The Power Moves Series: The EnerTech Approach to Going Beyond Capital with Portfolio Companies
- Jiajia Zhou
- Jun 25
- 5 min read
Chapter I: Tangent Energy Service
WHAT IS THE POWER MOVES SERIES
Too often, venture capital is seen as just a source of funding. But for EnerTech, capital is only the starting point—whether it's passive or active. Through this series of case studies, I want to highlight how EnerTech has been actively partnering with portfolio companies to shape strategy, navigate complex markets, and unlock long-term value—before, during, and even after an investment.
My goal is for readers—especially founders and operators—to see what it truly looks like when a venture firm leans in beyond the boardroom. If you're building in a hard-to-crack sector and looking for a partner who brings not just capital, but real-world operating experience, commercial insight, and deep ecosystem connectivity, I hope these stories show that we’re the kind of investor who builds with you—not just bets on you.
For corporate strategic partners and LPs, this series also offers a window into how EnerTech manages and grows portfolio companies—not only to drive returns, but to guide operational strategy, unlock strategic value, and manage legacy or long-tail venture assets. Whether you're considering direct investment, co-investment, or seeking a partner to help steward residual portfolios, this is how we work: thoughtfully, persistently, and side-by-side with the people building real solutions.
BACKGROUND
Tangent Energy™ is a leading Distributed Energy Resources (DER) provider that empowers energy retailers, municipal utilities and their Commercial and Industrial (C&I) customers with the technology, assets and managed services needed to capitalize on energy economic opportunities without disrupting normal operations. Tangent Energy’s comprehensive offering includes:
A Distributed Energy Resource Management System (Tangent AMP™)
An active management and monetization of customer loads in energy markets (Demand Design™)
The integration and monetization of behind the meter assets including branding from a global OEM
EXIT
At EnerTech, we strongly believe that true partnership extends far beyond capital. Our relationship with Dean Musser, CEO of Tangent Energy at the time of our exit, and the evolution from Dean’s previous company, Enerwise, to Tangent Energy exemplifies how strategic venture capital partners can enable a founder's vision, unlock new market opportunities, and catalyze long-term value creation.
BACKSTORY: Partnering Early with Vision and Structure - Structuring the Spin-Out from Delmarva Power
Our involvement began in 2000 when we first got to know Dean Musser’s startup, Enerwise, which was originally a corporate asset within Delmarva Power (a subsidiary of Conectiv and now part of Exelon). Rather than a traditional cash-only investment, we worked closely with Delmarva, one of our then-limited partners, to structure a unique deal: Delmarva contributed Enerwise as an in-kind asset alongside capital into our fund. This structure allowed Enerwise to spin out and operate independently while still retaining strategic alignment with the utility.
BEYOND CAPITAL: Strategic Guidance on Company Building
Our support didn’t stop at the investment. We collaborated closely with Dean and his team to guide:
Customer Targeting: Helping identify and refine Enerwise’s target customer segments across utilities and end users
Operational Strategy: Offering hands-on support in business planning and operational improvement, particularly around narrowing the focus to deeply validated, ROI-driven solutions rather than pursuing overly broad use cases
Customer ROI Modeling: Encouraging the company to build strong, math-backed business cases that helped their customers justify internal purchasing decisions and deliver that to the “right” point of contact—critical for long-term energy infrastructure projects
Our Founder & Managing Partner, Scott Ungerer, often reminds founders that, “in the energy (and almost any) sector, you don’t just solve a technical problem. You have to justify the investment on the customer’s behalf. That’s the business and math of it.”
NEW VENTURE: From Enerwise to Tangent
In 2007, Enerwise was successfully acquired by Comverge; after that, Dean eventually left his role and joined EnerTech as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR). Over the following six months, we partnered to launch a new venture, Tangent Energy. With a decade of collaboration behind us, both sides deeply understood each other's strengths and blind spots, enabling fast trust and strategic alignment.
Tangent’s mission focused on helping customers take meaningful action based on real-time insights about their energy assets. In many cases, customers in the power sector had the data, but lacked the capacity or expertise to act on it. Tangent’s value proposition evolved from “We will provide you info of your asset” to “How can you turn those insights into action”, and then, to “Why not let us take action on your behalf?”—transforming insights into integrated, financed solutions.
NAVIGATING CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR: Avoiding the Pilot Trap
We also worked with Dean and his team to avoid the trap of endless pilots, a common risk when engaging with large utilities. Many startups mistakenly spend too much time working with utility R&D teams, who are incentivized to explore but not necessarily to buy.
Our guidance to the Tangent team (and others in our portfolio):
Understand the utility's purchasing process: Who can say yes? Who can say no? What internal alignment is needed?
Push to engage the economic buyer early: Don’t stop at the tech champion—reach the budget owner and long-term decision maker
Be cautious of pilot programs that serve more as learning exercises for utilities, rather than as stepping stones to deployment
OVERCOMING THE CAPEX BARRIER: Bringing Capital to the Table
A critical challenge for Tangent’s customers was upfront capital expenditure (CapEx). Many clients wanted the benefit of renewable projects but didn’t want to self-fund them, preferring to use their capital for their growth. We helped Tangent navigate this by:
Collaborating with Management to explore third-party capital for project financing—sometimes from utilities like Duke Energy, other times from independent project financiers
Acting as a strategic bridge between technology and finance, enabling customers to adopt long-term solutions without upfront financial friction
LEVERAGING ENERTECH EXTENSIVE NETWORK: Scaling Impact Through Relationships and Insight
Throughout this journey, we also brought in experienced collaborators, such as investment banker Joe Mowery (Stephens), to support M&A strategy and ensure the company had access to the right financial networks. Our sector-specific knowledge and the relationships we had accumulated over two decades were shared across our portfolio, compressing the learning curve for new founders and companies.
One of the most rewarding moments came after Tangent’s eventual acquisition by Caterpillar. Dean said to Scott, “it was the first day in [23] years of close collaboration that we were not partners in business, proud yet sad moment for both of us.”—a testament to the trust and alignment we built over years of navigating challenges together.
EPILOGUE: Continuing the Mission Post-Exit
Our work didn’t stop at the acquisition. After Caterpillar acquired Tangent, we continued to play a connective and strategic role. EnerTech helped facilitate collaborative microgrid initiatives involving Caterpillar, Tangent, Alectra Utilities, and Linamar Corporation—bringing stakeholders together to push the boundaries of distributed energy and behind-the-meter innovation. In addition, Caterpillar became a strategic LP in our Global Strategic Mobility Fund alongside of 10 other major Corporate LPs (Smart Energy Water, Sacramento Utility Municipal District, Allison Transmission, Adient, American Axle, Linamar Corporation, Alectra Utilities, Pilot Company, WM, Martinrea International)
TAKEAWAY
This case is a strong example of EnerTech’s core belief: capital alone doesn’t build companies—relationships, insight, and persistence do. Through flexible deal structuring, strategic guidance, and collaborative leadership, we helped transform an internal utility asset into two successful companies that left lasting marks on the energy sector.
In Tangent’s case, we brought to the partnership:
Creative deal structuring (e.g., spinout from Delmarva)
Company-building support (not just product, but commercial validation)
Strategic buyer navigation (avoiding pilot purgatory)
Capital access beyond VC dollars (project financing)
The post-exit partnership also reflects our long-term philosophy: investors should stay active in building ecosystems, not just companies. That’s how real impact scales.
At EnerTech, we don’t just fund companies, we help founders build them—inside the room, in the trenches, and for the long haul.
- Jiajia Zhou
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