It is not just Google that is investing in clean tech these days. Green energy startups are cleaning up on Sand Hill Road as well. The National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Financial put out some figures today on the amount of U.S. venture capital going into clean tech startups—some of the startups are overseas, but the money came from U.S. firms. (You can download the full release here). During the first three quarters of 2007, VCs poured $2.6 billion into clean tech startups, compared to $1.8 billion for all of 2006, and a mere $533 million in 2005.
How does this compare to venture capital going into Internet startups? According to the NVCA, here are the stats for U.S. venture capital invested in Internet startups over the past three years:
U.S. Venture Capital in Internet Startups
2005: $3.61 billion
2006: $4.96 billion
2007: $3.86 billion*
*(through 9/30)
So far this year, VCs are putting two-thirds as much into clean tech as they are into Internet startups. To put this into perspective, for the first three quarters of 2007, clean tech investments represented 10 percent of all venture fundings, compared to 15 percent for Internet investments.
Clean Tech as a Percentage of Total Venture Capital
2005: 0.2 percent
2006: 6.7 percent
2007: 10 percent*
*(through 9/30)
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First. Yay.
2nd here.
Third. Yay.
It’s cool to see investments that solve problems the world is facing in the near future.
Go Bernie!
I often wonder how these VCs are gonna make any money on clean tech…. for IPO, you need revenue these days (heh, things have changed!) and it’s hard to do an M&A in that space since there’s no big companies. It’s good that they’re trying to save the world but I doubt their LPs wanna waste their money on it.
“So far this year, VCs are putting two-thirds as much into clean tech as they are into Internet startups.”
cue the IBM butter knife/bread TV commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW3CvyeOhFg
… and somewhere in the world a risk capital banker pumps his fist like he just won a soccer tournament because he saw an “inspiring comment” on tech crunch and it just gave him the “bestest idea ever”.
“hey, wait a secund, I can put these together…”
This green tech will be a multi-billion $ scam just like the homeless industry and the welfare industry. Might just as well open the windows and dump buckets of money out.
Earlier this year, Technology Review published a story about Vindo Khosla, former partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield, who now has his own venture capital company that invests in clean energy technology. It’s a good read and adds some color to these statistics if anyone is interested.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18299/?a=f.
so basically, we need to start up a “clean” tech firm and we can make some of the venture money….Well i have been way off on all my businesses LOL (sarcastic remark) but still great to know what trends are there
“start up a “clean” tech firm and we can make some of the venture money”
Just label an existing one clean, and put trees and bumble bees on the website. Al Gore won the nobel prize for this and he wastes more emissions than anybody else that reads TC. It’s all about presentation.
cleantech companies are going to need more cash than tech startups. labs are not cheap and nore are the staff to go in them, also you have to think about tooling production as well. If you get a win in clean tech then it’s more likely to be bigger than a website.
One thing though Erick, that’s how “clean energy” is defined. After looking at the press release I saw that the largest deal was to a company in the Netherlands called Delta Hydrocarbon BV. That company has “a focus in oilfield-production enhancement”. I think many people associate oil-related production with clean energy.
It’s also interesting to see the breakdown in investments among technologies, especially in the US. It’s great to see plenty going to solar, but wish I saw more than just $63 million going to wind energy.
Correction to my last post:
I don’t think many people associate oil-related production with clean energy.
One last comparison note with respect to investments:
Delta Hydrocarbon BV - $500 million
Wind Energy - $63 million
Thanks to Microsoft!
Half of each of those amounts was me, acquiring innovation!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com