GM Ventures continues string of clean-tech investments

General Motors Ventures, the venture capital arm of GM, recently invested in an electric bus start-up, the latest in a string of investments in clean-tech firms.

GM Ventures is sinking $6 million into Proterra, a company that makes fuel-efficient electric buses. Proterra’s EcoRide BE-35 battery electric bus can average up to 24 mpg, a more than 600-percent improvement over typical diesel buses. A number of venture capital firms, including VC heavy weights like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, plan to invest $30 million into the start-up.

GM Ventures is focusing on investing in four different categories, including clean-tech, vehicle electrification, infotainment and supply chain. All of its investments have fallen into the clean-tech and vehicle electrification sectors so far, including a couple of bio-fuel start-ups and Ann Arbor-based Sakti3, which is developing vehicle electrification technology.

“There are a lot of local start-ups coming up with a lot of good technology that falls into clean-tech,” says Kelly Cusinato, a spokeswoman for GM Ventures. She adds that GM Ventures is also working on making a few more investments later this year, some of which could come as soon as this summer.

Source: Kelly Cusinato, a spokeswoman for General Motors Ventures
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.