Odyssey

At Equal, we believe that the clean energy transition will leapfrog the centralized grid in emerging markets. The IEA expects demand for power in emerging markets to grow 3x faster than in the US. Renewables will meet the majority of this demand, and should have 6–7x capacity in emerging markets compared to the US in the next 10 years. The WEF expects over $1T in investments to flow into emerging markets in the next 7 years to support this influx of new clean energy infrastructure projects. These projects have also already demonstrated the ability to achieve significantly higher IRRs than their OECD counterparts. Despite this rapidly growing demand, institutional investors have struggled to tap into these projects given lack of access to local developers and lack of data integrity of the underlying projects. Underwriting and investing in a solar project in New Jersey is different from doing the same in Nigeria. This is amplified by the struggles developers face in accessing capital outside their immediate localities, making it even more difficult to afford the IT infrastructure necessary to have robust data supporting these projects (which is ultimately necessary for them to access capital). This dynamic has inhibited the growth of the market for decades. Fortunately, it seems that Odyssey Energy Solutions has cracked the code.

Prior to becoming a VC, I spent the first half of my career in the clean energy space before “pivoting” into technology investing about 10 years ago. I spent my early years running around the Department of Energy and working with utility clients, but the last 18 months of my tenure at Deloitte was spent working in our Emerging Markets practice. I got to work on some amazing projects, playing a role in the deployment of billions of dollars into clean energy infrastructure projects.