Ex-Meta CTO Raises $250M to Make Clean Energy Cheaper

Mike Schroepfer spent nearly a decade running technology at Meta, but now he's betting a quarter billion dollars that clean energy will win by being the best option, not just the right one.

Schroepfer just closed the first institutional fund for Gigascale Capital at $250 million, backing more than 25 early-stage companies building everything from nuclear microreactors to grid transformers. The fund's thesis is simple: solar power didn't take over because people got more environmentally conscious. It won because it got 15 times cheaper in a decade.

The companies in Gigascale's portfolio aren't selling virtue. They're selling performance. Radiant is approaching commercial deployment of nuclear microreactor technology in the US. Xcimer Energy completed the world's first private-sector electron-beam excimer laser this past June, a key step toward commercial fusion power. Arbor Energy signed a deal to deliver up to 5 gigawatts of zero-emission power for US data centers.

One portfolio company, Fractile, just raised $220 million to build AI chips that run calculations directly in memory, making them faster and more efficient. Another, Heron Power, brought in former Tesla executive Drew Baglino to build next-generation solid-state grid transformers after raising $38 million in May.

The timing reflects a broader shift in climate investing. Global climate tech venture capital hit $40.5 billion in 2025, up 8% from the year before. But the number of investors participating fell 11%, meaning money is concentrating in fewer, more serious bets on companies that can actually deploy at scale.

The Ripple Effect

This concentration of capital matters beyond any single fund. The climate tech market is projected to grow from $38.5 billion in 2024 to $115.4 billion by 2030. That growth creates jobs, drives down energy costs for everyone, and makes clean alternatives the default choice rather than the premium option.

Victoria Beasley, Gigascale's general partner, has spent over a decade in clean energy. "What's different now isn't narrative," she said. "Cost curves have moved, founders can build and deploy faster than ever, and companies being built today are winning on performance, not promise."

Gigascale competes with giants like Lowercarbon Capital, which manages over $2 billion, and Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which has deployed over $2 billion across 60-plus companies. But Gigascale is betting its narrower focus on early-stage, US-based companies and deep technical expertise in taking systems from prototype to deployment will give it an edge where most deep-tech companies typically stall.

The fund proves that making clean energy the cheapest option isn't just good for the planet; it's becoming one of the smartest bets in tech.