'Climatetech' Is Hot. Will Venture Investors Learn From the First Cleantech Wave?

“Climatetech” is suddenly the hot new thing in venture capital.  For years now, venture investors have stayed away from the cleantech category, a hangover from the Solyndra days that we have thoroughly documented on The Interchange. But we appear to be in a new phase of interest. Prominent investors are publicly declaring their push into the space. Influential voices in tech are calling on more investors to do the same -- including Kara Swisher, who wrote a persuasive piece in The New York Times last week. And now startups of all kinds are getting a second look.  So. What’s going on? And have investors internalized the lessons from the previous investment wave? With us to weigh in on those questions is returning guest Abe Yokell. Abe is a managing partner at Congruent Ventures.  Co-host Shayle Kann, a managing director at Energy Impact Partners, sets up the trend. Then Shayle and Abe dissect lessons from cleantech venture capital 1.0. The basis of this conversation came from Shayle’s tweet. Read the responses and add your thoughts. Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show. This podcast is brought to you by Fronius. Now, Fronius gives you more control over your solar energy than ever before with its versatile hybrid inverter, the Primo GEN24 PLUS. Whether you’re storing solar power, integrating energy storage or looking for backup power, the Primo GEN24 PLUS has you covered. Find out more.