The future of energy leadership: Pranati Patnam & Logan Pilaro
Meet the people behind Batteries Included Fund's thesis upgrade.
Welcome to My Next Electric, a newsletter on electrifying machines + educating humans.
Later this week, you’ll see a fresh investment thesis from The Batteries Included Fund. In a spirit of getting psyched for that, may I present:
A tiny sneak peek, and
The curious, talented people behind it all.
Thesis Sneak Peak
A concise summary of what The Batteries Included Fund does:
We help curious companies put batteries in the right place at the right time.
help = early stage checks ($25-$100K) + follow-on funding for top 10%
right place = next to solar + next to/inside electric machines
right time = when it starts making economic sense for people nearby
Now the fun part. In February, I put the word out for an experimental internship:
Many great folks applied, but Pranati and Logan wowed with curiosity about the energy transition and craft, especially as writers and analysts.
So far, we’ve been working on a new investment thesis, a unique take on the battery value stack, and how we might help founders based in Latin America.
Please keep an eye of both of these clever thinkers; they’re going to make the world we live in better. I’d start with a LinkedIn follow/connect:
Pranati Patnam
Energy sits at the center of decarbonization. As a senior in Cornell University’s Environmental Engineering program, I have spent the past four years studying the technical systems, economics, and infrastructure challenges that will define the energy transition. From renewable energy modeling to storage economics, my coursework and experiences have reinforced my belief that transforming how we generate, move, and use electricity is one of the most important engineering challenges of our time.
This is what drew me to this fund. I strongly believe that “putting batteries in useful places” (as Matt says) is one of the clearest paths toward accelerating electrification. Batteries do far more than store electrons. They create flexibility within an increasingly constrained grid, unlock new layers of economic value across the energy stack, and most importantly, expand optionality for people. Battery deployment gives consumers more direct control over how they use and monetize energy.
Through Batteries Included, I am excited to explore the full life cycle and revenue potential of battery assets. This includes studying traditional value stack monetization, as well as second-life deployment, relocation, and broader portability across different use cases. I am very interested in how batteries can evolve from static infrastructure to dynamic, relocatable assets whose value changes over time as markets and grid conditions develop.
Following my graduation this May, I will join Burns & McDonnell’s Renewable Energy team as an Energy & Utilities Analyst, where I will work on the development and implementation of large-scale energy infrastructure projects. I hope to bring systems thinking, economic modeling perspectives, and a practical engineering foundation from my expertise as I continue exploring how thoughtful battery deployment can accelerate decarbonization and reshape the future of energy.
Logan Pilaro
Matt hired me to help structure our curiosity about how the thesis translates to the Latin American battery tech scene. We’re working together to find out if Matt’s mentorship experience and check size are of value to founders building on a grid with distinct issues and opportunities. Then, hopefully find one to back.
I graduate from Tulane with degrees in Finance and Environmental Studies next month. I studied abroad in Mexico, Peru, and Spain and saw both sides of a long power imbalance. I want the fund to show up in the Latin American cleantech ecosystem as a non-extractive collaborator.
I’m fired up about working with Matt because we’re looking for companies that help humans go from passive energy consumers to active, profitable collaborators on the grid. Electrification happens in the real world. It’s messy and deals with incumbent systems and outdated tech and mindsets. It’s also timely; I feel it every winter when I go back home to Ketchum, Idaho and the snowpack is smaller. This means new ideas, founders, and people curious and gritty enough to try are popping up everywhere. My job is to find the ones in Latin America.
The reality of climate change is the stick, but there’s also a carrot. Electric machines are just better. They’re far more efficient, quieter, have fewer moving parts, and are beginning to be cheaper. Pair them with cleaner generation and storage, and it’s a real, clean replacement. Founders across the world know this, but they're up against the inertia of fossil fuel dependency. I believe the powers of optionality and democratization that electrification possesses will be enough to motivate the shift.
Next fall, I’ll start as a consultant in Guidehouse’s Community, Energy, and Infrastructure practice. I plan to learn how projects get built or die, where policy creates leverage or gets in the way, and the financial modeling that projects run on. Eventually I want to take that and go from strategizing to building, whether that’s joining a developer or starting something.
Not sure exactly where I’m headed yet but I’m comfortable with big questions and excited by how much I have yet to learn.
How cool is that? How lucky am I to work with the future of energy leadership right now? How awesome that you know them now, too!
Here’s what you can expect as we sprint to the finish line:
This week: Batteries Included Fund Investment Thesis, 2026 Edition
Next week: Logan’s take on how we’ll support founders in Latin America
Last week of April: Pranati’s take on a new model of battery value creation