Cleantech's New Daddy Warbucks: George Soros
Forecasts of venture capitalist funding in cleantech have ranged between tepid to downright gloomy in recent months; and only a small handful firms appear willing to throw their chips into the industry. In short, the cleantech industry has been in dire need of new venture capitalist blood for some time. Enter George Soros' billions and the announcement of a new cleantech fund with partner Silver Lake.
Nuts and bolts of the fund
Silver Lake Kraftwerk (not named after German electronic band) will operate out of Silicon Valley and China and will invest in "growth-stage" companies that improve energy efficiency, reduce waste and emissions, and use natural resources more efficiently. By growth stage, that probably means money will go towards companies that are more established that have vetted their tech, and are as a result, hopefully less risky. Soros Fund Management will be an investment partner and it will be led by Adam Grosser, the former partner at Foundation Capital.
White House connection
Here's another interesting piece. Cathy Zoi, who just resigned as the Obama administration's acting undersecretary for energy and assistant secretary for energy efficient and renewable energy, also will manage the fund. Grosser is certainly no shlep in the VC or cleantech worlds. Over at Foundation, we was a rep on the board of Silver Spring Networks, the darling of smart grid startups. Zoi, however, has had a front-row seat over at the Energy Department, where hundreds of startups and their applications for grants and loan guarantees have crossed her desk.
The amount of the fund wasn't disclosed. But it'll likely be in the hundreds of millions based on statements from Soros, who once said he would pledge $1 billion towards cleantech.
Photo from Flickr user Norway UN, CC 2.0
Related: