
US oil major Chevron is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV), its venture capital arm for investing in emerging technologies.
Established by Chevron in 1999, CTV ‘s mission is investing in promising new technologies.
Since then, it has invested in over 140 companies with innovative technologies, such as Ionomr Innovations, which is working on pathways to enable lower carbon technologies like hydrogen production.
Chevron, which also makes the Texaco lubricant and grease products, says that smaller companies, including start-ups, are often the most fertile sources of innovative technologies, so nurturing these companies can help scale their technologies and contribute to a low-carbon future.
One area that CTV got in early was carbon capture and removal when it invested in Svante in 2014. Later in 2022, Svante piloted its technology.
The president of CTV, Jim Gable, said about this:
“That’s an example of us scouting the horizon, looking at technology that might impact our business in the future and getting involved early. Ten years ago, people were asking, ‘Hey, why are you investing in carbon capture?’ It has since become a core part of the business.”
With CTV being one of the first to invest in emerging technologies, Gable said this ultimately laid the way for establishing Chevron New Energies, which was set up in 2021 to speed up the development of low-carbon technologies. Gable also said that CTV’s success was due to the smart and energised people that it has been filled with over the years.