Green technology is proving to be an important innovation for many companies.
General Electric (NYSE: GE) and five other venture capital partners are planning a $63 million investment in 10 small green technology companies.
GE has partnered with Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, RockPort Capital, and Carbon Trust to lift off their Ecomagination Challenge, a $200 million plan to aid green-tech advancements.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has worked with top-notch companies such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU).
This Ecomagination Challenge was started back in July of 2010 with its first phase consisting of offering support and investments to smart-grid and renewable energy companies.
The Challenge is now in phase 2, initiated in January, which targets home energy start-ups.
The investment of $63 million will go to the following 10 small home energy companies: Ember, GMZ Energy, Hara, Nuventix, On-Ramp Wireless, Project Frog, SunRun, Viridity Energy, VPhase, & WiTricity.
GE is devoted to its eco-revolution project, focusing numerous resources on various aspects of the project.
A $20 million investment is being planned for an Ecomagination Innovation Council, and coming soon GE and its partners want to start an Ecomagination Challenge exclusively for China.
$5 million will also go to a seed fund in Europe to offer assistance to green technology.
GE is also partnering with Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) to begin testing retail sales for several Ecomagination projects.
Designated Best Buy locations will sell a home energy control device by VPhase, as well as an air conditioning control device from Suntulit, a smaller company that received a grant from the program.
Ecomagination offered a total of 5 smaller companies grants of $100,000 each to aid in research and development.
Of the $200 million planned for Ecomagination, $134 million has already been invested.
Ecomagination provides investments supporting solar power and other renewable energy sources, communications and software, and energy efficiency.
That’s all for now,
Brianna
