Azim Premji puts $15mn into Khosla’s US green fund: report
16 May 2011
Azim Premji, the billionaire-chairman of software firm Wipro, has made his first overseas investment, putting around $15 million into Vinod Khosla's clean-tech fund in the US, according to a report.
Citing unnamed sources, The Economic Times said today that with a corpus of nearly $1.5 billion, Premji Invest, the investment arm that manages the Wipro founder's wealth, now plans to look beyond India for diversifying its portfolio and also tap into lucrative opportunities offered by new technology companies in the US.
A person aware of a non-disclosure agreement signed between Khosla Ventures and Premji Invest said the transaction took place some four months ago, according to the report.
Khosla's green fund investments range from cellulosic ethanol firm Range Fuels and LS9, which designs microbes to produce biofuels.
In 2009, Khosla Ventures raised nearly $1.1 billion for two funds focussed on green technology and information technology start ups. So far, he has invested in over 40 clean-tech companies including bio fuel projects such as KiOR and Amyris and Gevo.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates and several other big names from the technology world are backing Khosla's green fund, adds the report.
Both Premji and Khosla Ventures declined to respond, it says.
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