# Nancy Pfund
Nancy Pfund is a venture capital investor, founder and managing partner of DBL Partners, a firm that invests for both financial return and social or environmental impact, and she is best known for early backing of Tesla, SolarCity, and Pandora.[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) • [2](https://som.yale.edu/podcasts/career-conversations/impact-investing-nancy-pfund-82-founder-managing-director-dbl) Yale School of Management counts Tesla, SolarCity, and Pandora among her successful investments.[2](https://som.yale.edu/podcasts/career-conversations/impact-investing-nancy-pfund-82-founder-managing-director-dbl)
| Fact | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Role | Founder and Managing Partner, DBL Partners[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) |
| Education | BA and MA in anthropology, Stanford University; MBA, Yale School of Management[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) |
| Earlier career | Hambrecht & Quist from 1984; Managing Director in Venture Capital at JPMorgan after its 1999 acquisition[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) • [3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/) |
| Signature deals | Early Tesla bet (2006); SolarCity board 2008 to its December 2016 sale; Pandora director before its IPO[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/) • [4](https://votesolar.org/team/nancy-pfund/) • [1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) |
| Latest fund | $600 million fourth fund, raised 2021, aimed at climate tech and wildfire prevention[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/) |
| Current boards | Bellwether Coffee, Chestnut Carbon, Rain, Spatial, Zola Electric[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) |
| Honors | Fortune Eco-Innovators #17 (2014); Fast Company Most Creative People (2016); Forbes 50 Over 50: Investment (2023); Impact Leadership award and Springboard Investor of the Year (2024)[4](https://votesolar.org/team/nancy-pfund/) • [1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) |
## Early career and education
Pfund holds a BA and an MA in anthropology from Stanford University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) She began her investment career at the investment bank Hambrecht & Quist in 1984 and worked there for roughly two decades; the bank was acquired by Chase Manhattan in 1999.[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) • [3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/) • [8](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/29/business/chase-agrees-to-acquire-hambrecht-quist.html) At JPMorgan, where she was a Managing Director in Venture Capital, she started an in-house impact investing strategy in 2003.[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) • [3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/)
## Founding DBL and the double-bottom-line thesis
DBL stands for double bottom line: the firm seeks profitable investments that also deliver environmental or social benefit.[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/) By 2008 Pfund had spun the JPMorgan impact fund into an independently managed venture firm, DBL Partners.[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/) In 2015, DBL Investors joined with the clean tech practice of Technology Partners to form DBL Partners as it exists today.[2](https://som.yale.edu/podcasts/career-conversations/impact-investing-nancy-pfund-82-founder-managing-director-dbl)
The model has a place-based origin. Pfund has described Bay Area Council complaints that dot-com-era tech job creation bypassed poorer neighborhoods such as Richmond and Oakland, prompting the firm to back entrepreneurial companies in poor neighborhoods.[5](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bdoherty/2018/09/09/icons-of-impact-this-vc-backed-tesla-and-pioneered-an-entire-impact-genre/) Early DBL investments include Farmers Business Network and The RealReal.[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/)
## Tesla, SolarCity and Pandora
In 2006 Pfund made an early bet on the electric car company Tesla, and her firm's profile lists her as a Tesla Motors board observer before its public offering.[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/) • [1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) She served on the [SolarCity](https://www.edgepedia.org/solarcity) board from 2008 until its acquisition by Tesla in December 2016, sitting on the audit and compensation committees and chairing the corporate governance committee.[4](https://votesolar.org/team/nancy-pfund/) She also served on Pandora's board before its public offering.[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/)
2008 was a hard test of the portfolio. In Pfund's own account, the financial-crisis year saw everything go wrong and Elephant Pharmacy was the only company the firm lost, while Tesla, SolarCity, and Pandora went on to be big wins.[5](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bdoherty/2018/09/09/icons-of-impact-this-vc-backed-tesla-and-pioneered-an-entire-impact-genre/)
## By the numbers
In 2021 Pfund raised a $600 million fourth fund for DBL, targeting climate-tech companies and startups helping to prevent wildfires.[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/)
Directory data, which is unverified, records DBL-linked SolarCity rounds of $30 million (October 2008), $21 million (July 2010), $20 million (July 2011), and $81 million (February 2012), part of $280 million the company raised, and Chestnut Carbon's $160 million Series B in February 2025.[7](https://signal.nfx.com/investors/nancy-pfund) These figures come from an aggregator profile and should not be treated as firm or company disclosures.
## Boards and public roles
Pfund currently serves on the boards of Bellwether Coffee, Chestnut Carbon, Rain, Spatial, and [Zola Electric](https://www.edgepedia.org/zola-electric).[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) Beyond company boards, she sits on the Board of Trustees of the [National Geographic Society](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-geographic-society) and serves on the Finance, Philanthropy, and Executive Committees of the inaugural Board of Directors of the Foundation for Energy Security and [Innovation](https://www.edgepedia.org/innovation) (FESI).[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) She is a C3E Ambassador to the U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Program, led by the U.S. Department of Energy, and a founding officer and director of ABC2, a brain cancer cure foundation.[4](https://votesolar.org/team/nancy-pfund/) She co-chairs the Yale School of Management Program on Entrepreneurship, and she lectures on impact investing at Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Yale SOM.[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/)
## Recognition
Pfund was ranked #17 in Fortune's inaugural 2014 World's Top 25 Eco-Innovators and appeared on Fast Company's 2016 list of Most Creative People in Business.[4](https://votesolar.org/team/nancy-pfund/) In 2023 she was named to the Forbes Women 50 Over 50: [Investment](https://www.edgepedia.org/investment) list, and in 2024 she received the Impact Leadership award from Impact Capital Managers and Springboard Enterprise Investor of the Year.[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) Climate One, an independent climate media organization, describes DBL Partners as a firm demonstrating how venture capital can deliver both top-tier returns and positive social and environmental impact, citing Tesla Motors, SolarCity, Pandora, and Chestnut Carbon as transformative backing; this is outside framing rather than a performance measurement.[6](https://www.climateone.org/people/nancy-pfund)
## Recent developments
Her recent activity centers on climate and carbon companies. She joined the boards of Chestnut Carbon, Rain and Spatial, and the unverified directory data records Chestnut Carbon's $160 million Series B in February 2025 as a DBL investment.[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) • [7](https://signal.nfx.com/investors/nancy-pfund) Her 2023 and 2024 honors, listed above, fall in the same period.[1](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/) Sources differ on the start of her SolarCity board service: the Vote Solar bio says 2008, while directory data records January 2007.[4](https://votesolar.org/team/nancy-pfund/) • [7](https://signal.nfx.com/investors/nancy-pfund)
## References
1. [Nancy Pfund, Founder and Managing Partner — DBL Partners](https://www.dbl.vc/person/nancy-pfund/)
2. [Impact Investing: Nancy Pfund '82 — Yale School of Management](https://som.yale.edu/podcasts/career-conversations/impact-investing-nancy-pfund-82-founder-managing-director-dbl)
3. [Nancy Pfund — Forbes profile](https://www.forbes.com/profile/nancy-pfund/)
4. [Nancy Pfund — Vote Solar board bio](https://votesolar.org/team/nancy-pfund/)
5. [Icons Of Impact: This VC Backed Tesla And Pioneered An Entire Impact Genre — Forbes (2018)](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bdoherty/2018/09/09/icons-of-impact-this-vc-backed-tesla-and-pioneered-an-entire-impact-genre/)
6. [Nancy Pfund | Climate One](https://www.climateone.org/people/nancy-pfund)
7. [Nancy Pfund's Investing Profile — Signal (NFX), unverified directory data](https://signal.nfx.com/investors/nancy-pfund)
8. [Chase agrees to acquire hambrecht quist (nytimes.com)](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/29/business/chase-agrees-to-acquire-hambrecht-quist.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Founders, operators, and investors › Venture and growth investors › Deep-tech, climate, and hard-tech investors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license