Cleantech has been the industry of big-money investments in ambitious projects, but that may be changing, judging from a venture capital panel at VentureBeata4a4s GreenBeat conference today.
The most emphatic speaker on this point was Navin Chaddha, a partner at the Mayfield Fund. Chaddha said hea4a4s more interested in investing a4Adownstreama4 from energy generation, rather than in generation itself. Thata4a4s where entrepreneurs will find more opportunities, and those companies require less funding. As positive examples, Chaddha pointed to SolarCity (one of his portfolio companies) and SunRun, which arena4a4t trying to build giant solar plants or factories, and are instead trying to change the solar distribution model by bringing it directly to consumers.
On the flip side, he pointed to solar panel maker Solyndra, which has reportedly raised more than $1 billion but just announced that ita4a4s closing one of its factories. $1 billion is more than most individual venture funds, Chaddha noted, and spending that much money on a single company is the a4Aantithesisa4 of what venture capital is about.
Paul Holland from Foundation Capital added that cleantech investors are starting to feel pressure from their current portfolio companies. Firms that have invested steadily in cleantech over the past few years are finding that 40 of their companies need to raise more money, and that 20 of them need that funding in a matter of weeks or months.
a4AThata4a4s a hard way to live,a4 Holland said.
Despite his emphasis on capital efficiency, Chaddha isna4a4t saying that hea4a4s looking for unambitious companies that can sell quickly. In fact, he concluded that investors and entrepreneurs need to understand that cleantech companies take a long time to pay off.
a4ALet&'s not live on the era of a4˜97 and a4˜99, and keep on waiting for things to happen in two years,a4 Chaddha said. a4AThis is a marathon. This is not a sprint.a4
Next Story: Sibblingz takes CrowdStar&'s It Girl game to all the hot platforms Previous Story: IssueBurner: Finally, task and issue tracking with email
Print Email Twitter Facebook Google Buzz LinkedIn Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Delicious Google More&8230'
Companies: Foundation Capital, Mayfield Fund
People: Navin Chaddha, Paul Holland
Companies: Foundation Capital, Mayfield Fund
People: Navin Chaddha, Paul Holland
Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters. Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
Comments