Thin Line Capital, a Pasadena-based venture financing firm, announces the launch of the seed-stage fund with a first close of more than $5 million, surpassing its first target. The firm believes that, following the recession in 2009, the sector has entered a”2nd wave” of cleantech investing, one where businesses with less capital-intensive solutions can thrive supporting the currently 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’ve ever been. But, we’re now seeing companies tackle this demand which are a better match 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’re now seeing a similar effect occurring in cleantech investing, which makes this an extremely exciting time.”
The name “Thin Line Capital” along with the company’s mention that “Success Takes Commitment” is a nod to the struggles that all entrepreneurs go through. Fyke, that has been a co-founder of six startups, has positioned the firm to be a committed partner and advisor to the entrepreneurs that he operates with. He feels that prior experience and comprehension of the entrepreneurial travel is essential for early-stage investing.
Fyke has collaborated with Wavemaker Partners to establish Thin Line Capital as part of the family of capital. In 2018 they collaborated to form Wavemaker 360 Health, an early stage healthcare fund; also, they recently established Wavemaker Labs, as a venture studio automobile.
“Wavemaker Partners has historically succeeded by dealing with extremely talented entrepreneurs.” Says Eric Manlunas, Founder and Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners. “We discovered that we can expand this model and also leverage the assets, reach, and experience of Wavemaker by encouraging select early-stage sector specific funds.
Thin Line Capital has already made three investments thus far:
- Sistine Solar: MIT startup using a very low cost solar roof for residential and commercial customers.
- Digital Harvest: Predictive analytics company to better forecast crop harvest return.
- Kevala Analytics: Intelligence software to accelerate the growth of the electricity grid.
Thin Line Capital is a portion of a bigger recent trend of several other larger scale VCs, both in and outside of the energy industry, that are targeting companies with smaller funding requirements, which are closer to market adoption.
