May 21 2008

Rise of the Celebrity Cleantech Venture Capitalist

Calling all paparazzi!  There's a new celebrity in town - the high profile cleantech venture capitalist. 

Today, VantagePoint Venture Partners announced that former CIA head James Woolsey has been hired as a partner.  Woolsey will be focusing on energy issues, the environment and national security.  Or as he puts it, he'll be examining technologies that appeal to "tree huggers and hawks."

Woolsey's hiring follows Vice President Al Gore's move from national policymaking to cleantech investing. Last November, Gore joined Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, and Byers as a partner.

While the hiring of these two high-profile policymakers may not elicit flashing of bulbs or the red carpet, it certainly does validate the staying power of the cleantech sector, which reached $100 billion globally in 2007.  Their hiring also highlights the vital role that the cleantech sector could play in solving some of the world's most challenging policy issues.

Posted by: Keely Wachs | Comments (0) digg delicioussend to a friendprint entry

 

Categories

Climate Change , Energy , Environment

Leave a comment


E-mail this post


Your Name:
Your Friend's Email:

Subscribe to Blog rssIcon

> Go

Recent Comments

  • This is being rather generous to Lutz. 1. The "Volt", in no small part, will be targeted as a product to people who care about energy and environmental issues. These people don't embrace Lutz' antideluvian concepts of rejecting science. How responsible is it for a GM executive to be rejecting the science? 2. As well, Lutz didn't exactly sound too enthusiastic about the Volt itself. 3. And, GM public communications has 'defended' Lutz in rather absurd ways. -A Siegel
    > view entry


  • This article is right on - small businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. Not only do they add up in aggregate, but many small businesses operate in industries that can have a significant environmental impact depending on the exact practices, like dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. Green is also starting to affect the bottom line more and more, customers are increasingly voting with their feet for more sustainable businesses as can be seen from the growth of sites like http://www.ecovian.com. This is also a huge opportunity for small businesses to leapfrog their bigger brothers by being more agile in adopting these measures. -Emily
    > view entry


  • Great entry, Katie. Love the level of detail you managed to get in there! Probably won't be able to compete with coal and oil any time the next decade, but definitely a great technology to look into! Keep it up :) -Rune (Norway)
    > view entry


Recent Posts