Green startup gets funding from environmentalist

SAN FRANCISCO, US: Sir Richard Branson and former Vice President Al Gore share a passion for environmentalism and are now co-investors in startup GreenRoad Technologies.

Branson invested in Redwood City, California-based GreenRoad www.greenroad.com/ in early 2008 via his Virgin Green Fund and has been active in the company's operations, despite not personally taking a board seat, said a GreenRoad spokesman.

Last week, an investment firm, co-founded by Gore, put an additional $10 million behind the startup, which develops technology that uses computers and online reporting tools to help ensure drivers stay safe. Its product identifies risky driving behaviors and offers feedback to improve safety and decrease excessive acceleration and braking, which can decrease fuel economy.

Gore's $683-million Generation Investment Management Climate Solutions Fund backs companies in the alternative-energy and efficiency spaces. A spokesman for GreenRoad said he did not know if Gore would become personally involved with the company's decision-making. Neither did the spokesman know if Gore, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 2007, would join the board.

The company has now raised $42.5 million from venture capitalists since launching in 2002. In addition to Gore's and Branson's investment vehicles, GreenRoad's other investors include Amadeus Capital, Balderton Capital, Benchmark Capital and DAG Ventures.

GreenRoad's information-gathering devices are used by corporate car and truck fleets to track employee driver behavior. It gives drivers immediate feedback, using a three-inch LCD monitor and sends information about their driving habits to a website monitored by company managers.

GreenRoad claims installing its device can save corporations between $1,000 and $4,000 per vehicle per year by reducing fuel consumption as much as 10 percent and decreasing the likelihood of accidents. The GreenRoad monitoring service costs $420 annually per vehicle, a spokesman said.

There are more than 3 million cars and trucks in corporate, government and rental fleets nationwide, according to a recent report by industry trade publication Automotive Fleet. GreenRoad reported it had secured AAA and T-Mobile as customers for its corporate fleet system, along with some 80 other corporate customers.

"By deploying GreenRoad through their fleets, companies can play an important role in reducing fuel consumption, lowering harmful emissions and fostering safe driving habits," Branson said of the company when he first financed it. "This in turn benefits a company's bottom line and also benefits the community."

Beyond the ecological benefits, GreenRoad's devices may help encourage safer driving. The company reports its customers have reduced accidents by an average of 54 percent and lowered the cost of accidents by an average of 65 per cent.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 42,642 people died in automobile accidents during 2006 and another 2.57 million people sustained injuries. That's more than 10 times the number of U.S. soldiers that have died during the Iraq War.

GreenRoad has no immediate plans for a consumer version of its product, but a spokesman said it was looking to partner with a mobile phone company on a new product in the coming months.