One more green tech fund

From Dealbook:

The race to cash in on the environmental technology wave just got a little more crowded on Monday with the founding of the New World Capital Group, a private equity firm focused on investing in companies in the nascent “green tech” sector.

Led by Carter Bales, an industry heavyweight who founded the environmental practice at McKinsey in the 1980s, and assisted by four partners including Bradley Abelow, former head of operations at Goldman Sachs and later chief of staff to Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey, New World is hoping to fill what they believe is a huge funding gap in the green industry by providing growth capital to more established, middle-market companies.

Mr. Bales estimates that there is only $3 billion in private equity capital pledged to help green-focused companies — those in the fields of clean energy, energy efficiency, environmental services, waste management, water, and sustainable and biodegradable materials. That represents just 1 percent of an industry that Mr. Bales believes is worth around $300 billion, growing at a rate of 8 to 10 percent a year.

My impression is the opposite – namely that there is much more money chasing good opportunities in the green tech sector than there are opportunities that offer attractive risk-adjusted returns. Sure, there will still be new home runs, but the sector is so hot that it’s been picked over several times by both financial investors and strategic players (e.g. the big oil companies), so I don’t know how much value can be created by looking for as yet undiscovered diamonds in the rough, unless you believe you are so much better at it than anyone else.

But then again I'm an advisor, so what would I know about taking principal risk?