Aaron Fyke, founder of Thin Line Capital and former serial entrepreneur, sees opportunities in the “2nd wave” of cleantech investing.
PASADENA, CALIF. (PRWEB) OCTOBER 08, 2019
Thin Line Capital, a Pasadena-based venture capital firm, announces the launch of their seed-stage fund with a first close of over $5 million, exceeding its initial target. The firm believes that, after the downturn in 2009, the industry has entered a “2nd wave” of cleantech investing, one where companies with less capital-intensive solutions can thrive supporting the now established solar, wind, EV, battery storage, and grid modernization markets. Thin Line Capital is founded and managed by Aaron Fyke, former serial entrepreneur, CEO of multiple companies at technology incubator Idealab, and partner with Starfish Ventures in Australia.
“The market drivers for an energy/sustainability revolution are as strong as they have ever been. However, we are now seeing companies address this need which are a better fit for the venture capital model.” Fyke said. “Just as we saw an enormous amount of success in internet investing post-2004 after the dot-com crash, we are now seeing a similar effect happening in cleantech investing, which makes this a very exciting time.”
The name “Thin Line Capital” and the firm’s reference that “Success Takes Commitment” is a nod to the struggles that all entrepreneurs go through. Fyke, who has been a co-founder of six startups, has positioned the firm to be a committed partner and advisor to the entrepreneurs that he works with. He feels that prior experience and understanding of the entrepreneurial journey is critical for early-stage investing.
Fyke has collaborated with Wavemaker Partners to establish Thin Line Capital as part of their family of funds. Wavemaker, a cross border venture capital firm dual headquartered in Santa Monica and Singapore with over $350M in assets under management, has a history of partnering with strategically aligned entities. In 2018 they collaborated to form Wavemaker 360 Health, an early stage healthcare fund; as well, they recently launched Wavemaker Labs, as a venture studio vehicle.
“Wavemaker Partners has historically succeeded by partnering with extremely talented entrepreneurs.” says Eric Manlunas, Founder and Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners. “We found that we could extend this model and leverage the assets, reach, and expertise of Wavemaker by supporting select early-stage sector specific funds. We’re extremely pleased to have formed this partnership with Thin Line Capital.”
Thin Line Capital has already made three investments to date:
- Sistine Solar: MIT startup with a low cost solar roof for commercial and residential customers.
- Digital Harvest: Predictive analytics company to better forecast crop harvest yield.
- Kevala Analytics: Intelligence software to accelerate the evolution of the electricity grid.
Thin Line Capital is part of a larger recent trend of many other smaller scale VCs, both in and out of the energy sector, that are targeting companies with smaller funding needs, that are closer to market adoption.
We are now seeing companies address this need which are a better fit for the venture capital model.
