Vinod Khosla is an Indian-American billionaire businessman and venture capitalist. He is a co-founder of Sun Microsystems and the founder of Khosla Ventures. Khosla made his wealth from early venture capital investments in areas such as networking, software, and alternative energy technologies. He is considered one of the most successful and influential venture capitalists.
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, scale of operations, etc. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. Start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and they are often from high technology industries, such as information technology (IT), clean technology or biotechnology.
L. John Doerr is an American investor and venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins in Menlo Park, California. In February 2009, Doerr was appointed a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the President and his administration with advice and counsel in trying to fix America's economic downturn. Forbes ranked Doerr as the 40th richest person in tech in 2017 and, as of 1 August, 2023, as the 146th richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$11.9 billion. Doerr is the author of Measure What Matters, a book about goal-setting, and Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now.
XPRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that designs and hosts public competitions intended to encourage technological development. The XPRIZE mission is to bring about "radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity" through incentivized competition. It aims to motivate individuals, companies, and organizations to develop ideas and technologies.
Clean technology, also called cleantech or climatetech, is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities. Clean technology includes a broad range of technology related to recycling, renewable energy, information technology, green transportation, electric motors, green chemistry, lighting, grey water, and more. Environmental finance is a method by which new clean technology projects can obtain financing through the generation of carbon credits. A project that is developed with concern for climate change mitigation is also known as a carbon project.
The Virgin Earth Challenge was a competition offering a $25 million prize for whoever could demonstrate a commercially viable design which results in the permanent removal of greenhouse gases out of the Earth's atmosphere to contribute materially in global warming avoidance. The prize was conceived by Richard Branson, and was announced in London on 9 February 2007 by Branson and former US Vice President Al Gore.
Jeffrey Brian Straubel is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He spent 15 years at Tesla, as chief technical officer until moving to an advisory role in July 2019. In 2023, he was elected to the company's board of directors.
Alan E. Salzman is an American venture capitalist and managing partner. He is the co-founder, CEO and Managing Partner of VantagePoint Capital Partners, a venture capital firm in the U.S. and an investor in clean technology companies.
Carbfix is an Icelandic company that has developed an approach to permanently store CO2 by dissolving it in water and injecting it into basaltic rocks. Once in the subsurface, the injected CO2 reacts with the host rock forming stable carbonate minerals, thus providing permanent storage of the injected CO2
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is an Australian Government-owned green bank that invests in clean energy, to help achieve Australia's national goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The CEFC invests billions of dollars on behalf of the Australian Government in economy-wide decarbonisation opportunities. It aims to help transform the Australian energy grid, as well as supporting sustainable housing initiatives, and climate tech innovators.
Mission Innovation is a global initiative to accelerate public and private clean energy innovation to address climate change, make clean energy affordable to consumers, and create green jobs and commercial opportunities.
Carbon Engineering Ltd. is a Canadian-based clean energy company focusing on the commercialization of direct air capture (DAC) technology that captures carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.
Nathaniel Simons is an American billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist. He is the founder of Meritage Group, an investment management firm managing over $12 billion in assets, co-founder of Prelude Ventures, a clean tech investment fund, and is the former co-chair of Renaissance Technologies, one of the largest hedge funds in the world.
Turntide Technologies is a US-based business that makes intelligent, sustainable motor systems. Turntide applies its Technology for Sustainable Operations across buildings, agriculture, and transportation segments. It maintains operations in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and India.
Ambri Incorporated is an American startup company which aims to produce molten-salt batteries for energy storage in wind and solar power systems. In 2016 it had thirty-seven employees.
The Climate Pledge Fund is a division of Amazon, set up to develop and manage investments in the climate technology space, as part of its Climate Pledge initiative. It is a corporate venture capital fund.
CarbonCure Technologies Inc. is a manufacturer of carbon removal or carbon utilization technologies that inject captured carbon dioxide into concrete where it is permanently stored. The company was founded in 2012 by Robert Niven, and the company headquarters are in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) is a United States federal law which aims to reduce the federal government budget deficit, lower prescription drug prices, and invest in domestic energy production while promoting clean energy. It was passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16, 2022.
CIIE.CO is an Indian startup accelerator and incubator that supports early-stage startups located at IIM Ahmedabad in Ahmedabad, India. It was founded in 2002 to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in India. It is a Center of excellence set up at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad with support from the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology and the Government of Gujarat.
Dioxycle is a French-American technology startup company. Founded in 2021, it aims to develop sustainable ethylene from recycled carbon emissions. In 2023, it raised US$17 million in its Series A round from Lowercarbon Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe, and Gigascale Capital. The company's primary product is a proprietary electrolyzer that uses water, carbon dioxide, and electricity to produce ethylene. It moved from lab trials to its first prototype in 2022.
