“There is going to be a generation of Googles and Ciscos in the cleantech area.”

So says Alan Salzman, co-founder and chief executive of VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the most successful and high profile venture capital firms in the U.S.  He is a man who has personally been involved in developing over 300 companies, and has raised and managed more than $5 billion in capital during the last 25 years in Silicon Valley.

Salzman witnessed from close up and contributed to several technological leaps that changed the way of doing business and pushed the economy’s growth, such as the PC and Internet, biotech, and digital data communications.  Already present in VantagePoint’s cleantech portfolio are start-ups like Shai Agassi’s Better Place, high-end electric car maker Tesla Motors, and BrightSource Energy (whose subsidiary, Luz II, is headquartered in Jerusalem).

He says the firm has “well over $1 billion” dedicated to making cleantech investments.  In particular, it is looking to three areas: Read the rest of this entry »