H20 Prize Aims To Cultivate Water Startups
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tamin Pechet is a young venture capitalist who wants to invest in water start-ups, but has found a dearth of opportunities even as the world searches for solutions to widespread water scarcity. So to lead entrepreneurs to water, Pechet co-founded the not-for-profit Imagine H2O (www.imagineh2o.org/) and launched a prize competition this week aimed at sparking innovation and new business for the water market. Water is a $500 billion business worldwide, but draws a mere 0.5 percent of venture capital, or about six or seven investments a year. "I think there is a pervasive lack of awareness, not only of water problems, but of water opportunities," said the 30-year-old Pechet, a principal at Catamount Ventures in San Francisco who previously worked at Goldman Sachs investing in private energy companies.
