Four months after departing Grok Ventures — where he spent nine years as chief investment officer helping deploy Mike Cannon-Brookes’ billions into climate technology — Jeremy Kwong-Law has been focused on one of the sector’s most vexing problems: how to fund the critical transition from proven technology to deployed infrastructure.
While venture capitalists eagerly fund software startups and early-stage technology development, and infrastructure investors line up for proven solar farms and wind projects, there remains a missing middle that few are willing to touch.
Specifically, companies needing to build their first commercial plants often require investments of around $50 million, with projected returns of roughly 20% — too capital-heavy for venture capital, but too risky for traditional infrastructure investors.
“Venture capital sucks at doing that because it’s capital intensive, and the returns don’t work for venture — they need a huge return to make their funds work,” Kwong-Law tells Capital Brief.