THE HUNT FOR BREAKTHROUGHS IN ALTERNATIVE-POWER TECHNOLOGY
Date: Sunday, January 09, 2005 @ 16:27:31 GMT
Topic: Investors


A new energy

SILICON VALLEY PLAYERS ARE ON THE HUNT FOR BREAKTHROUGHS IN ALTERNATIVE-POWER TECHNOLOGY -- AND VENTURE CAPITALISTS ARE TAKING NOTICE

By Matt Marshall - Mercury News

Until recently, the energy business didn't hold much appeal for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs -- too old-world, too regulated, too, well, unenergetic.

That's changing fast.

As the price of oil soars and China's insatiable appetite for growth sparks a race to sign energy contracts, valley start-ups are realizing there could be real profit in alternative energy. The challenge to make technical breakthroughs -- and good money -- is drawing eager scientists. And all this is turning the heads of leading venture capitalists.

``That's what America wants right now,'' explained T.J. Rodgers, chief executive of San Jose's Cypress Semiconductor, referring to the need for new, cheap power. He has invested time and big money in solar and fuel-cell companies. ``It's strictly a capitalist enterprise,'' he said.

Venture capital investments in clean-energy technologies alone last year represented 2.4 percent of total venture investing in the United States, still small but up from 0.8 percent in 1999, according to research group Clean Edge. Even the valley's powerhouse venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, acknowledged it's seeking energy deals for the first time in its three-decade history: ``That's a left turn, a new initiative for Kleiner,'' partner John Doerr said at a San Francisco conference last month...
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Read the whole article at: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/10603289.htm?1c







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