Growth capital
Companies with revenue and established demand, raising capital to expand production and commercial operations.
The science is done. The company is not.
Pine Island Capital Partners invests in companies whose technology is proven, where the next challenge is building the business: scaling production, sales, and the organization.
Approach
In deep technology, venture capital funds research and early development and infrastructure and buyout capital funds businesses already operating at scale. Our specialty is in-between, where a company has demonstrated its technology and needs capital and experienced partners to grow into a commercial business. That is where we invest.
We invest only in a position of influence, often taking a lead role, where our capital and involvement materially shape the company's path. We work hands-on with first-time founders, many of them the inventors, on go-to-market strategy, production, and key hires. With experienced operators, we advise as peers.
Early commercialization
Selectively, companies before first revenue, when a proprietary technology has strong demand and a short path to market.
Team
Investment Team
John Thain
Chairman and Partner
Former President of Goldman Sachs, CEO of Merrill Lynch and NYSE Euronext.
Phil Cooper
Managing Partner
Multiple-time technology entrepreneur. Founding Partner of the Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group.
Charles Bridge
Partner and Chief Financial Officer
Former CFO at WAVE Equity Partners, MPM Capital, BCV and Brooke Private Equity Advisors.
Wm. Russell Mann, PhD
Partner
Fifteen years in private equity. Former portfolio manager at LOGe Risk Advisors and StratiFi.
Thomas J. Hardin, PhD
Principal, Investments
MIT PhD in materials science. Former Truman Fellow in National Security Science and Engineering at Sandia National Laboratories.
Madeleine Libero
Vice President, Investments
Former analyst at Morgan Stanley, the U.S. State Department Diplomacy Lab, and American University's ESG Fund.
Courtney Koczka
Vice President, Investor Relations and Chief of Staff
Former investor relations associate at VIDA Capital and USAA Real Estate.
Special Partners and Government and Regulatory Partners
All are partners in the firm and share in its carried interest. Each works on the transactions where their expertise applies.
Prof. Sir Ian Chapman
Special Partner
Chief Executive, UK Research and Innovation. Former CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
Prof. Justin Wark
Special Partner
Professor of Physics, University of Oxford. Principal Director of the Oxford Centre for High Energy Density Science.
David Greene
Special Partner
Venture and private equity investor, with capital raises and exits across more than 25 companies. Formerly at Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan.
Chris Mowry
Special Partner
CEO of Type One Energy Group. Formerly led General Fusion and founded mPower.
David Cohen Tanugi, PhD
Special Partner
Senior technology leader and climate-tech founder. Led fusion ventures at MIT Proto Ventures. MIT PhD.
Holger Koehler
Special Partner
Former Managing Director at Accenture and Associate Partner at Monitor Group.
Bart Gordon
Government and Regulatory Partner
Former U.S. Congressman. Former Chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology.
Sydney McNiff Johnson
Government and Regulatory Partner
Vice Chair of the International and Finance Working Group, U.S. Nuclear Industry Council. Former Principal, Dentons Global Energy.
Sourcing and Diligence
Our dealflow
The companies we invest in are small, and evaluating their technology takes specialized knowledge. We find them in three ways:
- The MIT network. Four of our partners (Thain, Cooper, Hardin, Cohen Tanugi) are MIT alumni, and 5 of our seven portfolio companies came through MIT's research and founder community.
- An in-house AI system. We run an internally built AI system that screens public sources for companies that fit our thesis and diligence capabilities.
- Referrals. A growing number of companies come to us by referral from founders and co-investors who have worked with us.
Our evaluation process
We look for proprietary technology protected by patents or process knowledge, established customer demand, and a credible path to sustainable profit at scale.
- Technical diligence draws on partners with careers in national laboratories, research programs, and deep-technology companies (Hardin, Chapman, Wark, Mowry, Cohen Tanugi).
- Financial diligence draws on partners from investment banking and private equity (Thain, Cooper, Bridge, Mann, Greene).
- Regulatory questions draw on partners from Congress and nuclear industry policy (Gordon, McNiff Johnson).
Select Areas of Focus
Defense Technology
Technologies for the defense of the US and its allies.
Examples include advanced components and subsystems, sensing and secure communications, energetics and propulsion, and manufacturing capacity for the defense industrial base.
Advanced Manufacturing
Technologies that change how products and materials are made.
Examples include advanced and specialty materials, industrial automation, specialized production equipment, and process technologies that raise yield or cut cost.
Power Generation & Grid Technology
Technologies for new firm generation and for moving power through the grid.
Examples include geothermal and other firm generation, and, for transmission and distribution, transformers, power electronics, grid stabilization and control, and instrumentation.
Heavy Industry
Technologies for extracting, processing, and moving bulk materials.
Examples include extraction and recovery of critical minerals and metals, synthesis and processing of bulk chemicals and commodities, and construction and logistics equipment.
Nuclear
Technologies for next-generation fission and fusion.
Examples include high-field magnets, gyrotrons, reactor components and subsystems, nuclear fuels and reactor-grade materials, and precision manufacturing of nuclear-qualified parts.
Autonomy
Technologies that let machines sense their surroundings and act without continuous human control.
Examples include perception and sensor fusion, navigation without satellite positioning, edge computing and control hardware, actuation and drive systems, and the test and assurance tooling autonomous systems need before they can be fielded.
Portfolio
AeroShield
Transparent aerogel insulation that fits inside standard double-pane windows and doors, made at the company's plant in Waltham, Massachusetts.
aeroshield.tech
Copernic Catalysts
A drop-in catalyst for existing ammonia plants that increases output and lowers operating cost.
coperniccatalysts.com
Expand Power
Transformers for utilities, solar developers, and data centers.
expandpower.com
Infinite Cooling
Monitoring and analytics for industrial cooling systems at data centers, power plants, and manufacturing plants.
infinite-cooling.com
Quaise Energy
Millimeter-wave drilling for deep geothermal energy.
quaise.com
SiTration
Silicon membranes that recover copper, lithium, nickel, and other metals from mining streams, refining streams, and recycled batteries.
sitration.com
Vatn Systems
Autonomous underwater vehicles for the US military and its allies, with in-house inertial navigation for operation without GPS.
vatnsystems.com