Silver Lake originally filed for its new cleantech fund, Silver Lake Kraftwerk, in 2011; it was anticipated to raise $1.25 billion. The most recent SEC filing published on Monday now lists its new fundraising goal as $750 million, reflecting the difficult environment for raising capital from limited partners. The filing also reveals that it has 82 limited partners and lists VC Privé, Credit Suisse Securities and Sustainable Development Capital as placement agents.
According to the Silver Lake website, the Kraftwerk “energy and resource innovation” fund targets companies globally that leverage technology and business model innovation to improve energy efficiency, reduce waste and emissions, harness renewable energy, and more efficiently use natural resources, among other applications.
The firm started raising capital for the fund in November 2011, and counts Soros Fund Management as a strategic partner in the management of the fund and a limited partner. Soros committed a total of $300 million to the fund, $50 million of which represents a G.P. commitment, says Bloomberg. The fund’s previous SEC filing from July 2012 stated that Silver Lake Kraftwerk had raised just $302.4 million, which represented the Soros investment.
The fund, which operates out of offices in Silicon Valley and China, has made only two investments so far, according its website. It made a $40 million investment in German recycled plastics maker friedolaTech in November 2012, as a co-investor with Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers. It also invested $81 million in home solar power provider SolarCity in February 2012, which had an IPO in December 2012.
Silver Lake group head Adam Grossner, previously a general partner at Foundation Capital, is leading the investment team that includes other senior members of the firm including Managing Directors Raj Atluru, Martin Fichtner, and Bryce Lee and Principals Arif Lakhani and Sebastian Neelamkavil. The investment team also includes Cathy Zoi, who worked at the U.S. Department of energy.