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Venture Capital - Monday, November 12, 2007

Al Gore Lands A Seat At Kleiner Perkins

We thought it was a big deal when Bono teamed up with the venture capital firm Elevation Partners. But given how much the news cycles revolve around Al Gore, it might be a bigger deal that he has joined Kleiner Perkins as a partner and will spearhead the firm's green energy investments. The article hints at Gore's connections with politicians around the world who have the purse strings to make alt energy startups soar.

Fortune did a terrific piece on the news. These are some eye-opening changes: "According to Doerr, by 2009 more than a third of Kleiner's latest fund, which was raised in 2006 and totals $600 million, will be invested in technologies that aim to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. Already Kleiner has invested more than $270 million from various funds in 26 companies that make everything from microbes that scrub old oil wells to electric cars to noncorn ethanol. Twelve of Kleiner's 22 partners now spend some or all of their time on green investments."

The other news that Fortune breaks is that Doerr will join the exclusive advisory board of Generation Investment Management - a $1B investment company Gore launched with David Blood, the former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, to analyze and invest in publicly traded green energy companies.

The article notes that Kleiner has yet to have an exit from its green investments. That is not terribly surprising given that there is not yet an M&A structure for green investments, leaving IPOs as the way out.

Read - Fortune article