Green Venture Capitalists Need No Bailout

Far from Wall Street, investors embrace eco-friendly ideas

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 4, 2008 4:34 PM CDT

(Newser) – The canyons of Wall Street have been swept clean of liquidity, but the valleys of northern California are still flush with environmentally and financially green ideas, Jon Gertner writes in the New York Times' Sunday magazine. Despite market madness, venture capitalists have seen little slowdown in their businesses, which are raising millions of dollars to fund “green tech” investments.

“I don’t expect the credit crunch will change that,” said one VC. One firm, allied with Al Gore and Colin Powell, says it can bolster energy innovation better than governments. But some say green tech focuses on the wrong kind of green: Critics contend that it has “nothing to do with whether or not you can make money on it.”

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Venture capitalist John Doerr says that his efforts to fund green tech ventures could help address some of the modern era's biggest problems, like climate change, fuel costs and energy independence. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Al Gore has partnered with one venture capital firm to find entrepreneurs with promising "green tech" ideas. (AP Photo/Meet The Press, Brendan Smialowski)

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I'm so dead certain that we’re solving the next huge problem for the planet. I'm not very good at hitting the bull’s-eye. I need a big target. And this is the biggest target I’ve ever seen in my life. - Randy Komisar, venture capitalist

A dollar of venture capital is somewhat equal to three or four dollars of corporate R&D. - Josh Lerner, Harvard Business School

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Green Venture Capitalists Need No Bailout