It's Official -- Khosla Raises Over $1 Billion, Mostly For Clean Tech
The firm announced two new funds, both over-subscribed -- a $750 million fund for early and mid-stage startups and a $250 million seed stage fund for high-risk ventures at universities. CalPERS committed $60 million to the seed fund -- which will invest 75 percent in clean tech and 25 percent in information technology -- and has committed $200 million to Khosla overall. Principals of the seed fund include Pierre Lamond, an engineer with a long Silicon Valley track record. He co-founded National Semiconductor, worked at Cisco, and chaired several big tech companies -- including Cypress Semiconductor and Redback Networks -- before turning to clean tech. He joined Khosla in March from Sequoia Capital (also rumored to be looking at seed investments).
