Stephen Wemple

Stephen Wemple is a Principal at Spero Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm anchored by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and staffed largely by former founders and operators from companies including eBay and Tesla (co-founder Marc Tarpenning is a Venture Partner at the firm). Spero's thesis is that purpose-led companies — those that make the world healthier, people more optimistic, and society more productive — outperform over the long run, and Wemple's individual focus mirrors that mandate.

He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Economics from Villanova University. Before entering venture capital, Wemple was a Fulbright Fellow, spending time in Vietnam where he taught at a high school in a rural province roughly three hours outside Ho Chi Minh City — an experience he ties to his interest in mission-driven work and building community.

At Spero, Wemple has moved up from an early investing role to Principal and now sources and supports deals across the firm's climate, energy, and future-of-work theses. He sits in board-observer seats across a broad slice of the portfolio, including Juno, Telo Trucks, Eli Technologies, Remark, Wattch, Euclid Power, Singularity Energy, AllHere, TalkShop.live, Clarity Movement, and Nana — giving him hands-on exposure to companies spanning electric vehicles, grid/energy software, and consumer marketplaces.

He also writes publicly about the firm's work, authoring investment memos (e.g., "Why We Invested in Wattch," Aug 2025) and a recurring "Spero in Dialogue" series on Medium.

• Invests at Seed and Series A, writing checks of roughly $250K–$5.0M with a ~$2.0M sweet spot from Spero's ~$100M fund.
• Anchors on Spero's mission: backing companies that "make the world healthier, people more optimistic, and society more productive."
• Strongest sector signal in ClimateTech/CleanTech, EnergyTech, and Future of Work — reflected in his board-observer roles at energy/grid companies (Euclid Power, Singularity Energy, Wattch) and EV maker Telo Trucks.
• Personally researches "social meetup 2.0" startups, mental health and addiction solutions, and community-building ideas that facilitate authentic, meaningful human connection.
• Values demonstrated commitment to mission — the throughline of his Fulbright background and his own framing ("Show commitment to the mission you care about").