Discover how MassMutual Ventures is deploying $100M into early-stage U.S. climate startups, from clean power to climate intelligence, with lessons from geopolitics, unicorn hunting, and even pierogi-making.

⭐ 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.

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🎙️ 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

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