Spotlight on Allison Myers of Buoyant Ventures
Co-founder of Buoyant Ventures, Allison Myers, shares her journey from growing up in a small Colorado town to the forefront of software climate tech investing
In the field of climate tech, Buoyant Ventures is driving innovation with digital solutions. In this interview, co-founder Allison Myers shares her journey from growing up in a small Colorado town to the forefront of software climate tech investing. She shares the strategic vision behind Buoyant Ventures and its mission to leverage software technologies for environmental impact. In this insightful interview, Allison discusses how she got into climate tech investing, unique strengths of Colorado’s climate community, and the critical role of transparency in climate solutions. Dive into our conversation to discover how Buoyant Ventures is leading the charge in digital climate solutions.
Interview conducted by Hannah Davis and has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you tell us about Buoyant Ventures, why you founded it, and who it serves?
Allison Myers: Buoyant Ventures is an early-stage fund focused on seed and Series A investments. We target digital solutions for climate, mostly software, sometimes incorporating known off-the-shelf hardware. We use digital technologies to drive speed and scale in addressing climate mitigation and adaptation.
Software technologies are particularly efficient as they require minimal capital and are quick to deploy. My background and that of my co-founder Amy are in the digital and software sectors, which aligns with our investment thesis. We saw a need to layer these technologies on top of existing hardware and investments in the climate tech space.
We lead rounds, meaning we often say yes first, making it easier for others to follow. We're very involved with our portfolio companies and support them post-investment. As a recovering consultant, I enjoy getting deeply involved in strategy work and love helping our founders with anything they need. We also invest in market research, translating it into market insights and sharing it with our portfolio companies, investors, and sometimes our general newsletter.
Lastly, we are 100% financial first, meaning we believe that climate tech is an under-invested space and that there's a lot of financial opportunity to be rewarded by that investment.
Can you share a bit more about your background? Specifically, were you always in climate, or did you transition into it?
Allison Myers: I grew up in rural Colorado, near Edwards and Avon, which gave me direct access to the outdoors and a passion for it. After college, I lived in Philadelphia and helped start a nonprofit called Back on My Feet, which engages the homeless population through running. I also worked at a startup acquired by Walgreens, providing me with a unique experience of reporting to both the CEO of a startup who reported to the CEO of Walgreens, giving me insight into both companies. This experience highlighted CEOs' challenges and the differences between startups and large corporations. My learning through that experience was like an on-the-job MBA program. I’m grateful I had the opportunity to understand the startup and the larger corporate perspective. I also learned that healthcare was not the right fit for me, even though I saw the impact needed in the sector.
I then went to business school at the University of Michigan. There, I had the opportunity to work with the Acumen Fund. That and the Michigan Social Venture Fund were my first opportunities to engage in impact investing. Post-business school, I pursued strategy consulting at Accenture to gain structured thinking skills. During this time, I worked on energy, mobility, and built environment projects, which deepened my interest and experience in these areas.
From my time at Accenture, I saw a shift in my clients' mindsets from “I don’t want to talk about climate change, it’s a political topic that doesn’t make sense for me to touch” to “this is a huge risk to my business and I need to understand it”. I understood the speed and scale that was needed for these enterprise clients to understand their risk and we saw this as a huge opportunity. A friend of mine went off to work with my now co-founder Amy, which is how I got to know her. The idea of Buoyant and the need for digital climate solutions together was an ah-ha moment that connected my past work with what Buoyant has become.
What do you think about the Colorado climate community?
Allison Myers: Colorado is a fantastic place for climate tech. Starting North in Fort Collins, we have world-class resources like Colorado State University, with its focus on agriculture and soil, the energy hub, and the work Bill Ritter is doing there. Moving down to Boulder, we have a solid entrepreneurial community. Seeded by the work of Techstars, many tech companies have offices here and see it as a great place to attract talent.
Then, we have RMI, our national labs, and the School of Mines. Denver, and Colorado more broadly, have walked a thoughtful line on energy policy, considering both urban and rural communities which has positive impacts on the Colorado climate community.
There's a lot of potential for growth, and more investors focusing on Colorado would be beneficial… Efforts like the informal climate potlucks Yoni Cohn and I have started to help bring people together. Initiatives by people like Laura Hickernell at Colorado Cleantech Industries Association, who is working on mapping the Colorado market, are all valuable to building and maintaining the community we need for climate tech innovation.
Generally, Colorado is a state of transplants, and I think that creates a more inclusive and welcoming community for people to join.
What climate solutions are you most excited about right now, and can you share an example from your portfolio?
Allison Myers: I'm excited about organizations that bring transparency to our climate challenges. Companies that can answer the questions of how we are building our energy system, where the opportunities are, and how regulations influence those questions are bringing us the data we need for a more efficient energy transition. For example, HData uses regulatory data to create energy transition intelligence, making complex information accessible and useful. Another company, Audette, helps commercial real estate owners with decarbonization planning by simplifying upgrading and maintaining buildings with sustainability in mind.
Are there any significant challenges in your climate efforts, and what can the Colorado community do to support your work?
Allison Myers: One of our biggest challenges is finding early-stage software-driven climate companies. I'd love to connect with anyone working on software solutions for climate, especially in Colorado. More generally, fostering connections within the community and supporting each other can move the ecosystem forward.
Learn more about Buoyant and the innovation companies they’ve invested in here and connect with Allison on LinkedIn here.