Capital Series: Ben Kortlang, G2 Venture Partners

Aug 16, 2023

Ben Kortlang, partner at G2 Venture Partners, discusses his path to venture capital and climate investing, lessons from the Cleantech 1.0 wave, G2VP's investment approach, and insights into the clean energy transition. They also explore challenges in accessing capital for clean energy projects and the future of climate funds.

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ANECDOTE

How Ben's Climate Journey Began

Ben Kortlang began climate investing at Goldman Sachs after spotting economic opportunities in wind and solar in 2005-2006.
Early wins (Horizon, Suntech, SunEdison) convinced him to dedicate his career to sustainability and move to Kleiner Perkins.

ANECDOTE

Spinning Out In The Cleantech Winter

G2 spun out from Kleiner in 2016 during the darkest hour of the cleantech winter and raised $350M despite skepticism.
They retained Kleiner relationships and managed remaining Green Growth Fund responsibilities while building G2.

INSIGHT

Wait For Inflection Points

Hardware climate innovations take far more time and capital than typical VC fund horizons allow.
G2's strategy became to avoid early fundamental risk and invest at inflection points when technology and customers prove the business.

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This episode is part of our Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.

Ben Kortlang is a partner at G2 Venture Partners, or G2VP. Ben, alongside his partners, Brook Porter, David Mount, and Daniel Oros founded G2 Venture Partners in 2016 while working together as senior partners at Kleiner Perkins Green Growth Fund.

Ben and Jason have a great discussion in this episode about Ben's path to venture capital and his path to climate investing, his thoughts on the Cleantech 1.0 wave and some of the lessons learned, the formation story of the firm, their investment approach, how that's evolved over time and what they look for when they make investments. They also discuss the broader investment landscape and the clean energy transition overall, some of the blockers and some changes that Ben thinks could unlock faster progress.

In this episode, we cover:

[02:13]: G2 Venture Partners’ origin story and overview
[04:10]: Ben's initial interest in alternative energy
[06:11]: Takeaways from his experience at VC firm Kleiner Perkens
[14:51]: G2VP’s 2016 spinout during the darkest hour of the "cleantech winter"
[18:13]: Key lessons from cleantech investing
[20:25]: Examples from Tesla's 20-year journey to success
[22:30]: Cleantech's hardware challenge, software vs. hardware dynamics
[24:34]: The need for resilience after Cleantech 1.0 skepticism
[26:54]: G2VP's fundraising process and "inflection point investing" strategy
[30:13]: Their fund structure and expansion across verticals
[33:27]: LP composition changes and other differences between Fund 1 and Fund 2
[35:22]: Geography, capital intensity, and regulatory risk considerations
[39:32]: Balance between thesis-driven and opportunistic investments
[40:48]: How the firm and their LPs approach impact
[46:23]: Importance of deep research to identifying winners in B2B contexts
[50:32]: Ben's thoughts on valuing companies and confidence in exits
[53:43]: Addressing the "capital gap" for first-of-a-kind projects
[55:38]: Climate's potential integration across sectors, similar to mobile tech
[57:08]: "Additionality" in climate investing
[59:24]: Ben's take on institutional capital's hesitance to invest in climate
[01:03:10]: His take on whether we'll solve the climate crisis and how the world has to change
[01:06:31]: Ben's messages to CIOs of university endowments, founders of successful companies, and independently wealthy people

Get connected:
Ben Kortlang LinkedIn
Jason Jacobs Twitter / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective

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Episode recorded on Jul 25, 2023 (published on Aug 16, 2023)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant