Tony Blair Associates will offer strategic advice to Khosla Ventures’ green portfolio companies, drawing on his considerable geopolitical, political, organizational and environmental expertise. With Mr. Blair’s support, Khosla Ventures will continue to foster innovations that can cost-effectively reduce carbon emissions – in areas that include solar, batteries, biofuels, lighting, mechanical and energy efficiency, and building materials. Mr. Khosla dubs their area of focus “maintech” rather than “cleantech,” as he believes the infrastructure of society will be substantially impacted by technologists and entrepreneurs supported by his and other similar portfolios.

“Solving the climate crisis is more than just a political agenda item – it’s an urgent priority that requires innovation, creativity, and ambition,” said Tony Blair. “I share a clear vision with Vinod, one of the earliest leaders in cleantech investment, that entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and beyond will have a tremendous impact on our environmental future. Vinod’s portfolio companies are galvanizing scientific and technological know-how into businesses that can make a huge difference in reducing carbon and other emissions, and I look forward to dedicating a portion of my time to help them move us toward a more sustainable tomorrow. The Khosla Ventures organization is particularly effective in assisting entrepreneurs to develop and deploy their technologies all over the world.”

Mr. Blair has long led on climate change issues, both in the U.K. and worldwide. He was the first major head of government to bring climate change to the top of the international political agenda at the 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit. He is a proponent of pursuing practical solutions to tackle climate change through technology and energy efficiency. Tony Blair now leads the Breaking the Climate Deadlock initiative, a strategic partnership with The Climate Group, working with world leaders to build consensus on a new comprehensive international climate policy framework.

“I have always admired Mr. Blair’s early and consistent commitment to addressing climate change,” said Mr. Khosla. “His goals align so well with our own mission to support disruptive startups in the cleantech space and to find technology solutions that can achieve unsubsidized market competitiveness for green technologies. We believe in attempting to achieve the ‘Chindia price point,’ the price at which even developing countries will voluntarily adopt these carbon efficient technologies. It’s a price that is either cheaper than fossil alternatives or can achieve less than one year payback for efficiency investments, and is the key to scalable global adoption of environmentally beneficial technologies. With Tony’s advice and influence, we will create opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators to devise practical solutions that can solve today’s most pressing crisis at a global scale while creating new jobs, new businesses and new sources of sustainable growth. Many more Google, Apple and Facebook-like new companies will be created in the environmental space based on breakthrough black swan technologies.”

Mr. Blair’s appointment was announced today as a part of the Khosla Ventures Limited Partner Summit near San Francisco, Ca. While on location, Mr. Blair will participate on a panel with Vinod Khosla and executives from selected cleantech startups in Khosla Ventures’ green portfolio. Featured companies include Calera, which creates carbon-negative building products; Cogenra, developer of highly efficient solar solutions; EcoMotors, developer of high-efficiency internal combustion engines; KiOR, a leading biofuels company that converts biomass to high-quality bio-crude oil; New PAX, Inc., an inventor of high efficiency HVAC technology; and Soraa, innovator of highly efficient and affordable LEDs. Later that evening Mr. Blair and Bill Gates will speak to the Khosla Ventures entrepreneurs and limited partners.

Press Release

According to the Masdar Press Release, “Masdar and Deutsche Bank today announced the launch of the DB Masdar Clean Tech Fund and its first closing, raising $265 million. This fund brings together for the first time the deep sector knowledge and scope of the Masdar Initiatives with the global asset management and research capabilities of Deutsche Bank.

Co-managed by Masdar Venture Capital and DB Climate Change Advisors (DBCCA), the DB Masdar Clean Tech Fund seeks to build a diversified venture capital and private equity portfolio that will include some of the world’s most promising and pioneering clean tech and renewable energy companies. The Fund will invest primarily in expansion and later stage companies in the clean energy (power generation, storage), environmental resources (water, waste management) and energy and material efficiency (advanced materials, building and power grid efficiency, enabling technologies) sectors.

“Completing first close on the DB Masdar Clean Tech Fund is a clear statement of intent,” said Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Masdar’s CEO. “We understand both the financial and social value of companies that are tackling global environmental challenges; we are committed to supporting them by providing capital investment and management expertise.”

“We look forward to this unique fund building a portfolio containing best-in-class companies which will benefit greatly from access to both the scope of the Masdar Initiatives and the global reach of Deutsche Bank, the leading global financial institution in this space,” he added.

The Fund has attracted investment from some of world’s leading organisations concerned with climate change issues. The initial investor group is led by Siemens and includes the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Japan Oil Development Co., Ltd., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of INPEX CORPORATION, Nippon Oil Corporation, Development Bank of Japan and GE.

“In these challenging economic times, the size of this first close and quality of participants demonstrates a profound confidence in climate change investing and in the joint DBCCA and Masdar investment team,” said Kevin Parker, Global Head of Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM) and member of Deutsche Bank’s Group Executive Committee.

“Siemens is very happy to be the lead investor in the DB Masdar Clean Tech Fund,” said Joachim Kundt, CEO of Siemens in the Lower Gulf region. “Our active involvement for the second time in a fund associated with Masdar demonstrates our ongoing commitment to clean technology, and we look forward to continuing our work with the Masdar Initiative and building on our already strong relationship with Deutsche Bank.”

The joint DBCCA and Masdar investment team is based in Abu Dhabi, New York and London and combines a wide range of experience in clean tech and private equity investing within the renewable energy industry.

The Fund’s co-managers are actively identifying and evaluating potential investment opportunities globally and expect to complete a number of investments over the next year. In addition to the considerable financial resources of the Fund, portfolio companies will benefit from the added value that comes through association with the Fund’s influential sponsors, co-managers and investors.”

Source: Masdar Press Release

According to Wells Fargo’s press release, “Building on its commitment to a better environment and supporting a greener economy, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced a new commercial banking group dedicated to supporting clean tech companies. Based in Palo Alto, Wells Fargo’s National Cleantech group will offer customized commercial banking products and services to businesses that manufacture, market or develop clean technology products and services, such as solar and wind power, energy and water efficiency, electric and low-emission vehicles, and smart grid applications.

“This new group will build on our success at serving the financial needs of some of the largest clean tech companies in the world, having already loaned more than $600 million to these businesses,” said Puon Penn, head of Wells Fargo’s national cleantech group. “Supporting clean technology is a priority for Wells Fargo because we believe the sector will continue to grow and play a critical role in a greener economy.”

The new group will provide financial services and resources dedicated to helping international and domestic companies focused on decreasing the use of fossil fuels, fertilizers, industrial chemicals, and other activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions or other harmful environmental effects. The new division is also part of Wells Fargo’s growing efforts to serve the financial needs of technology companies worldwide. The company currently serves 5,500 technology customers in areas including life sciences, IT services and software and semiconductors.

This is the latest step Wells Fargo is taking to support greener businesses. The company has already provided more than $5 billion in financing, including $1.6 billion in solar and wind project investments, $3 billion to support LEED-certified buildings, and other loans and investments for environmentally beneficial business opportunities. Wells Fargo also offers investment and insurance services for clean tech businesses and helps municipalities and non-profits invest in energy efficiency.”

Source: Wells Fargo Press Release

Vinod Khosla

According to Reuters, “Khosla Ventures said on Tuesday it had raised more than $1 billion for renewable energy and clean technology funds, a sign that skittish investors are hot for climate-change-related projects.

The news marked the largest clean technology-dedicated raise by a single venture capital firm since 2007 and was also the first time Khosla Ventures, founded in 2004 by Sun Microsystems Inc founder Vinod Khosla, has raised funds from outside investors.

Previously the venture capital firm had invested hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of its partners, including Khosla himself, who was not available for comment.

Menlo Park, California-based Khosla Ventures is among the most active early stage investors in renewables and other alternative energy technologies. Khosla himself was an early backer of biofuels.”

Reuters