US-listed industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) has chosen Australia and New Zealand as the second region for a localised version of its Ecomagination corporate venturing project by setting up a $10m fund with five local venture capital firms.
The Australia Challenge will see GE and its venture capital partners, Southern Cross, MH Carnegie, Cleantech Ventures, Starfish Ventures and CVC Sustainable Investments, invest $10m in clean-tech start-ups and mid-stage ventures working on low carbon solutions and energy efficiency.
In addition, the Challenge will present five Innovation Awards of $100,000 cash each to five winning entrants with applications submitted by November 30.
In September last year, GE launched the Ecomagination Challenge in China where the conglomerate worked with seven local venture capital partners to provide $100m to find and fund the best gas energy ideas.
The original $200m Ecomagination Challenge in the US launched in July 2010 has seen 22 companies backed and one acquisition by GE out of nearly 5,000 ideas submitted.