Green Investments: What are they investing?

Everyone is talking about Green Age, Greentech, Renewable Energy, and Green Investment; but what exactly are some of the sectors that “Green” Venture Capital or Private Equity firms looking for?

Here are some sectors we have identified recently from our interviews with them:

1. Show me the Water: Water is scarce worldwide, you may not see that in North America, but look at Asia, Middle East, Australia, and you will know how serious the situation is. Aside from that, water pollution is another major investment sector considered by VCs.

Water related opportunities (Water Management, Water Separation Technology, Chemicals, Desalination..etc) have also attracted global investors particularly: Israel, Singapore, Japan, Australia and Middle East.

2. Renewable Energy sectors: This includes biofuel, solar energy, biomass, clean coal, wind energy. Investors who invest in cleantech would usually consider renewable energy opportunities as well. Investors: VCs, PEs, Oil & Gas Companies, Coal companies, utilities companies.

3. Energy Management & Storage: They may not be classified as typical “greentech”, this refers to improvements in energy storage systems & applications used for industrial or household purposes, this sector has attracted many Asian investors. Possible Investors: VCs, Telecommunications VCs, Semiconductor Firms, IT related VCs.

4. Eco-Tourism: A hot sector and yet, most of investment actually came from non-VC or PE sectors. Eco-tourism is a diverse sector with revenue coming from both tourism and carbon economy such as trading carbon credits. Possible VCs: Mining companies to offset their carbon emission, property companies, property related VCs, Sovereign Wealth Funds.

5. Infrastructure Financing: For renewable energy companies, you should certainly consider infrastructure financing and project financing partners; these financiers have broad mandate which usually include Wind Farms, Solar Farms as part of their mandate. Possible Investors: Energy infrastructure financing companies, investment banks, hedge funds.

6. Automotive technologies: This particular sector has raised significant investments from VC and both Japanese and German automotive companies. Honda was probably the most active investor in this sector at moment; but investments were also made from VC firms like Chevron Technologies and GE Capital.

7. Environmental Engineering Companies: A very interesting and fast growing sector worldwide, and this has raised interests from VCs and PEs. Investing in Environmental Engineering seems like a good idea without exposing yourself from technology development risk or changes in Government policies. This is an indirect way to invest yourself into the booming green economies.

We can’t publish too many words in this article, more Green Investment related articles can be found from our website http://researchwhitepaper.com, the above article was an article included in our Global Green Investors Guide.