KPCB more Green 500M Fund
By Azam on May 2, 2008KPCB announced the creation of a $500 million “Green Growth Fund,” which will be invested in somewhat more mature, green-focused companies. It said a new partner, Ben Kortlang, will join existing partner John Denniston to co-manage the fund. Kortlang previously co-directed alternative energy investments at Goldman Sachs.
Kleiner has backed a string of major successful Silicon Valley companies over the years, from Netscape, Genentech to Amazon and Google. KPCB is known for its green bent of “green technologies,” designed to support companies what will help solve the global climate crisis, environmental concerns, alternative and renewable energy.
In its statement, Kleiner said this fund is designed to help focus on green products get to market. It is called “growth” because companies will have already produce product/service and will have entered their “growth phase” and use capital for expansion plans. Kleiner expects to invest between $10 million to $50 million into portfolio investments. The companies will use capital to fund corporate financing plant, equipment, and setting up infrastructure for distribution. The funds will serve critical need for capital intensive debt and project financing required for green technologies to reach the market and scale for efficiencies. As an example of capital needs, Bloom Energy was initially funded by Google took $25 million and Kleiner followed on investment reached $250 million in the company and before tapping public market for an offering The main fund, KPCB XIII, will be invested over roughly a three-year period, and will back companies in the green tech area, but also the more traditional information technology and life sciences areas, the firm said.
Categories : CleanTags : Bloom Energy, Clean, Green, KPCB