Piva Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Piva Capital is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, founded in 2019 by Ricardo Angel (former founding Managing Director of GE Ventures), that finances industrial innovation across the early and growth stages. The firm is explicitly thesis-driven, seeking founders and emerging companies with foundational, cross-industry technological solutions capable of transforming trillion-dollar markets. Piva looks for platforms with substantial deployment value and scalable sales potential, run by executive teams with high entrepreneurial drive, at the inflection point between scientific breakthrough and mass-market commercial impact. The firm frames its mission as "Transforming Industry for People & Planet," with philosophy pillars around performance, stewardship, inclusion, integrity, responsiveness, and transparency.
Sector Focus
Piva organizes its thesis around three technology verticals:
- Future of Industry & Work — IoT, AI, robotics and automation; supply chain and logistics; additive manufacturing; security and resiliency.
- Future of Materials & Production — specialty chemicals and new materials; resource efficiency; food and alternative proteins; waste-to-value and circular economy.
- Future of Energy & Mobility — energy transition and decarbonization; electrification of everything; digitalization of mobility; smart cities.
This breadth is reflected in the portfolio: steel decarbonization (Boston Metal), geologic hydrogen (Koloma), long-duration energy storage (Malta), superconducting power delivery (VEIR), behind-the-meter batteries (Branch Energy), home electrification (Lunar Energy), metal and polymer additive manufacturing (Alloy Enterprises, VELO3D), industrial zero-trust security (Xage Security), autonomous electric aviation (Pyka), alternative proteins (Oobli, Plantible), robotic solar deployment (Planted Solar), last-mile logistics (OneRail), and spatial AI (Worlds.io).
Stage Focus & Check Size
Piva invests from early to growth stage at commercial inflection points. External aggregators describe Piva's debut ~$250M fund (closed 2019, backed by PETRONAS) with initial checks in the roughly $1M-$15M range, though the firm now regularly co-leads or leads growth rounds well above that (e.g., a $33M Series B in Branch Energy, a $232M combined Series C/D in Lunar Energy). Confidence on precise check-size boundaries is moderate since Piva does not publish check size on its own site.
Lead Tendency
Piva frequently leads or co-leads: portfolio company quotes describe Piva as "the perfect lead investor" for INERATEC's Series B, and press coverage confirms Piva co-led Branch Energy's 2026 Series B and Planted Solar's growth round.
Recent Activity
Piva has been active through 2025-2026: it co-led Branch Energy's $33M Series B (Sept 2026), backed Lunar Energy's $232M Series C/D (Feb 2026), participated in Boston Metal's $51M convertible note (Jul 2025) and Xage Security's $15M round (Dec 2025), and backed Planted Solar's $12M raise (Jul 2025). Two portfolio companies exited in the past year: Alloy Enterprises was acquired by Johnson Controls (signed Feb 2026, closed May 2026) and Urbint was acquired by Itron (announced Oct 2025). In August 2026, Piva expanded its investment team, adding Sushil Purohit (former Wärtsilä Energy President) as Venture Partner, promoting Lee Larson to Principal, and adding two new investors.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable portfolio companies include VELO3D (public via SPAC merger, NYSE: VLD), Boston Metal (steel decarbonization, $500M+ raised across rounds), Koloma (geologic hydrogen, backed by Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Amazon among others), and two 2025-2026 exits: Alloy Enterprises (acquired by Johnson Controls) and Urbint (acquired by Itron).
Team
Piva's team combines energy/industrial operating experience with venture investing:
- Ricardo Angel, PhD — CEO & Managing Partner; founder of Piva; previously founding Managing Director of GE Ventures and led the $300M Energy Technology Ventures JV (GE, NRG, ConocoPhillips).
- Adzmel Adznan — Co-Founding Partner; formerly built PETRONAS Ventures, the firm's corporate VC arm.
- Lisa Read Blanco — Partner & Legal Counsel; former GC/CCO of Energy Technology Ventures.
- Adam Lasics — Partner (Strategy & Operations); prior GE Ventures/GE Energy Financial Services investor.
- Maria Buitron — Principal; former Schlumberger Business Consulting.
- Lee Larson — Principal (promoted Aug 2026); joined 2024 after Piva's Summer Associate Program; ex-TPG Rise Climate.
- Julie Barger, Genevieve Hummer — Investors, joined the investment team in 2026.
- Sushil Purohit — Venture Partner (joined Aug 2026); Group CEO of Gentari, former President of Wärtsilä Energy.
- Tony Di Bona — Chief Financial Officer.
Decision Process
Piva operates as a partnership rather than a solo-GP shop, with a defined investment team (partners, principals, investors) and a bench of venture partners and senior advisors who support diligence and portfolio commercialization.
Founder Preferences
Piva looks for "inventors, rebels, iconoclasts" — mission-driven, technically deep founders challenging conventional wisdom in industrial and energy markets, typically with hardware-plus-software platforms and a credible path to commercial deployment at scale.
Geographic Focus
Piva is headquartered in San Francisco (4 Embarcadero Center) but invests globally — its team and network span more than 90 countries on six continents, and the portfolio includes European hard-tech companies (INERATEC in Germany).