21 Peaks Capital Management

John Berger, the founder and managing partner, is the central decision-maker. Berger previously founded and led Sunnova Energy International as chairman and CEO from 2012 through 2023, taking the residential solar company public on the NYSE in 2019. He does not delegate investment decisions to a committee; the fund's size and concentrated portfolio allow him to personally evaluate and approve every commitment.

The firm makes pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital investments in startups developing hardware and software for distributed energy resources. Its thesis targets the 'grid edge' — technologies that enable decentralized generation, battery storage, virtual power plants, and electric vehicle infrastructure. The fund writes initial checks in the low hundreds of thousands and reserves capital for follow-on rounds in its highest-performing portfolio companies.

Yes, but with an emphasis on hardware-enabled software models. The firm seeks companies where a physical energy asset — a solar inverter, a battery, an EV charger — generates data or requires software coordination to reach economic viability. Pure SaaS energy plays are considered, but the firm's edge lies in evaluating the unit economics of physical asset deployment, a skill set drawn directly from Berger's operational background at Sunnova.

21 Peaks Capital Management closed its first fund at $4.5 million in committed capital, as disclosed in a Form D filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2024. The fund size is intentionally small to preserve a concentrated portfolio of 15 to 20 companies and allow the general partner to engage deeply with each founding team.

There is no formal institutional relationship. John Berger founded Sunnova and served as its CEO until 2023, but 21 Peaks Capital Management is an entirely separate entity with its own limited partners and investment mandate. Several of the firm's advisors and deal-flow sources are former Sunnova executives, creating an informal operator network that portfolio companies can access.

The firm's current fund is focused on the US market, with investments concentrated in states with advanced distributed energy adoption such as Texas, California, and the Northeast. Given the regulatory complexity of energy markets and Berger's domestic expertise, near-term international exposure is unlikely unless a portfolio company expands abroad post-investment.

The firm does not invest in upstream energy — exploration, production, or midstream infrastructure. It also avoids utility-scale renewable generation projects, as these are better served by project finance and infrastructure capital rather than venture equity. Fusion, long-duration grid storage not tied to residential or commercial loads, and nuclear technologies fall outside the current thesis.