Introducing Piva — Investing in a New Era of Industry and Energy

Today, it’s with great pleasure that I’m able to announce the launch of Piva, San Francisco’s newest venture capital firm. While we’re joining the ranks of many VCs in the city, we are on a mission to back the people, companies and breakthrough technologies needed to usher in a new era of industry and energy.

We believe that the digital revolution that’s taken the world by storm is only now beginning to reach everyone and everything. But some of the most critical issues remain from climate change to improving industrial processes, materials, safety and security to making reliable, affordable energy more sustainable and broadly available for people around the globe.

The future of industry and energy is changing, and while the world has made progress in improving efficiency, cost, accessibility and scale in technologies like solar, wind, and additive manufacturing to name a few, we are only at the nascent stages of a global transition. This next phase of evolution will take years to decades and the founders looking to solve these complex issues need support.

Enter Piva — With the Perseverance to Turn Big Ideas into Reality

We are in a great place and moment in time to spur significant change. During the last 15–20 years in Venture Capital in Silicon Valley, I have seen tremendous innovation in the technology landscape. Today, innovators and entrepreneurs have many more “breakthrough” levers to work with: new types of materials and manufacturing processes; a vast increase in computing power; real time capability for communication and analysis of large amounts of data; and a willingness by customers to try new things and pay for them in different ways.

If you see what is happening in technology and innovation — particularly with the 4th industrial revolution, the continued energy transition and changes in mobility and transportation — the opportunities and the impact that they can have on our lives are endless. These are the opportunities that we want to help entrepreneurs and innovators pursue.

We started Piva under the strong belief that the founders and emerging companies ushering in this new era of industry and energy need an investor that brings a different approach to venture capital — one that is global, connected, fast-moving, makes big bets, and has the perseverance to turn big ideas into reality.

Beyond Capital — The A-Team for Industry & Energy

We built Piva in a way that is meant to leverage an experienced team, deep venture capital networks, seasoned judgement, operational expertise and speed. While we are fortunate to count one of the world’s largest visionary energy companies, Malaysia-based PETRONAS, as our partner and sole LP — we operate independently as a traditional VC firm.

This means that founders will get an agile, fast-moving and decisive investment team along with access to PETRONAS. This kind of access to a world leading energy corporation means invaluable technical and commercial expertise at a founders fingertips along with a global footprint that can help startups access new markets and grow — particularly in SouthEast Asia which is one of the fastest growing regions in the world.

But Piva’s core strength comes from its world-class investment team (with four full time investors and four venture partners to date) who understands the complex technical challenges facing industry and energy today and thinks long-term in their support of the founders developing much needed solutions.

Joining me on the Piva team is:

● Adzmel Adznan — Partner and Operating Manager who comes to Piva with 12 years of technical and commercial experience from PETRONAS.

● Bennett Cohen — Partner and Kauffman Fellow who brings 15 years of experience from the likes of Rocky Mountain Institute and Shell Ventures where he opened their San Francisco office.

● Maria Buitron — Associate with years of experience from Schlumberger Business Consulting, Accenture Consulting and Stem Energy. Maria has also just been named on the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 List for Energy.

Our Venture Partners, adding decades of experience and complementary capabilities to Piva, include:

● Issam Dairaneh — Operating Partner at Ascent Capital Holdings who brings over 30 years of experience, 18 of which were at BP where he led BP Ventures and BP Alternative Energy.

● Michael Idelchik — Innovative Thought Leader, Board Member and Executive Advisor with 39 years of experience from GE, most recently as VP of Advanced Technology for GE worldwide.

● Robert Siegel — General Partner at XSeed Capital and Lecturer in Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Robert brings decades of expertise as a creative entrepreneur and early stage investor.

● Steve Foster — Former Managing Partner at ClearSky Power and Technology Fund, Steve offers 35 years of technology and energy experience including 20 years in private equity and venture capital from Altira Group and TPG.

Investing in a New Era of Industry and Energy

At Piva, we’re looking to work with top tier partners and like-minded VCs to invest in a new era of industry and energy. From the future of industry and energy to the future of materials and production — we’re investing in visionary entrepreneurs developing and commercializing disruptive technologies that will help shape our world for decades to come.

If you are interested in learning more about Piva and our team, please feel free to reach out. We look forward to working with you. For more information, please visit http://www.piva.vc/.

About Ricardo Angel, CEO & Managing Partner, Piva

Ricardo brings more than 25 years of operational and investing experience in the energy and industrial sectors. Prior to starting PIVA in 2019, Ricardo was a founding Managing Director at GE Ventures, where he led origination and investments in energy, oil and gas, industry and natural resources. While at GE, he also served as the Managing Director for Energy Technology Ventures (ETV), a $300 million joint venture formed by GE, NRG Energy, Inc. and ConocoPhillips.

Ricardo joined GE from Chevron’s Venture Capital and group and before that worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and at the CNA Corporation. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and Bachelors, Masters and PhD degrees in Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.