I invest where energy and industrial infrastructure actually gets built.
Deep-tech climate investor. At Azolla Ventures I back hardware and hard science — the physical systems that get energy and industrial infrastructure sited, built, and run at gigaton scale. Principal at Azolla Ventures — previously at NextEra Energy Investments, and deep tech at Lockheed Martin.
Af Hernandez
Principal, Azolla Ventures
I back deep tech — hardware and hard science that abate carbon at gigaton scale. At Azolla, that means leaning into the physical layer: software alone rarely clears ≥0.5 Gt of annual abatement, hardware gets there more directly.
I've underwritten energy from three sides: hardware-side deep tech at Lockheed Martin, software and AI investing at NextEra Energy Investments — where the mandate was the digital layer, not the physical one — and now deep-tech climate venture at Azolla Ventures, back on the hardware side by choice.
| education |
MBA, Haas School of Business — UC Berkeley BS, Finance and Real Estate — University of Central Florida |
| experience |
Azolla Ventures (2024–present) NextEra Energy Investments (2021–2024) Ecosystem Integrity Fund (2019–2021) Lockheed Martin (2010–2018) |
| investments |
EQON Dig Energy Rain Aero Urbint acquired by Itron, 2025 ThinkLabs AI GE Vernova spinout Blumen Transect NZero acquired by Asuene, 2025 NCX |
| based | San Francisco, California |
| # | focus | thesis |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | pre-consensus sourcing | right about the forcing function before it's consensus — not early on the tech, early on the timing |
| 02 | overlooked founders | outliers who don't pattern-match — unconventional paths, unglamorous problems. consensus capital skips them; that's the edge |
| 03 | deep tech | hardware and hard science reach gigaton scale directly that clears 0.5 Gt |
| 04 | industrial resilience | interconnection, hardening, robotics for high-risk field work — unglamorous, and usually skipped |
Venture AF
A monthly, pre-consensus look at deep tech and hard science in energy and industrial infrastructure — what clears the gigaton bar, and what doesn't, before it's consensus.
Get in touch.
Building deep tech for energy, industrial systems, or high-risk field infrastructure? I want to hear about it.
| af@azollaventures.com | |
| linkedin.com/in/afnajjerh ↗ | |
| newsletter | ventureaf.substack.com ↗ |
| based | San Francisco, California |