Veriten, the energy research, investing, and strategy firm, has closed its debut fund, NexTen LP, with $85m in committed capital.
The NexTen fund is highly complementary to Veriten’s mission of identifying and advancing reliable, sustainable, scalable, and economically viable solutions with minimal environmental impact in a constantly evolving and volatile energy landscape, according to a news release.
The fund has made five investments to date, partnering with high-quality businesses that align with Veriten’s views on the direction of energy over the next decade. Participants in the NexTen fund include select energy companies and financial institutions, current and former energy operations and finance professionals, family offices, and Veriten team members.
The NexTen Advisory Board includes Jason Cansler, CEO of Birch Resources, Bob Gwin, former President and CFO of Anadarko Petroleum, and Marty Phillips, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Encap Investments.
“Our work at Veriten is in constant pursuit of understanding where the energy world is headed, with a practical and commercial focus on the next ten years,” said Veriten Founder & CEO Maynard Holt. “This work includes identifying the opportunities and challenges associated with societal ambitions, government policies, engineering and physical realities, and geopolitics, as well as the impact of new technologies, capital flows, and, importantly, financial returns.”
Founded in January 2022, Veriten partners with corporate and financial customers drawn from a full spectrum of energy, power, mining, industrial, and technology companies and provides custom research and strategic advice for management teams and boards. The NexTen fund is the latest addition to the Veriten platform and leverages the firm’s broad network and expertise to invest in private companies with the potential to capitalize on long-term energy solutions for consumers globally.
The firm’s leadership is comprised of its founder, Maynard Holt, Co-Founder and former CEO of the energy investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH), along with Jeff Tillery, former head of TPH Research, Arjun Murti, former head of Goldman Sachs Research, Mike Bradley, former head of TPH Capital Markets, and Todd Scruggs, former Treasurer and Vice President of Corporate Development at WPX Energy. Beyond the commercial efforts of the firm, two of the firm’s more well-known energy education efforts include its weekly “Close of Business Tuesday” podcast and “Super-Spiked” energy editorial. COBT has recorded over 215 episodes since March 2020, and Super-Spiked has been published weekly since November 2021.
“We have intentionally built a community of diverse perspectives that includes great friends, great energy thinkers, experienced energy leaders, and leading energy companies to create a powerful network and collaborative environment that we can call on,” added Holt. “Sorting out where energy is headed will require thinking about all the angles. We are really excited about the team, the investors, and the partners we are bringing together to try and crack the code to the next ten years in energy,” he added.
Todd Scruggs, Veriten’s Partner leading the NexTen fund, commented, “We look for companies that have strong leadership and partners, have developed products or services with existing customers that have broad applicability on trend with where we believe the energy world is going, and where Veriten and its partners can add value to the company.”
The NexTen fund’s current investments include:
- Amperon, the leader in AI-powered electricity analytics, provides mission-critical forecasts for businesses to navigate the energy complex and accelerate grid decarbonization.
- Emrgy, a provider of baseload, carbon-free power utilizing small scale hydro generation technology in water infrastructure assets across the globe.
- Mesa Natural Gas Solutions, a natural gas-powered distributed generation company focused on oil and gas as well as commercial and industrial remote power and power backup applications.
- Orbital Sidekick, a satellite-based asset monitoring provider utilizing hyperspectral technology to help energy, government, and mining customers meet their sustainability and other goals.
- Orennia, the leading data and analytics platform for energy transition investors and developers, with insights across solar, wind, carbon capture, storage, hydrogen, and renewable fuels projects.
