{"id":294209,"date":"2010-02-08T16:30:28","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T21:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xconomy.com\/?p=62317"},"modified":"2010-02-08T16:30:28","modified_gmt":"2010-02-08T21:30:28","slug":"voyager-capital%e2%80%99s-daniel-ahn-on-the-firm%e2%80%99s-refocused-clean-it-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/294209","title":{"rendered":"Voyager Capital\u2019s Daniel Ahn on the Firm\u2019s Refocused Clean-IT Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
VC<\/a>, Software<\/a>, cleantech<\/a><\/div>\n

\t\t\"Dan<\/a>
\n\t\tGregory T. Huang wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\n

To Voyager Capital<\/a> managing director Daniel Ahn, \u201ccleantech\u201d is just a buzzword. \u201cClean IT\u201d is much more precise—and, to the point, it\u2019s something a hardcore techie venture capitalist can get his hands around.<\/p>\n

Last week, I spoke with Ahn by phone about Voyager\u2019s recent investment in Coulomb Technologies<\/a>, a Campbell, CA-based startup focused on electric vehicle infrastructure (networked smart chargers). The deal was a little different from what the Seattle-based VC firm is best known for investing in—digital media, software, and wireless—so I wanted to know if it\u2019s a strategic shift, and whether this means we should expect more action at the intersection of energy and software. I particularly wanted to hear Ahn\u2019s thoughts, since he is one of the Silicon Valley-based partners with Voyager who I don\u2019t see as often as the firm’s local partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a very conscious focus rather than a huge shift,\u201d Ahn says. \u201cThis is a big opportunity,\u201d for the \u201clong term.\u201d Voyager has made two previous investments in clean-IT, including Tropos Networks (green, cellular Wi-Fi) and Sensys Networks (vehicle traffic detection), both based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Coulomb builds on Voyager\u2019s favored theme of using smart networks to increase efficiencies—this time in the burgeoning electric vehicle market.<\/p>\n

The Coulomb investment came about in part because of Jim Billmaier, the CEO of Seattle-based digital music firm Melodeo, which is also in Voyager\u2019s portfolio. Billmaier is a founding investor in Charge Northwest<\/a>, a five-person startup based in Woodinville, WA, which has a partnership with Coulomb to distribute its networked charging stations in Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, and a few other U.S. states. (At least one charging station has been deployed in Washington state so far.) Billmaier helped introduce Coulomb to the Voyager VCs, and once they understood the startup was solving a big software problem—not a capital-intensive energy problem—they were in.<\/p>\n

Voyager is looking at the \u201cwhole energy distribution problem,\u201d Ahn says. \u201cHow can IT networks be used to make this more efficient, and make the electric grid more efficient?\u201d He emphasizes that a lot of cleantech-related companies are not right for VCs, because of the large amount of money needed to develop projects in solar or biofuels, for instance. (This sounds similar to what Rick LeFaivre from OVP Venture Partners told me almost a year ago<\/a> about the sweet spot for cleantech venture investing.)<\/p>\n

Ahn says he is looking at several other prospective clean-IT investments, in both Washington state and the Bay Area, which involve software and energy efficiency. \u201cIt really ties into our multi-location geography strategy,\u201d he says. \u201cIt really helps to have a presence in all these different markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Ahn sees a huge market for electric vehicles, especially in the Northwest. Besides the eco-friendly stereotype, fueled in part by things like having the highest penetration of Toyota Prius hybrids in the country, there are state mandates and incentives for electric vehicle use and infrastructure development in Washington. (Meanwhile, some other techies in the Seattle area, like Mark Aggar of Microsoft, have raised concerns about electric vehicles and the environment<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Billmaier, who helps run the startup that sells electric charging stations locally, is naturally bullish on electric vehicles, too. \u201cWashington and Oregon are going to set the model for how the nation does this,\u201d he says. Billmaier also talks about his involvement with Charge Northwest with an eye toward the long-term sustainability of transportation and the environment. \u201cWe had the \u2018a-ha,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve caused our children a lot of problems, so it\u2019d be nice to solve a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

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VC, Software, cleantech Gregory T. Huang wrote: To Voyager Capital managing director Daniel Ahn, \u201ccleantech\u201d is just a buzzword. \u201cClean IT\u201d is much more precise—and, to the point, it\u2019s something a hardcore techie venture capitalist can get his hands around. Last week, I spoke with Ahn by phone about Voyager\u2019s recent investment in Coulomb Technologies, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1747,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy","category-news","category-software"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1747"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}