Green Building VC, Pt. 3: Meet the Team

I finally spoke with the team at the VC firm that will target green building.

Navitas Capital is run by Jim Pettit and Travis Putnam. They plan on strictly investing in companies dedicated to green buildings, building materials and other technologies that relate to cutting down the energy and carbon generated in construction or running structures.

So far, the firm has invested in Serious Materials, the green drywall guys, and Integrity Block, which makes a building brick out of rammed earth. Integrity Block is particularly interesting. EcoRock, the green drywall from Serious, gives contractors and building owners LEED points, but it costs more than regular drywall. Integrity Block’s bricks cost less than conventional bricks. Thus, building owners get LEED points and a discount. It’s a good sales pitch.

Contrary to my earlier report, Navitas Capital does not have anything to do with another green technology fund out of the Netherlands called Navitas Capital. I kid you not. There are two firms concentrating in somewhat the same area with the same exact arbitrary name. [Confusion is further enhanced by the fact that Navitas Capital (the green building group) doesn’t have a Website yet. Navitas Capital (the Europeans) does. It is Navitascapital.com.]

“You know how that goes,” laughed Putnam. “You try to come up with a name and…”

Green building is growing and so far there hasn’t been a ton of VC activity in the sector. Foundation Capital and Khosla Ventures have been the most active. But buildings consume 40 percent of our power and some of the technologies are decades old. It is also one of the few green markets that won’t require government subsidies. (Investors hate subsidies, they say, except when receiving them directly.) There are challenges – like the fact that a lot of these startups need factories – but it seems destined to grow.

Expect to hear more from Navitas in the future.