Monday, January 5, 2009

In Silicon Valley, Venture Capitalists Turn Cautious and Focus on the Short Term

posted by Dustin
from NYT...

CLEAN TECH GETS REALISTIC Venture capitalists are still chasing clean
technology. Through September, $3 billion was invested in
technologies that create alternative energy and conserve power, up
from $1.9 billion the year before, according to the National Venture
Capital Association. But big, expensive projects like building
factories to manufacture solar panels or biofuels are falling out of
favor.

"The economic arguments for those businesses literally went upside
down in a year," said Paul Holland, the general partner in charge of
the clean tech practice at Foundation Capital.

Instead, some venture capitalists are looking at technologies that
monitor energy demand, like software that tracks and regulates a
building's energy use.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/technology/start-ups/05venture.html?
_r=1