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John Tough posted this⚡ Hiring Alert ⚡ Thrilled to welcome Sam Austin to Energize Capital as a Principal on our Endurance platform. Endurance is our growth buyout platform that focuses on capitalizing profitable climate technology & services companies. At Energize we believe that the climate, energy & industrial market deserves a specialist from venture to buyout. To execute that mission we must bring in the best talent with industry exposure and finance. Rarely does an investor cross both arenas and Sam brings that exact set of experiences. Sam is a powerful addition to our Endurance team, alongside Meredith Breach Bos, Mark Tomasovic and Elisabeth Spencer. Big moves being made by Kevin Stevens and Alan Glass!
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John Tough shared this⚡ $21M funding announcement! Some teams feel destined to work together- and the Energize Capital + Halcyon combination is one of those natural stories.⚡ The Energy markets deserve an AI-native data platform, and Energize believes that Bruce Falck, Nat Bullard, Alex Klaessig, Alexander Huras and Sam Steyer are the perfect team to execute that opportunity. This is going to be a really exciting journey and the all of Team Energize is behind this effort. Tyler Lancaster Juan Muldoon Katie McClain Lauren Densham Kevin Stevens Alan Glass Eileen Waris Ana Hugener Anson MacKinney Meredith Breach Bos Mark Tomasovic Agustina Soriano Sergi Elisabeth Spencer
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John Tough shared this💪 Hiring announcement (#2 of the past week!) 💪 Excited to build out Energize's EDGE value creation team with the hire of a Director of Portfolio Finance & Operations. EDGE is a key part of Energize Capital’s specialist differentiation. Our value creation platform accounts for nearly a quarter of our team, and it's made up of committed industry vets who know how to support businesses and work with leadership. They executed almost 150 in-depth projects with portfolio companies last year and 2026 will only grow from here. We’re looking for someone who truly understands the journey of growing a software or SaaS business — ideally someone who has operated within, and driven outcomes for, VC- or PE-backed companies. This is a role for a seasoned finance leader who has seen scale done well (and not so well) and can now partner with founders to build durable systems, financial rigor, and operational discipline. The right person will be comfortable working alongside both founders and investors — bridging operating expertise with an asset management mindset to help companies mature and perform at the next level. This role will join us in our Chicago offices. More here: https://lnkd.in/gewXHkvw
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John Tough shared this⚡ We’re growing the team at Energize! ⚡ One of the most exciting parts of building a firm is the people you get to build it with. At Energize, WE believe our outcomes are tied directly to the quality, ambition, and character of the team — and now we’re expanding in Chicago to support founders building the digital infrastructure for climate. We’re currently hiring two investor roles on our Ventures team: 💪 Principal, Ventures — a senior investment role focused on shaping and driving our strategy, leading deal sourcing, diligence, and partnering with founders. 🔗 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gBBPnwuk – Principal, Ventures 💪 Senior Associate, Ventures — ideal for an exceptional investment professional ready to take the next step and deepen impact across sourcing, diligence, and execution. 🔗 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gsNujEvq – Senior Associate, Ventures 📍 Based in Chicago, IL If you or someone you know might be a fit, please take a look and reach out. Come help us Build What's Next! ⚡
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John Tough shared this💥 ⚡ Fundraising Alert for NEW Energize Capital Investment ⚡💥 Energize Ventures III is leading a $16M Series A round into Nixtla Nixtla is the leader in building foundational AI models for time series forecasting. With an increasingly digitized energy & industrial infrastructure layer, the ability to analyze and drive results from the explosive growth of time series data is a huge market opportunity. Max Mergenthaler Canseco and Cristian Challu, Ph.D. are leaders in this market and we are thrilled to partner alongside them. Kudos to Juan Muldoon and Agustina Soriano Sergi for taking governance roles at the company and representing Energize Capital on this journey. Tyler Lancaster Eileen Waris Ana Hugener Anson MacKinney Katie McClain Lauren Densham
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John Tough shared thisAI is eating software. But industrial software isn’t being displaced — it’s absorbing AI and getting stronger because of it. In energy, infrastructure, and industrial markets, software sits inside long-lived, mission-critical workflows. These platforms hold trusted data, operate as systems of record, and integrate directly into the physical world. That’s why AI shows up as an accelerant, not a replacement in industrial technology. We’re seeing this firsthand across companies like Sitetracker, ZEDEDA, GreenLite, GridStrong, Nixtla, and Halcyon — where AI improves outcomes, expands margins, and deepens customer relationships rather than hollowing them out. The next generation of durable software won’t fight AI. It will grow with it. Energize Capital https://lnkd.in/g-dTefMqAI Is Eating Software. Industrial Software Eats With It.AI Is Eating Software. Industrial Software Eats With It.
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John Tough shared thisAt Energize Capital we are a research-led investment firm. Within the climate landscape we believe cybersecurity is a crucial part of building, maintaining, and defending next-generation critical infrastructure assets. Anson MacKinney and our ventures team, led by Juan Muldoon and Tyler Lancaster, recently published a summary of our perspective on the space. Between our investment in Nozomi Networks and their $1BN exit and the ongoing success of Finite State, we have conviction and experience in these markets. Please reach out if you want to cover the sector!
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John Tough shared thisThe #1 item on Energize Capital's Order of Operations is: "Create a standard of Excellence within Team Energize" The talent and excellence within our team motivates me every day to be better. Seeing our team members grow in skill and and elevate their influence across the industry brings me great pride. We choose to grow with the climate market, and I am pleased that our team is growing in size and experience to serve this opportunity. We achieved excellence across the firm, and 5 promotions for leveling up: - Agustina Soriano Sergi to Senior Associate on Ventures - Elisabeth Spencer to Associate on our Endurance - Robiny Jamerson to Senior Marketing & Comms Manager - Josh Clayton to Senior Portfolio Finance Manager - Suzanne Skibicki to Senior Accounting & Finance Associate The promotions were across each pillar of our firm: investments, EDGE, operations. Big things ahead for this crew, and the rest of our team in 2026. The climate market deserves a specialist. WE are building that team. Kevin Stevens Katie McClain Tyler Lancaster Alan Glass Juan Muldoon Lauren Densham
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John Tough reposted thisJohn Tough reposted thisHappy Holidays from Energize Capital! Amid a year of complexity and transformation, we're grateful for the builders, operators, and investors that made 2025 a watershed moment for energy, climate, and industrial technology. We're ready for the year ahead. Read John Tough's holiday message in our final newsletter of 2025: https://lnkd.in/gsnSCwtX
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John Tough liked thisOur CIO, Luke Carroll, dives deep into the uncomfortable truth of AI's current cycle, questioning which layers will capture lasting profits and which will ultimately bear the cost. Link below to find out ⬇️John Tough liked thisEvery great technology cycle has the same question: who pays, and who profits? In AI, the answer right now is uncomfortable for almost everyone except a handful of upstream suppliers. Nvidia is earning software-grade margins selling hardware. SK Hynix and TSMC sit alongside it. Their customers – the hyperscalers – are spending $660–750B this year. The model labs they fund are losing billions, with no end in sight. Software and application layer companies are seeing a rewriting of their margin profile to ~30-50%, putting huge pressure on valuations as we see in the public market today. The cycle is being subsidized by everyone: – Ratepayers, absorbing grid expansion/energy costs – Device buyers, absorbing the most severe memory shortage in industry history – Hyperscaler shareholders and bondholders, writing the capex check – Venture capital, subsidizing the model-layers Eventually, the bill will come due. The question for investors is which layer captures durable economics over the long-term and which will regress and or commoditize. Railways built wealth mostly for the companies that used them, not the ones that laid the track. Fiber optic cable in was the same pattern. However, AWS broke this mold by creating defensible moats and building end products that took advantage of its position. If a lab’s model can become the default runtime for thousands of enterprise workflows, and switching costs accumulate through fine-tuning, proprietary integrations and data, then pricing power comes not from the model itself but from the ecosystem around it. In our latest Venture Pulse, we map where AI's profit pool sits today, why pressures may cause a shift, and what separates Phase 1 (raw scale, thin moats) from Phase 2 (workflow lock-in, real economics). Full article: https://lnkd.in/e3jP_iK4
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John Tough liked thisJohn Tough liked thisLoved contributing to Vita Poetica's Spring 2026 issue with a review of Wonderstudies, the latest poetry collection from David Bailey out of MOUNT VISION PRESS. My review - https://lnkd.in/gGknmedN The book - https://lnkd.in/g6gb8azq Congratulations to David on this beautiful little book, and thank you to Vita Poetica for the opportunity to spend some time in poetry-brain. Check out the issue!
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John Tough liked thisJohn Tough liked thisCode has stopped waiting for us. But the real promise is beyond context, it's in the compounding. Yesterday I made the case to 7,000 leaders at POSSIBLE 2026, on the #AIVerse stage that AI Trailblazers built with the POSSIBLE team. True enterprise edge comes with knowing, and remembering, your business. You can paste in context, but context fades. Intelligence you own can learn and grow. That is the line that fundamentally matters right now; owners compound and renters start over. We showed what owning it looks like. InstaWorkers on InstaBrain, in production at Nissan. Thank you to my AI Trailblazers co-founders Greg Kahn and Shiv Singh, to Christian Muche 🔜 POSSIBLE and the POSSIBLE team for the partnership, and to our friends at Inspired Thinking Group (ITG) adMarketplace, GWI, InnovationForge AI, Storyteq, NinjaCat, Rembrand, and Transparent Partners. The next decade belongs to operators who own their intelligence. #InstaLILYAI #AIVerse #Possible2026 InstaLILY AI
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John Tough liked thisJohn Tough liked this"Is your car a Tesla?" "No, a Maserati." I spent a week driving Maserati's two-door electric sports car, the GranTurismo Folgore. It's fast, stunning to look at — but the most fun I had was that one interaction, after I'd asked the front desk at a hotel whether there was a charger on-site. Speed is easy in an EV. Joy, much harder. The details, in Axios Pro Deals: https://lnkd.in/ecrdchDF #electricvehicles #ev #mobility #carsWheels: Maserati's EV sports car is super-fast, to a faultWheels: Maserati's EV sports car is super-fast, to a fault
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John Tough liked thisJohn Tough liked thisBig day for ESS. We’re expanding beyond long-duration into a full-spectrum, non-lithium energy storage platform. Our partnership with Alsym brings next-gen sodium-ion capability into the portfolio—unlocking short and medium duration applications while staying true to what we believe: safer, more sustainable alternatives to lithium. Iron flow + sodium-ion = a clear path to cover the full storage stack. https://lnkd.in/gX-Swdcb
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John Tough liked thisWe're very excited to share Smartcar is now an integration partner of Volkswagen Group Info Services AG! Developers building with Smartcar will be able to connect to Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Škoda, SEAT, CUPRA and Audi models via a single connection across more than 30 European countries. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/d59ZDY4vJohn Tough liked thisWelcome, Smartcar! 🔌 We’re excited to welcome Smartcar as a new integration partner for Charging Data and Charging Control. Smartcar is a leading API platform for connected vehicles, helping businesses build mobility solutions that give drivers full control over their vehicle data, using a unified API and consent‑first approach. Their focus is on high‑impact EV use cases, including: ✅ Monitoring state of charge (SoC) for smart charging workflows ✅ Accessing battery and charging data for energy management applications ✅ Remotely starting, stopping, and scheduling charging via driver‑approved profiles ✅ Enabling grid use cases such as demand response and load balancing Smartcar, we are happy to have you!⚡🚗
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John Tough liked thisJohn Tough liked thisThere are opportunities in life that push you way outside of your comfort zone. On this occasion, meeting the sitting President of the United States was the easy part. During my college years, I was a member of The Baker's Dozen, one of Yale's a cappella groups. We were invited to perform at The White House. As a Bass 2, I had one solo: the song "Little Red Riding Hood,” a flirtatious little number from 1966. Which I sang directly to First Lady Laura Bush. While President Bush watched. Oh, and armed Secret Service, too. Somewhere between the first note and the last, something clicked—I stopped managing the anxiety and just performed, coy lyrics and all. I've stood on a lot of stages since that day: Beyond4, RLC, and rooms full of restaurant operators who know their business better than anyone. Each time, I lean on lessons I learned in that East Wing performance: confidence, trust in myself and my team, and the guts to go all in. Even when it's not obvious in the moment, every opportunity is building you for what comes next.
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John Tough liked thisJohn Tough liked thisSo far in 2026 we've seen several leading energy + industrial enterprises stand up "AI SWAT teams"... We've seen a version of this before. Rewind 10 years ago when the "Chief Data Scientist" or "Chief Digital Officer" role emerged to centralize digital initiatives. That led to lots of talk, many pretty slides on digital transformation and plenty of [mostly useless] dashboards, but limited impact on day-to-day operations... I think technology has advanced enough that this time CAN BE DIFFERENT. But will organizations buy in to change? Energy & industrial operators have a chance to drive meaningful change and get it right because in these settings, real ROE always outweighs tech hype. The best examples of effective "AI SWAT teams" combine IT and OT operators (usually VP level) with deep curiosity, high agency to execute, clear goals and expectations (cost reduction and / or enabling growth), and real budget to get there. At Energize Capital, we are excited to see how "build v buy" decisions evolve across these early movers and how organizational structure adopts to redesigned workflows.
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John Tough liked thisJohn Tough liked thisAs Illuminate USA continues to scale domestic solar manufacturing, we’re proud to see Art Fletcher, who initiated and led Invenergy’s domestic manufacturing efforts, step into the CEO role. This reflects our continued commitment to reshoring America’s manufacturing capacity with deep operational experience and a long‑term focus on strengthening supply chains. We look forward to seeing what Illuminate will accomplish under Art's leadership. Read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/g2fCwhH8
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