The Cleantech Open, an annual business plan competition in California that focuses solely on clean technology, announced its 44 finalists today, all hoping to win one of six $100,000 "Start-Up In a Box" prize packages and perhaps much more from interested venture capital firms.
The finalists, selected from more than 100 applicants, compete in six categories: Air, Water & Waste; Energy Efficiency; Green Building; Renewables; Smart Power; and Transportation. The names of some of the companies sound silly. There's Over the Moon Diapers, for example, a company that would make and service high performance reusable diapers, and Team WaWa, a group developing a water-conserving shower system. But the competition is serious. The Cleantech Open has awarded $1.2 million to start-ups during the past two years and the finalists have gone on to raise $70 million more in VC funding.
Cleantech is attracting a lot of attention from socially responsible investors. The list of publicly held companies in this field - including solar energy, biofuels, water treatment and energy controls - is growing. I recently interviewed Rafael Coven, manager of the Cleantech Index, about how cleantech investing can compliment an SRI portfolio. Obviously firms that can help reduce carbon emissions are attractive. Additionally, many of those companies are progressively managed in terms of transparency, employee benefits, corporate governance and other issues of concern to socially responsible investors. But not all.
The Cleantech Open is sponsored by Acterra:Action for a Sustainable Earth, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit based in Palo Alto, California.