Venture capitalists plunge into alternative energy
The Wall Street Journal, By REBECCA BUCKMAN and JIM
おやおや、元のタイトルは「しゃっくりする(Hiccups)」だったのに「大ばくち」に変わりましたね。
ＡＴ＆Ｔとルーセントに１９年も勤めた男が、ワイヤレス技術の有望ベンチャーを発掘するために、ベンチャー・キャピタリストになったとさ。でも最近は、石炭発電所の回りをうろついて、石炭を天然ガスに変えられるベンチャー起業の可能性を探っているとさ。
Bill Wiberg, a telecom expert who worked for 19 years at AT&T and Lucent Technologies, became a venture capitalist a few years ago to scout out promising wireless-technology start-ups.
So what was he doing recently, strolling around a coal-fired power plant outside
代替エネに手を染める技術フォーカス型ベンチャー・キャピタリストが多いんだって。
Mr. Wiberg is one of many tech-focused venture capitalists now getting their hands dirty in a risky and growing industry: alternative energy. Other investors involved include former Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers star Vinod Khosla, and current Kleiner partners John Doerr and
まあ原油も高いし、本業でもなかなか厳しいからね。通信やソフトウェアから、太陽熱プロセスやバイオ燃料、エコな建築材料などに転換しているって。でも学習曲線が急すぎないかどうか、みんな迷っているっち。
Prodded by high oil prices and growing environmental concerns, as well as a tougher market for traditional tech investing, these investors are switching from telecom and software deals to focus on solar-thermal- energy processes, biofuels and eco-friendly building materials.
Yet some in
しかし、ＩＴなんかと違って実際に製品を売るには時間もかかるし、顧客や販売チャネルも必要さ。規制も慣れている分野と違うし。「そんなの関係ねぇー」じゃなくて、「あったり前田のクラッカー」だよね。
Companies like these can take years to actually start producing anything to sell. They also have customers, distribution networks and regulatory restrictions different from those of, say, a software company.
ミアソーレは、２００１年に立ち上げたけど、工場立ち上げが遅れたので、社長はクビ。ＫＰＣＢなんかのＶＣは数十億円突っ込んでるって。まだ、ヒミツだけど。そんなの「あったり前田」だよ。何せＣＴＯはナノソーラーに抜けてんだから、誰が技術を見てんのかは、ちんぷんかんぷん。（【ミアソーレ】とは「私の太陽」という名のベンチャー。シリコンバレーの超一流ベンチャーキャピタルＫＰＣＢが投資。 www.miasole.com ２００２年５月、フォーチュン誌４０歳以下全米トップ１０起業家（スタンフォード大博士、Ｘｅｒｏｘ ＰＡＲＣ出身）が設立。化合物半導体（ＣＩＧＳ）をスパッタリング積層し、新型太陽電池セルを製造。２００６年に＄３５Ｍを集め、５万kWの製造設備を建設するという。主な投資家は、ＫＰＣＢ、VantagePoint、Nippon Kouatsu Electric‥。２００７年９月に社長をとっかえたようですな。どーもウエブの開示が少なくなりました。ちなみに【ナノソーラー】とは、www.nanosolar.com １００Ｍ＄のエクイティ資金を元手に、世界トップのシャープ並の製造設備を建設予定。２００２年５月、ミアソーレの創業者が設立。創業時の出資者はGoogle創設者のSergey Brin and Larry Page等のエンジェル。化合物半導体（ＣＩＧＳ）を「印刷技術」で安価に新型太陽電池セルを製造。２００５年６月＄２０Ｍ。出資者は三井物産や Onpoint, 米陸軍ＶＣファンド等。２００６年６月、＄７５Ｍを集め、４３万kWの工場を建設予定。ほんとにできるかな？）
Already, there have been stumbles. Miasole Inc., formed in 2001 and based in
もちろんミアソーレやＫＰＣＢは「そんなの関係ねぇ」ってダンマリを決め込んでるっち。
Miasole and Kleiner Perkins declined to comment.
まあ、コーンからのエタノールは阿呆でしょう。いや、クレージーですか？
Shares of many publicly traded ethanol companies, such as Pacific Ethanol Inc. and Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Inc., which make the gasoline substitute, have tanked over the past year amid a glut in the fuel (which has reduced ethanol prices) and a run-up in corn prices (which has increased costs). Most ethanol in the
強気のコーシュラ、でもサンマイクロの創業者の彼はＩＴしか知らないんじゃないの？確かに情報量は少ないやね。
It's causing headaches for some investors. "Last year, you saw a little bit of, 'We'll invest in corn, we'll pay any price,"' Mr. Khosla said. Overall, in clean energy, "I think there's a lot of investment on little information," he said.
His company, Khosla Ventures, along with Kleiner Perkins, have invested in ethanol start-up AltraBiofuels Inc., which has shifted its business model to make ethanol from other substances in addition to corn, says Kleiner's
Nonetheless, investment remains on a tear. In the first nine months of 2007,
まあ、ウエブ２．０のバカ騒ぎも、霞みますわ。
That dwarfs investments in so-called Web 2.0 companies, including social-networking start-ups such as Facebook Inc., which have received lots of publicity and have been the focus of a separate venture-capital frenzy lately. Venture capitalists pumped $317 million into such Web outfits in this year's first half, up 21 percent from the year-ago period, according to data company VentureOne. (VentureOne is owned by Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.)
The clean-tech hype has grabbed established firms such as Kleiner Perkins. Kleiner's
"We shook hands on thedeal in the parking lot," said Andrew Perlman, GreatPoint's chief executive and one of the passengers in the car.
Mr. Lane, who says Kleiner invested more than $10 million in GreatPoint, which is developing a technology for converting coal into natural gas, says his venture-capital firm has hired chemistry and physics experts and convenes a Greentech Innovation Network of scientific and policy experts twice a year to keep up with clean-energy trends. Last month, Kleiner snagged environmental star Al Gore as a partner.
おやおやゴアさん、あんたもかい？ノーベル平和賞受賞者がベンチャーキャピタルに手を染めてしまったんですねぇ。大統領より実入りがいいかな・・・？表の顔と裏の顔のある方ですね。政治家はそんなものですかね。
多くの弱小ＶＣには、クリーンテックの急なスピードにはお手上げだって。まあそうでしょ。そんなに簡単ではありまへん。「戦略」と「ビジョン」こそが大事でっせ。
For many smaller venture firms, boning up on clean energy is tougher. Mr. Wiberg, a partner with Advanced Technology Ventures in
When looking at tech deals, "it's all essentially (computer) hardware and software," he said, so his company can rely upon the same experts and set of experiences to evaluate deals. With clean energy, partners might need to delve into photovoltaic-cell technology or microbiology, and "those are all very specialized fields."
Some clean-energy technologies are so specialized that entrepreneurs pursuing them are wary of dealing with generalist venture investors at all. Several months ago, veteran Greenpeace solar activist Danny Kennedy quit the environmental group to head a start-up called Sungevity Inc. He and his partners quickly spurned offers from
へえ、緑豆の専門家も活動止めて、ベンチャー起業したってさ。しかも、シリコンバレーの素人ＶＣのオファーを蹴って、エンジェルとドイツから金を引いてきたってさ。
"We didn't take money from
これは正しい戦略ですね。熱い金より、じっくりゆっくりの金の方が、時間のかかるエネルギーベンチャーにはよいのです。逃げ切りディール、見せかけディールをする、どこかのハワイの燃料電池ベンチャーなどの手法を取るなら別ですがね。
When they do get into clean-tech deals,
In many respects, "it's not venture capital," said Alain Harrus, a partner with Crosslink Capital in
そりゃそうでしょう。
Investments in clean energy have gotten riskier lately as the sector has gotten hotter. The median value of clean-tech companies backed by venture money has more than doubled in the past two years, according to VentureOne.
Many investors aren't doing original research in clean-tech and are simply following bigger investors into deals at later stages when prices are higher, investors say. That's dangerous, given the modest "hit" rate for venture-backed deals. So some venture capitalists are investing in less capital-intensive green companies, like start-ups making products to promote energy efficiency. Foundation Capital, of
日本と同じ「横並び投資」。笑えます。でも少額創業投資にも別なリスクがありますし、また、急上昇曲線＆ＩＰＯへの道筋を描けるかがポイントでしょう。
以上、最近の状況でした。まあ、紆余曲折、試行錯誤も大事です。
それがエクイティ・ファイナンスの醍醐味です。多くのチャレンジから光り輝く原石が磨き抜かれて選抜されます。最後に本物が残ればよいのですから。