Greentown Labs' first Houston GM on what corporate VCs should focus on in climate tech

Greentown Labs named its first-ever Houston general manager in August, and she plans to bring her experience in the corporate world to boost the incubator’s connections to venture capital arms.

Timmeko Moore Love joined the Houston branch of the Somerville, Massachusetts-based climate tech incubator from Louisiana-based Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR). She worked in the company’s office in The Woodlands, where she headed up Entergy’s corporate venture strategy.

In an interview with Houston Inno, Love acknowledged the strength of Greentown Houston’s current partnerships with energy companies. Greentown Houston partners include BP PLC (NYSE: BP), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG), according to the incubator’s website. In April, Aramco Americas, the U.S. subsidiary of Saudi Arabia-based Saudi Aramco, was elevated to the highest level of partnership offered at the incubator.

“When you marry what we're doing here at Greentown and the right collaboration with corporate VCs, it really has to be those that are willing to look at things at an earlier stage, not necessarily looking at [for example] sourcing technology,” Love said.

From a corporate point of view, Love said Greentown’s event space makes it easier for founders and investors to meet and connect, leading to coalitions, funding rounds and potential exits. The accessibility that a startup incubator provides could also help introduce corporate investors to founders at the earliest stage of fundraising instead of later on in a company’s life.

Discussion about funding comes as venture activity continues to see a downturn from the heights of 2021 and early 2022. Crunchbase reported that global VC funding fell 53% year over year in the first quarter of 2023, while market research firm Climate Tech VC found investment in the sector dropped 40% year over year.

Among the subsectors feeling the pinch in 2023 is carbon technology, which followed a relatively strong Q1 with a flattening deal count nationwide in Q2, according to Pitchbook.

Love said one complicating factor for investors when it comes to climate tech is the capital-intensive nature of projects, especially at the pilot stage.

“That's where we do see challenges, quite frankly — where companies are looking for access to capital partners who are willing to go beyond when it's time to fully deploy at a pilot stage, where that capital and sensitivity is needed to support that level of operations, making sure that companies are well positioned for that transition,” Love said.

Juliana Garaizar, Greentown Houston’s chief development and investment officer, previously told Houston Inno in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse earlier this year that climate tech startups should prioritize strong pilot tests and corporate investment in the current funding climate.

Love’s experience in the corporate VC world comes as new research from the Greater Houston Partnership found high levels of corporate investment in Houston’s climate tech industry. While overall local investment declined from 2021 to 2022, Houston’s energy transition sector saw $6 billion invested in 2022, with corporate investors contributing to approximately $4 billion in deals, according to the GHP's Houston Facts 2023 report.

In addition to corporate investment, Love also said she wants to leverage Houston’s angel investor community. She described her role as that of a matchmaker between investors and founders.

“There is a very vibrant and active angel investment community that can be mobilized, and we're certainly making a connection,” Love said. “Again, changing the landscape in terms of investors that are willing to come in pre-seed, early-stage in climate (technology), that's going to take some time.”

Other aspects of Love’s new role will be ensuring Greentown Labs leverages the diversity of Houston’s entrepreneurs through partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities as well as accelerator programs.

Earlier in 2023, Greentown Labs launched the Advancing Climatetech and Clean Energy Leaders, or ACCEL, program in partnership with the Boston-based nonprofit Browning the Green Space. Two Houston startups, DrinKicks and Frakktal, were selected for the program’s first cohort.

A week after Love joined Greentown, the incubator named Kevin Knobloch, a former Department of Energy chief of staff during President Barack Obama’s administration, as its new CEO. Knobloch starts his role Sept. 5, succeeding Emily Reichert, who departed last year. A spokesperson for Greentown Labs confirmed that Knobloch will be based in Somerville but plans to travel often to Greentown's Houston location.