Nth Power

Nancy Floyd and Maurice Gunderson founded Nth Power in 1993. Floyd previously developed utility-scale wind projects in the US, and Gunderson had founded and operated energy-technology companies. Their combined operating experience in energy infrastructure differentiated Nth Power from generalist venture firms entering the sector in later cycles.

The firm invested from seed through growth stages in companies across the energy technology landscape, including power generation, energy storage, grid intelligence, advanced materials, and carbon management. Portfolio companies spanned both hardware and software serving the electricity, natural gas, and efficiency markets.

Nth Power raised four funds. The first closed at $121 million in 1997, the second at approximately $200 million, the third at a similar scale, and the fourth at $200 million in 2007. Limited partners included strategic energy corporations, CalPERS, and institutional investors who sought exposure to early-stage energy innovation.

In 2015, Nth Power announced it would not raise a fifth fund and would instead manage its remaining portfolio through exit (per Greentech Media, 2015). The 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent solar-manufacturing glut, in which several Nth Power portfolio companies competed, disrupted the exit environment for the 2007 vintage fund and cooled institutional appetite for follow-on energy-venture commitments.

Nth Power's first two funds generated liquidity events in early energy-technology markets — including the IPO of Evergreen Solar — before the broader cleantech boom of 2006–2008. The firm's later-fund vintage suffered from sector-wide factors that affected most cleantech investors. Its legacy is primarily as a category architect rather than a top-decile venture performer.

No. Nth Power wound down active new-investment operations after 2015. The firm's principals continued to manage existing portfolio positions and sit on portfolio-company boards through the natural exit cycle of the fourth fund, but no new deals have been originated under the Nth Power banner since the fund-raising cessation.

The firm operated as a dedicated, partnership-structured venture capital firm rather than a corporate venture arm or project-finance platform. It maintained a pure energy-technology mandate from 1993 forward, using standard venture governance with board seats and syndicate co-investors, and it did not pivot into generic software or life sciences when energy investing fell out of favor among limited partners in the early 2010s.