Algae-based biofuels are the topic du jour. And why not—the prospect of using pond scum to power 21st-century transportation and replace crude oil is pretty appealing. So one of the highlights from the Algae Biomass Summit in Seattle yesterday, besides the keynote by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, was a panel of prominent VCs discussing the ins and outs of the fledgling biofuels business. Bob Nelsen, a co-founder and managing director at Seattle-based Arch Venture Partners, was joined by Jim Long, a venture partner at Redwood Shores, CA-based Gabriel Venture Partners, and moderator Josh Green, a general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures in Menlo Park, CA.
Nelsen and Long plugged their portfolio companies in the algae space, of course, but they also engaged Green in a fascinating conversation about biofuels strategy and challenges. Green himself has no investments in algal fuels, but he’s open to the idea— “I’m agnostic, not an atheist,” he said. “But it’s late to get into algal fuels. The bar for differentiation has been raised, so you have to have something special.”
Nelsen (who’s an Xconomist) certainly thinks he has something special. He serves as a director of Sapphire Energy, a San Diego-based algae biofuel startup that has more than $100 million in the bank, and “anticipates commitments for future funds that are quite large,” Nelsen says. In addition to Arch Ventures, Sapphire is backed by Bill Gates, Venrock, and Wellcome Trust. “We want to create the market leader based on a real technological advantage,” says Nelsen. “We’re going to replace oil. It’s a grand goal.”
Meanwhile, Long is chairman of the board of Aurora Biofuels, an Alameda, CA-based startup out of UC Berkeley that uses genetically modified algae to create biodiesel. In addition to Gabriel Venture Partners, it is backed by Noventi and Oak Investment Partners.
So, apart from their respective bets, how do they think algae biofuel companies should differentiate themselves from the competition? Nelsen provided some high-level context. “You will see a couple high-profile [startups] from people who didn’t get into the initial party. We’re excited because we’ll be ahead. There will be many winners in this space.” He pointed out several ways for companies to
