Kleiner Perkins doubles green tech commitment to $200M

Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, the high-profile Silicon Valley venture capital firm said today it has doubled its commitment to green technology investments, to $200 million.

It said it has also introduced the KPCB “Prize for Greentech Policy Innovators” to recognize outstanding policy entrepreneurs, and has backed three ventures with its Pandemic Preparedness Fund.

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In a statement, Kleiner partner John Doerr said :”The largest trend on the planet is urbanization as the number of people living in megacities triples from 2 billion to 6 billion. There are enormous needs for clean water, power, and transportation.”

The firm also said it is backing 11 greentech companies, up from the five it had acknowledged just six months ago.

Doerr said 19 Kleiner Perkins partners are now active in some way in pushing biology, chemistry or physics to push cleantech.

The “KPCB Prize for Greentech Policy Innovators” is meant to recognize and award $50,000 to outstanding policy entrepreneurs.

Finally, Kleiner announced that its $200 million Pandemic Preparedness Fund has backed three ventures to combat global infectious disease, including Biocryst (BCRX), Novavax (NVAX) and an unnamed company doing “rapid diagnostic technology.”