Applied Materials' corporate venture group appears to be focusing on several cleantech areas for their investments, according to this article. Interestingly, Neal Dikeman (of Cleantechblog) has tracked down rumors suggesting that Applied Materials intends to move into the solar PV manufacturing equipment space -- that would fit well with the above article, which mentions that, "Now, as part of Applied Materials, the fund will hear more from the company's engineers and scientists, ensuring that investments jibe with the corporate strategy."
Agribusiness giant Syngenta (the combination of Novartis and AstraZeneca's agribusiness unit) has launched a corporate venture group of their own, to be managed by Life Sciences Partners, a European VC. The $100mm fund, LSP BioVentures, will be based in Boston, and will invest in -- among several other areas -- biomaterial and biofuel technologies.
Rob Day is a Partner with Black Coral Capital, based in Boston. He has been a cleantech private equity investor since 2004, and acts or has served as a Director, Observer and advisory board member to multiple companies in the energy tech and related sectors. Rob was a co-founder of the Renewable Energy Business Network (www.rebn.org), a non-profit organization which was acquired in 2009 by the Clean Economy Network. The views expressed on this blog are those of Rob, not necessarily the views of any of his colleagues and affiliated organizations. Contact Rob at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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