#148: $100M from Insurance Giant for U.S. Climate Tech Startups — Tim Krysiek, Managing Partner at MassMutual Ventures

⭐ My guest today is Tim Krysiek, Managing Partner at MassMutual Ventures.

MassMutual is an insurance and financial services firm with $460B in AUM, and MassMutual Ventures is their venture arm.

Their new US Climate Tech Fund represents $100M and is focused on early-stage opportunities (Series A and B) in climate intelligence, sustainable cities, and clean power. Initial check sizes are $2-5M.

Tim was previously Managing Director at Equinor Ventures where he worked across the energy value chain, including renewables, fusion, mobility, and storage. He was also a consultant at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (now S&P Global), a researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, and a political risk consultant at Google. 

Krysiek achieved all these great things because he got an MBA from Duke University, where I teach. (OK, I exaggerate slightly.) 

When not investing in world-changing companies, I hear that he’s an aspiring Eastern European cook focused on the 3Ps – pierogies, pelmeni, or potica.

---

🎙️ In this episode, we talked about:

• His team’s work investing in five climate tech unicorns

• How his study of geopolitics across twelve countries shaped him into an investor

• What their climate intelligence focus means in terms of cheaper data and falling processing costs

• How the Net Zero Tracker of corporate climate goals influences their thesis around voluntary carbon markets

• Why he’s excited about investing in proptech given the durability of buildings and the potential value that MassMutual can create for companies in that space

• What he means by keeping one foot on certain ground and the other on uncertain ground

• How much water he drinks per day and its relationship to the number of steps he takes per day

• His three favorite climate books and three favorite business books (Power Law, anyone?)

• And lots more

---

👍 Quick favor: Please leave a review or 5-star rating on your podcast player. This helps more listeners discover the climate CEOs and investors I interview here. 🙏

---

🌎 Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate founders, CEOs, and investors scale faster via the #1 peer group community in North America. Our invite-only cohorts grow through monthly meetings, annual retreats, and 1:1 coaching calls. Today’s highly vetted members represent over $8B in market cap or assets under management. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://entrepreneursforimpact.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 4x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 80,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.

And here's our weekly newsletter — A 2-minute summary of climate tech startups, impact investing, and leading with purpose (and a sense of humor). ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠