VCs get into Clean Tech

"Clean tech," is a term that encompasses such things as solar energy, water purification systems and alternative automotive fuels.

That message is resonating with venture capitalists and individual investors in the Valley, where growing rich through doing good is considered the ideal.

They are driven in part by the high price of oil, which hovered around $59 a barrel on Tuesday, and the vast unmet demand for electricity in China and India.

"You look at all the development that's going on in China and India right now, and you realize that two-fifths of the world's population is going through the kind of industrialization that one-fifth the world's population experienced in the 20th century," Mr. Straser said. "The size of the opportunity here is immeasurable."

Clean tech represented a 1.2 percent share of the total dollar amount of venture capital invested in 2000. In 2004, the $520 million that venture capitalists invested accounted for a 2.6 percent share of the overall venture pie.

I am glad to see that the VCs are getting into Clean Tech business.

Via New York Times