VantagePoint strengthens cleantech efforts
VantagePoint Venture Partners has brought two new specialized partners aboard to strengthen its position in the cleantech sector. Mark Plashton hails from Trident Capital, where he also focused on green investments, and Brad Mattson is an engineer with 12 patents for semiconductor products. He has also served as chief executive of Novellus Systems and Mattson Technology.
Based in San Bruno, Calif., VantagePoint was one of the first major Silicon Valley firms to invest heavily in the cleantech sector. It closed its recent fund in this area, VantagePoint Cleantech Partners II, at $435 million in December. So far, its big investments are in electric car infrastructure company Better Place, solar-thermal tech maker BrightSource Energy, and waste-recovery companies Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies and Ze-Gen.
VantagePoint manages $4.5 billion in all. The addition of Plashton and Mattson follows that of another high-profile recruit, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who joined the firm’s cleantech team in February.
Next Story: Web 2.0 Expo starts with sober talks on the next web
Previous Story: SinglePipe calls up $5M for VoIP services
About the Author, Camille Ricketts
Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.