Venture Trends
In a recent article I reviewed on Venture wire some interesting trends were noted. Having just begun a Executive Level search in the Solar Industry it was a testament to what I think we are going to see a lot more of in the next couple years. I have also received inquiries about fuel cell opportunities recently which also fits into the same trend.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has raised $500 million to target large companies pursuing "green" ventures, a twist on a trend that is taking many Silicon Valley investment firms away from their roots in computer-related start-ups.
The energy-related fund was announced this morning with another fund that will bring the total being raised by the Menlo Park, Calif., firm to $1.2 billion - despite fears about the U.S. economy and other issues that could worry investors.
Kleiner, which a few years ago began targeting fledgling ventures in areas such as biofuels and electric cars, now also wants to fund larger clean-technology companies that need bigger sums of money to get to market, said Kleiner partner John Denniston. Kleiner expects to invest anywhere from $10 million to $50 million in each of the companies - many of which already have revenue - and has hired an energy-investing expert from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Ben Kortlang, to help run the fund.
A chunk of the money for the green fund is coming from Generation Investment Management LLP, the socially conscious London investment firm that was co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, now a Kleiner partner.
Kleiner, which backed big tech names like Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., also announced a new, $700 million fund - Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers XIII LP - to invest in early-stage technology, health-care and clean-tech companies. Kleiner is still, at its core, an "early stage" firm, said Brook Byers, a Kleiner partner who has specialized in biotechnology investing.
Kleiner's move comes as some of its competitors are overhauling their business models to adapt to the changing venture capital landscape, where it has become tougher to make money backing traditional start-ups. Silicon Valley stalwart New Enterprise Associates now invests much of its capital in "venture-growth equity" deals of $20 million to $100 million apiece, instead of start-ups. And Sequoia Capital, a Kleiner competitor in the high-tech market, is considering raising more than $1 billion to move into a host of new investment areas, from public stocks to real estate to oil and gas.
