d. Light Design and Kotak Urja score venture backing

Published November 11, 2008 @ 08:24AM PT

Following up from the earlier post about Obama's energy plan, VentureBeat is reporting two recent venture capital deals for companies in the in the renewable/clean energy space.

Indian company Kotak Urja has raised $8mil from Kleiner Perkins (who's green investments were featured in this New York Times magazine cover story a few months ago) and Sherpalo. The deal is interesting in part because were as Kleiner has tended to focus on companies actually producing new technologies, Kotak installs and resells products to help supply keep pace with growing Indian demand.

Perhaps even more exciting for the social entrepreneurship space was the announcement posted on the Skoll Foundation's website that d. Light Design, the company we listed as one of the "Five Social Entrepreneurship Projects You Haven't Heard of Yet, (But Will)" just landed a $6million dollar round, including investment from Nexus India Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Garage Technology Ventures (Guy Kawasaki's firm), Mahindra and Mahindra, Acumen Fund and Gray Matters Capital.

Sam Goldman, the founder of d. Light Design, has been blogging on SocialEdge for over a year about the trials and excitements of building an entrepreneurial social venture. The company's social mission is multifaceted: by bringing cheap, clean energy, they provide more environmentally-friendly energy, reduce the potential of kerosene accidents which can injure or even kill, and enable the rural and urban poor of the developing world to access high quality night-time light that allows for increased study, among other things.

It's awesome to see a company so clearly committed to its social mission get the backing and support of top tier venture firms. It's also exciting to see social venture firms like Acumen Fund and Grey Matters Capital working together with more traditional VCs to make good deals happen. More examples like this will continue to push the boundaries of our understanding of how to create change.

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Comments (1)

Crazy, I was just telling a friend about d.light tonight. Good for them!
B

Posted by Brendan Baker on 11/11/2008 @ 12:58PM PT
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Nathaniel is the founding Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, which works annually with hundreds of students in dozens of countries around the world through curricular programs and student project incubation.