Greylock Partners, which manages $150 million, today announced that it is seeking to invest in cleantech. Greylock Israel partner Moshe Mor said that the fund had been considering cleantech for the past two years, and he hoped that it would soon make number of investments in early-stage Israeli cleantech start-ups.
At a company conference today, Mor said, “Anyone who expects $10 million investments will be disappointed. We’re undergoing a long learning process about the field, and we plan to make three or four investments. After two years of developing contacts and learning about cleantech, we’re offering cleantech start-ups more than just financing. We’re offering our abilities and experience in establishing and fostering new companies.”
This is very good new for the Israeli cleantech industry. Until now, institutional investors have largely avoided investing in early-stage companies, preferring to invest in companies with sales.
Greylock, founded in 1965, is one of the more prominent US venture capital funds. It has been active in Israel since 2001, and has invested in 16 Israeli companies since then. Its Israeli portfolio includes HyperRoll Inc., Celeno Communications Ltd., ClearForest Ltd. (acquired by Reuters plc (LSE: RTR; Nasdaq: RTRSY), Unipier Ltd., and Zend Technologies Inc.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on September 10, 2007
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