In a line reminiscent of this blog’s mission, KPCB Partner John Denniston launched a new VC fund with these words: “The world has embarked on the next industrial revolution.â€
Kleiner Perkins’ new Green Growth Fund will invest $500 million over the next two to four years in established companies that demonstrate progress in delivering clean-technology innovations, said partner John Denniston, who will co-manage the fund.
At the same time, clean-tech start-ups may join counterparts in information technology and life sciences to seek funding from Kleiner Perkins’ new $700 million KP XIII fund – the 13th in the firm’s storied 35-year history.
The Green Growth Fund comes less than six months after former Vice President Al Gore joined Menlo Park-based Kleiner Perkins as a partner.
KPCB partner John Doerr was talking up the opportunity a year ago at TED stating that green “may be the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century.”
This kind of money and business building methodology stands in stark contrast to my previous post on open sourcing enabling tools and technologies…but maybe not. Open source leader MySQL was acquired by Sun in January for $1B. If there ends up being a business in giving away the ‘secrets’ to sustainability, all the better!