Greentech Media

It's hard to convince venture capitalists to invest in something as, well, dry as drywall. But Serious Materials has met that challenge, raising $5.5 million to date and winning over VCs who never thought they'd want to put money behind building materials. VCs we talked with were unusually sanguine about Serious' prospects and loved the idea of being a first mover in such a massive market (roughly 50 billion square feet of drywall is produced each year).

Serious says it can make drywall using 90 percent less energy than its competitors. The low-energy drywall, called EcoRock, is set for release in 2008. According to the company, drywall production consumes 1 percent of all U.S. energy use, making it an easy target for greening. And Serious already is seeing success with its other sustainable construction materials, reporting about $14 million in revenue for 2006.

Apart from the business model, we were also impressed by Serious CEO Kevin Surace. Industry watchers tell us he's the real deal and his marketing skills are evident. For one, he picked one of the few good company names in this industry. His presentation also won Serious the "Most Promising Company" title at The Cleantech Venture Forum earlier this year.

We also think the company is promising. It's working to build its third plant now and - with all the VC interest - should have no problems raising the $40 million to $50 million it is looking for.