A group of executives and entrepreneurs launched a clean energy investment fund called Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) yesterday that will collaborate with corporate partners.
Bill Gates, co-founder of software provider Microsoft, is chairman of BEV and one of 20 individuals that have jointly agreed to provide more than $1bn in capital that will be used to launch companies as well as to make early and growth-stage investments.
The consortium includes Jack Ma, chairman of e-commerce group Alibaba; Mukesh Ambani, chairman of conglomerate Reliance Industries; Hasso Plattner, co-founder of software producer SAP; Jeff Bezos, founder of e-commerce firm Amazon; Richard Branson, founder of conglomerate Virgin; and Masayoshi Son, CEO of telecom group SoftBank.
Alwaleed bin Talal, Xavier Niel, Ray Dalio, Patrice Motsepe, Zhang Xin, Pan Shiyi, John Doerr, Vinod Khosla and John Arnold are also among the fund’s partners.
BEV is set to begin investing in 2017 and will focus on the commercialisation of research that helps reduce greenhouse emissions in technologies such as electricity generation and storage, transportation, industrial processes and agriculture.
The patient capital fund has a 20-year life span. It will make direct investments, co-invest alongside other parties and establish independent businesses to support commercialisation activities.
The fund, which is in the process of recruiting a management team, hopes to collaborate with partners such as corporates in the energy sector as well as governments and research institutions.
Gates first revealed plans for BEV to the Wall Street Journal in November 2015, when the publication interviewed him at the Paris Climate Conference.
Gates was one of the signatories of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, which brought together a group of 28 wealthy individuals and families as well as University of California in a pledge to invest in clean energy projects.
Jack Ma said: “The launch of this fund combines technological innovation, science and investment talent who can change the nature of the energy market. People say that you cannot satisfy both profit and environmental protection at the same time, but we can and we shall.”