the high-growth company, helping it to master the complexity of the market.

Why now is the time for the EV charging market

Electric vehicles are here. Almost every week a new country, state or vehicle manufacturer commits to an increasingly imminent electric-only future. In 2011, I test drove my first electric vehicle and saw my first business pitches for EV charging. The cars were clunky and the infrastructure untested. At the time, market investment and adoption were not meaningful to me.

Over the last decade, investment and business model innovation in materials science, batteries, charging infrastructure, and new EV models has propelled electric vehicle adoption. I now have no doubt that mobility will be electrified, and believe Volta will play a key, complementary role in building out the infrastructure layer for the electric mobility transition.

Our relationship with Volta

Having witnessed the first EV charging pitches a decade earlier, I knew something special was happening at Volta when I first heard the pitch at a Department of Energy conference in Houston in December 2017. What stood out to our team about Volta was its commerce-driven business model: We believe this unique approach will continue to be a primary contributor to Volta’s high utilization rates, consumer happiness and long-term relationships with site partners.

Since Energize joined Volta’s capitalization table three years ago, we have invested across four different financing rounds and deployed nearly $35 million into the company. Energize first invested in Volta by leading the Series C in 2018. Since then, we led the Series C-2 and convertible note and most recently participated in the company’s $125 million Series D. Energize managing partner John Tough holds a board seat and is the lead director, and principal Tyler Lancaster is also an observer on Volta’s board. In addition to these contributions, Jim Murphy, the President of Invenergy and a member of Energize’s investment committee, actively worked with Volta management to run their project financing process in 2019. Energize is very thankful to be a partner to Volta, and we are excited to continue to support the company through their next step.

Congratulating Volta on the next step

Volta builds and operates a network of EV charging stations that are among the highest utilized in the United States. Strategically placed in front of essential businesses such as grocery stores, pharmacies, banks and hospitals, Volta’s EV network supports a larger consumer trend toward vehicle electrification by placing fueling stations in parking lots directly where consumers already spend their time and money. Currently located in 23 states and over 200 municipalities, Volta’s unique approach has gained significant acceptance and penetration in the market.

We believe that Volta has a tremendous opportunity to be a household name in the next generation of mobility. This growth requires large capital investments into new charging infrastructure, and this SPAC transaction will help capitalize Volta to #driveforward.

I came across a research report on the state of battery systems. The report talked about the massive battery system (residential, commercial, utility scale) deployments coming over the next decade. Battery systems growth will alter our grid and how we think about centralized power generation and storage.

One chart (seen below) in the document shows the total cost of a system in 2021 and 2025, as split between hardware and software. Hardware is the materials and equipment. Software is all of the permitting, design, sales, and non-scalable “people-related” expenses.

Studying this chart shows a trend most in the energy field know: the soft costs are stubborn… and may actually be the harder costs to solve! While hardware costs drop 20-30% over this time period, the soft costs fall at a far slower rate… and become an increasingly large percentage of the overall system cost over time.

This same trend usually happens at the intersection of analog, and regulated industries that are being affected by declining cost curves. At Energize we know that there are many great organizations and investors that focus on balance of systems innovations. Energize is laser-focused on digital applications that address the energy transition. These digital applications tend to best serve the soft costs, so we look forward to finding investments that streamline that part of the cost equation. By delivering efficiencies there, the industry should grow even faster.

(Reach out to Tyler Lancaster and Katie McClain for the experts internally on digitizing the analog world for streamlined process)

Today I am excited to announce that Energize co-led the latest growth round into DroneDeploy, alongside AirTree Ventures. This is the first announced investment from Energize Growth. A link to DroneDeploy’s press release can be found here. And a link to Energize’s announcement covering the deal can be found here. (VentureBeat here)

Energize first led the Series C for DroneDeploy in 2018. At the time I joined the Board of Directors alongside existing investors Jeff Clavier at Uncork Capital, Kevin Spain at Emergence Capital and Rory O’Driscoll at Scale Venture Partners. Katie McClain is a board observer and brings valuable energy, operating and policy insights to DroneDeploy. Back then Energize had conviction that drones and aerial analytics would dominate the enterprise level of energy and industry. That prediction was realized in a BIG way. So big, in fact that last year Invenergy used DroneDeploy to map the largest solar farm in the United States. DroneDeploy also has a number of utility customers that each manage hundreds of drone pilots through the platform. Amidst 2019’s growth, DroneDeploy also raised a Series D from Bessemer Venture Partners, and David Cowan joined the board. Tracy Young also joined the board and is a brilliant mind in the board room.

In addition to the continued expansion in energy, agriculture and construction… we are thrilled to see how DroneDeploy continues to be a product-led growth company. A few board meetings ago Mike Winn said “we will continue to invest in new products, because that is what our customer’s have grown to expect from DroneDeploy.”

That product-led growth mentality has led to impressive new product innovation in 2020:  360 Walkthrough and Vertical Flight. These are key features that enable visual data capture from cameras on the ground and drones flying vertically beside a structure or asset. DroneDeploy also continues to lead the industry in enterprise security, achieving both ISO-27001 certification and SOC 2 Type 1 attestation.

I’m thrilled to double down on the journey with DroneDeploy over the coming years. Energize will continue to provide our industry expertise, operator insights and team support to Mike and the DroneDeploy team.

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The headline and my quote is below.

DroneDeploy Secures $50M to Accelerate Development Beyond Drones and Solidify Global Market Leadership 

Energize Ventures and AirTree Lead the Latest Round to Grow into Europe

“The health, economic and workforce pressures of the last year have accelerated the adoption of drones and drone data by asset owners. We anticipate continued growth as industries expand their use of visual data to streamline operations. Energize is thrilled to continue to invest in DroneDeploy, the only company with a platform that captures and analyzes every dimension of job sites — interior and exterior, from any height and angle — and that has demonstrated the scale to meet the needs of fast-growing markets like energy and renewables.

John Tough, Managing Partner of Energize Ventures

The VC market has a lot of nooks and crannies. Why? Big businesses usually start out as niche ideas that serve an impassioned, small cohort. After winning over the existing cohort, the best executives learn to expand into other verticals and compound into larger businesses over time.

But sometimes the best investments are the most simple business models that are in plain sight with obvious macro trends.

At Energize, two of our portfolio companies just released their 2020 highlights that follow this “big, simple business model” theme:

1- Nozomi Networks. The macro trend is simple: our operating and IoT networks are converging with traditional IT networks and are more susceptible to nefarious actors than ever before. Nozomi provides a cybersecurity and network visibility technology, delivered through the cloud, to protect our asset operators. Big market with a simple approach: ⚡

2- Jupiter Intelligence. Again, an obvious macro bet: our climate is changing and the asset operators, financiers and insurance providers need to understand the impact. Jupiter is the global leader in data and analytics to make informed decisions to anticipate risk from extreme weather, sea-level rise, storm intensification and rising temperatures caused by short, medium and long-term climate change. Huge TAM + simple approach & business model = banner year. 🔥👀

Within the article you will see that Jupiter launched a new product (Climate Score Global), won an incredible number of new customers (BP, ConEd, Hawaiian Electric Companies, Terna…; insurance providers QBE and MS&AD) and are beginning to influence policy and win Department of Defense contracts.

They are clearly going to be a big technology platform for the next 100 years. Obvious position.

Here is a link to their 2020 highlights press release.

The best of breed don’t grow on thinly sliced salami!

Eugene Kleiner

Eugene Kleiner made this statement in reference to negotiating fair deals and ensuring companies are adequately capitalized without onerous terms. Today there are standard terms in VC: invest $ for preferred equity. But 4-5 decades ago that was an innovative structure compared to debt or other more restrictive structures.

But I look at this quote as having different meaning today: the best companies don’t just happen. They need a whole lot of substance and quality to grow upon. The best companies are robust throughout their entire organization:

• Leadership
• Recruitment and talent management
• Diversity and inclusion
• Customer engagement
• Product development
• Operational process
• Culture

And of course, there is a financial capitalization and balance sheet angle that is very relevant today as well. That capital does not create the “substance and quality” investment mindset, but can strengthen the organization as it grows.

Excellence doesn’t just happen. It takes intentional, hearty investment. The best businesses are not growing on thinly sliced salami.