GreatPoint Energy is a technology-driven natural resources company and the developer of a proprietary, highly-efficient catalytic process, known as hydromethanation.
The AO Global 250 represents the best of emerging innovators and disrupters from all the technology sectors we cover, and therefore is our most distinguished annual competition.
In an interview yesterday with Michael Moritz (Forbesâ 2x Midas List winner), California controller John Chiang hinted that venture capital could see even less money than might be hoped from Calprs and Calstrs, two of the biggest Limited Partners sugar daddies that VCs go to for funds. Moritz asked Chiang, who sits on the ___ of the firms, how the funds were doing. Chiang, it what appeared to be a bit of on-stage negotiating intimated that many âalternative investmentsâ were not âhigh quality,â and that the standard 2-and-20 management fees typically doled out to fund managers would have to be re-evaluated. In other words, if VCs, who as an investment block have performed poorly in the last decade, want a piece of Californiaâs shrinking public funds, theyâre going to have to take a serious paycut.
HP is equipping environmentalist and adventurer David de Rothschild with the technology needed to sail 10,000 miles across the Pacific on a boat made entirely of plastic bottles. (disclosure: HP is a paying sponsor of AlwaysOn) The Pacific Ocean is home to the worldâs biggest trash dump, and a large portion of that is plastic. In an attempt to raise awareness of the oceanic mess, David de Rothschild, founder of Adventure Ecology, is readying a sea voyage from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia, aboard the Plastiki, a boat made entirely of plastic bottles. Rothschild says discoveries like that of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch inspired the expedition. âI was like, hang on a second. This canât be true,â he said in a recent interview. âWhy doesnât everybody know about this? Why donât we know about the fact that our oceans are basically filling up with trash?â By turning the symbol of waste into an adventure, Rothschild hopes to inspire young people to develop smart solutions to environmental problems. ...
Since the administration's announcement in March that $2.4B would go to hybrid plug-in car initiatives, green VCs have been trekking to DC with their hats in their hands. No doubt, the turn of events makes many in the traditionally libertarian VC ecosystem uneasy. One possible exception are the partners at KPCB, who have a longer history of governmental cooperation, typified by their decision in 2007 to bring Al Gore on as a partner. Ray Lane, one of the most even-keeled VCs in the Valley, prescribes a dose of sobriety. He notes that many of the large-scale, high-tech developments of the last century, from automobiles to the Internet, had their origins in government-funded projects. His take is that Uncle Sam's involvement is a promising temporary treatment for the cash-flow crunch, but anticipates a return to more private system once the economy recovers. So far, Tesla and Fisker and Bright Automotive have been leading the publicity charge to win DOE dollars, with bids in the $350M to $400M range. ...
Since the post-Enron regulation that doubled the time needed for startups to go public, VCs have been thirsty for liquidity. The recent pullback in funding from LPs has left the VC community even more parched. With fewer exit possibilities and less money to keep late-stage companies afloat, the venture capital ecosystem is in for a serious overhaul. But VCs are no strangers to rapid adaptation. The thirst for liquidity has driven an increase in second-market stock trading, most notoriously in the case of Facebook, whose stockholders have been busy trading shares on the not-so down-low. Some VCs see opportunity in the current cash-flow crunch. Tim Draper, whose various funds invest in over 500 startups, unveiled one of his latest investments, Xchange, at Venture Summit East in late May. Xchange is a trading platform for private-company stock where VCs, equity holders, and qualified buyers can trade restricted assets based on a tightly-controlled system for sharing private company information. I ...
Venture Summit East in Boston is an opportunity for venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, industry professionals, bankers, and analysts to gather and discuss the state of the industry.
Filler
Bill Gurley, General Partner, Benchmark capital gave a Keynote address at the OnHollywood conference on April 29, 2009. Bill issued an incisive overview the key trends, barriers, affecting the development of online video.
The top private companies creating new business opportunities in digital entertainment.
The Leaders in Digital Entertainment share their thoughts on the future of Hollywood. Michael Montgomery, President, Montgomery & Co. Steve Canepa, VP of the global IBM media and entertainment division, IBM Derek Broes, EVP, Digital Entertainment, Paramount David Wolf, Partner, Accenture Robert Kibble, Managing General Partner, Mission Ventures Dana Settle, Partner, Greycroft Partners Peter Lee, Partner, Baroda Ventures Craig Collar, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley John Kavanagh, SVP, Video Games, Paramount
In an exclusive interview, Googleâs YouTube monetization guru Shishir Mehrotra reveals how the search giant is planning to monetize its hot property: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/32102
Climate, Economics, Reality, Part 2 What is really happening to the earth? What are the observational and simulation data saying? What is the political and economic reality - are business models based on climate change mitigation the ultimate safe haven for investors, or overhyped schemes that are vulnerable to imminent shifts in scientific consensus? Moderator: Paul Deninger, Vice Chairman, Jefferies & Company, Inc. Howard Hayden, Professor Emeritus, Physics, University of Connecticut Richard Lindzen, Professor, MIT Nick d'Arbeloff, President, New England Clean Energy Council Paul Epstein, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
What is really happening to the earth? What are the observational and simulation data saying? What is the political and economic reality - are business models based on climate change mitigation the ultimate safe haven for investors, or overhyped schemes that are vulnerable to imminent shifts in scientific consensus? Moderator: Paul Deninger, Vice Chairman, Jefferies & Company, Inc. Howard Hayden, Professor Emeritus, Physics, University of Connecticut Richard Lindzen, Professor, MIT Nick d'Arbeloff, President, New England Clean Energy Council Paul Epstein, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
What is really happening to the earth? What are the observational and simulation data saying? What is the political and economic reality - are business models based on climate change mitigation the ultimate safe haven for investors, or overhyped schemes that are vulnerable to imminent shifts in scientific consensus? Moderator: Paul Deninger, Vice Chairman, Jefferies & Company, Inc. Howard Hayden, Professor Emeritus, Physics, University of Connecticut Richard Lindzen, Professor, MIT Nick d'Arbeloff, President, New England Clean Energy Council Paul Epstein, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Is this the dawn of the electric age? What technologies and what companies promise to upgrade the grid to ultra efficient transmission? Who is working on smart grid applications inside the meter and at the utility? How are these tools being used to facilitate ultra-efficient use of electricity? Moderator: David O'Connor, SVP Energy & Clean Technology, ML Strategies Tim Healy, CEO, EnerNOC Inc. Tom Casey, CEO, Current Group LLC Karl Lewis, Chief Strategy Officer, GridPoint, Inc.
Venture Capital and Angel Financing Workshop With the cash crunch and downturn, only top-flight firms can get funding. Venture veterans brief entrepreneurs on the state of private equity and how to raise the next round. Moderator: Sam Angus, Partner, Fenwick & West Mark Stevens, Partner, Fenwick & West Tom Patterson, CEO, Wize Bob Greene, Partner, Contour Venture Partners David Pakman, Partner, Venrock
Big-Brand Marketing Roundtable Chief marketers discuss digital marketing—which strategies are working? How can the Web best be leveraged to build brand equity? Moderator: Brandon Gutman, Founding Partner, The FOCI Group Robert Hayes, SVP, General Manager, Digital Media, Showtime Networks Amanda Kanaga, SVP, Time Inc. Digital Jordan Corredera, Director of Interactive Marketing, Carnival Cruise Lines
Online Entertainment Content—Is Madison Avenue Buying It? As more entertainment content is produced for the Internet, are producers lining up the advertising and sponsorship dollars to support it? Moderator: Mark Naples, Partner, WIT Strategy Lance Podell, CEO, Next New Networks Erick Hachenburg, CEO, MetaCafe Brian Murphy, EVP Branded Entertainment, TBA Global
AO proudly presents the inaugural GoingGreen East 50. With this list, AO's editors and advisors introduce a new generation of game-changing greentech startups from the Eastern U.S. and Canada.
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