Tech industry watchers likely know the almost 40-year old venture firm Mayfield Fund for its investments in computing and Internet startups — the company funded well known computing companies Silicon Graphics and SanDisk more than a decade ago. But like so many others in the Valley have done in recent years, Mayfield has decided it needs to make a much more substantial push into a decidely newer, greener sector: cleantech. To lead that effort Mayfield has hired hot-shot green investor Todd Kimmel away from Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV). Kimmel, only 33, was responsible for leading ATV’s investments in biofuel startup Coskata (which he also co-founded), and coal gasification company GreatPoint Energy.
While the partners at Mayfield wouldn’t say how much of their latest $395 million fund would be allocated for investing in clean technology startups, Mayfield partner Navin Chaddha told us that eventually the firm plans to commit to energy technology on a scale similar to that of its more traditional investments in consumer Internet, media, enterprise software and communications technology.
Currently, Mayfield has only a couple investments in cleantech, including LatticePower, a Chinese LED maker; Servomax India, which makes more efficient power generators for cell phone towers; and PolyFuel, a fuel cell membrane-maker in Mountain View, Calif. But Mayfield did bring on Tesla founder Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning as entrepreneurs-in-residence last July to explore cleantech opportunities.
Kimmel tells us he joined Mayfield in part because he was attracted to the firm’s “clean sheet of paper” in the cleantech world, as well as its focus on international investing in countries like India and China. He says he plans to actively look into some of the less well-funded sectors like geothermal, capturing emissions from coal power and green chemicals.
Chaddha says that Mayfield has partners focusing on two of three parts of the energy supply chain: distribution and consumption. Kimmel will fill Mayfield’s need to invest in the third part: energy supply. Chaddha says Mayfield likely won’t hire any more cleantech-focused investors for at least 6-12 months, but the firm is likely to bring on more part-time advisors and experts with deep science knowledge to help with different specialties.
Venture capital firms have been moving from IT and Internet investing into cleantech for some time, and Mayfield’s move is relatively late and small. Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Kleiner Perkins started allocating large chunks of their funds to cleantech years ago, and newer firms like Khosla Ventures are focusing almost all their efforts on cleantech. But Mayfield appears to be starting its green efforts off on the right foot, as Kimmel has likely accrued a lot of knowledge and connections that can help shape Mayfield’s cleantech practice from the ground up. Mayfield could also have an advantage in that it has a history of funding international startups; innovation for technology to fight climate change won’t be confined to a car ride away from Silicon Valley.
{"source":"https:\/\/gigaom.com\/2009\/01\/11\/mayfield-fund-gets-serious-about-energy-tech\/wijax\/49e8740702c6da9341d50357217fb629","varname":"wijax_2d4209fb83ac2db1357fdc3518d8b5c9","title_element":"header","title_class":"widget-title","title_before":"%3Cheader%20class%3D%22widget-title%22%3E","title_after":"%3C%2Fheader%3E"}