SJF Ventures and Citi Community Capital, Citigroup’s community lending and investment group, announced the closing of SJF Ventures III LP, the first nationally focused Impact Investment SBIC fund. Licensed by the US Small Business Investment Corp. (SBIC) under its new Impact Investment Initiative, the SFJ Ventures III fund will make equity investments in growth-stage cleantech and “positive impact” companies.

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What a difference a year makes!  In 2011, the Pipeline Fellowship  began as a single program in New York to train ten women to become angel investors and support women social entrepreneurs.  In 2012, the Pipeline Fellowship is expanding to include two locations, four programs, and will train forty women. 

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Venture capital funding for the smart grid sector in 2011 dropped by 50 percent.

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Nike is no stranger to green innovation. From creating the Nike Trash Talk, the first performance basketball shoe made from manufacturing waste to working with GreenXchange, a platform for the sharing of patents. Stimulating intellectual capital and property, to spurring innovation and sustainability, Nike seems to be experiencing many shapes and forms of green innovation. Now [...]

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How does a planned clean energy project actually get built? The process is not simple, and with the utility usually owning the project after its backers have provided the funding to bring the project to life, the requirements can be overwhelming. One thing that helps virtually assure the project’s success is getting venture investment. At [...]

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The Hawaii Venture Capital Association met last week to discuss impact investing in the state. As a newcomer to the group, I was curious to see what all these traditional investors thought about the relatively new field of impact investing and sustainability. Bill Spencer, HVCA President led the discussion by hitting on many local issues [...]

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In this interview, Susan Preston of California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF) updates us on the latest energy ventures.  CalCEF is a private venture capital fund that invests in seed stage clean energy companies.  They invest in a diverse range of energy related companies from energy efficiency, renewable energy, to smart grid. The fund portfolio includes [...]

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This post is part of a blogging series by marketing students at the Presidio Graduate School’s MBA program. You can follow along here. By Mark Sutton At the Affordable Comfort, Inc. (ACI) conference in San Francisco, an event for the home energy efficiency industry, a panel of high-level VCs posed the question: which company or [...]

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The following is a guest post from our friends at Investor’s Circle, who are using private capital to promote the transition to a sustainable economy. Investors’ Circle is thrilled to be partnering with education incubator Starl to co-produce a venture fair at the upcoming Education Innovation Forum, which will be held January 19-21st in Washington, [...]

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Start ups bring something to the market that usually has never been successfully done before.  With such uncertainty, start ups bear higher risk than a tried and true company.  But what of green start ups?  The risk factor is still there, perhaps even greater. As green start ups come to market, one must ask, what [...]

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While the biggest financial backers of California ballot initiative Proposition 23 are Texas oil companies, venture capitalists are among the big donors to its opposition. As of Monday, October 11, the opponents of Proposition 23 are spending more than supporters. Opponents of Proposition 23 raised $16.3 million to the supporters’ $8.9 million. The opposition has received [...]

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Is it the new widget or new idea or the people behind the new widget or new idea that really excites venture capitalists? Virtually every company says its success hinges on the people they employ. And of course it’s people first, then planet and profit in the triple bottom line. What is not entirely clear [...]

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Amidst the chaos of a global financial meltdown, it can be easy to overlook certain aspects of banking that are less urgent. VC funding seems to have flown under the radar as of late, however, it makes a big difference for entrepreneurs who are looking for funding to jumpstart their new businesses. Sadly, it’s now [...]

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 The Wall Street Journal’s third annual ECO:nomics conference: Creating Environmental Capital wrapped up last week and I’m pleased to report that it delivered on the promise of frank, highly strategic, executive-level discussions. The conference will return next year; here’s hoping that we have some new energy and carbon legislation in place by then and [...]

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Serious Materials, a green building materials company focusing on energy efficiency retrofits, raised $65 million through venture investments during the down economy–an anomaly in the current economic state.  The building industry in general has been in the tank for the better part of two years.  However, as Joel Makower pointed out in his ‘state of [...]

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Here are a few reasons I am attending The Cleantech Open on November 17, 2009 at San Francisco’s Nob Hill Masonic Center: Bill Weihl, Google Green Energy Czar, is the event’s key note speaker. There will be 120 of the latest clean technologies displayed in the exhibition hall. You can imagine how many venture capitalists [...]

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CleanTech is rapidly becoming a popular asset class. The launch of hefty investment funds in recent days proves this.

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This month algae as a fuel source made the news several times. Last week, Sapphire Energy announced it received $100 million to help reach its goal of making commercial amounts of algae fuel in three to five years. Investors included Bill Gates investment company, Cascade Investment, LLC. In June Sapphire received $50 million from investors. [...]

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