Rob Day 04 07 09, 3:10 PM

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What’s next after “cleantech” and “greentech”?

I’ve been having quite a few conversations with investors at generalist VC shops lately, where they’ve taken pains to point out that they don’t use the terms “cleantech” or “greentech”.

I completely understand why.

As cleantech/greentech have become a major part of the ongoing political discourse, the clean and green terminology is starting to get laden with “let’s save the planet” meanings.  Many VCs tend to have allergic reactions to such things.  Such returns-focused VCs (and also those who think energy independence is as important as green-ness) will want to use other terms to demonstrate that they’re focused on their bottom lines, and not the triple bottom line (social, env’l, business).  They’ll also want to demonstrate that they’re not just being “me-too”, and using different terminology helps to illustrate a different approach to the sector.

What all this branding and counter-branding is really all about, of course, is that people do view the sector in very different ways.  For some, it’s about renewable energy generation.  Others include energy efficiency, water, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing, etc.  I tend to fall into the camp of those who see a very broad investment thesis around looming natural resource scarcity, which then gets us into all of the above sub-categories and then some.  The problem is, “natural resource optimization” is just not very pithy.

But what are we to turn to as an alternative?  “Resource tech” perhaps?  Someone smarter at branding than I am will have to come up with the next big catch-phrase.

For me, it doesn’t matter what we call it, as long as we’re talking about productivity-maximizing strategies for addressing looming natural resource constraints in energy, water, agriculture, and other commodities.  And until someone comes up with something else that catches on, I’ll continue to write the “Cleantech Investing” column on the “GreenTech Media” website.

Deals from the past week (with a few firms looking pretty active):

• Zigbee equipment provider Ember has raised an $8mm insider round of financing.  Investors included Polaris Venture Partners, GrandBanks Capital, RRE Ventures, Vulcan Capital, DFJ ePlanet Ventures, New Atlantic Ventures, WestLB Mellon Asset Management, Chevron Technology Ventures and Stata Venture Partners.

• OPX Biotechnologies has raised a $17.5mm round of financing, led by Braemar and including new investor Altira and existing investors MDV and X/Seed Capital Management.  The company is pursuing applications in biofuel and green chemicals markets.

• GE and existing investors have put a $10mm round of financing into Southwest Windpower.  Participating investors include Altira, Rockport Capital Partners, NGP     Energy Technology Partners, and Chevron Technology Ventures.

• Lilliputian Systems has raised a $28mm round of financing from new investors Stata Venture Partners and Altira, and existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Atlas Venture, Fairhaven Capital and Rockport Capital.

• Fisker Automotive has raised $85mm from Eco-Drive (Capital) Partners and Kleiner Perkins.  Still waiting on my first Karma testdrive…

Other news and notes:  Here’s an interesting interview with CMEA’s Jim Watson...  Details on Ford’s relatively quiet shift toward the electric drivetrain...  Finally: Enjoy.

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