<![CDATA[Gawker: valleywag, makani power]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: valleywag, makani power]]> http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/makanipower http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/makanipower <![CDATA[Makani Power whips up another $5 million windfall from Google]]> Makani Power, the company founded in part by Larry Page and Sergey Brin's kitesurfing buddy Don Montague, has scored another $5 million in investment from Google as part of a second round that could net as much as $20 million. That's on top of the $10 million already invested in the startup's plan to create electricity from high-altitude air currents. This money, like the first round, presumably comes from Google.org's project to tap into renewable energy that's cheaper than coal. I may have to revise my opinion of Google.org as just another corporate venture fund and green PR ploy.

Considering how CEO Eric Schmidt funnels money to his real estate-developer wife Wendy Schmidt through charitable organizations and cofounder Sergey Brin's wife Anne Wojcicki cashed in on Google's money for her vanity gene-sequencing startup 23andMe, Google.org seems more like another vehicle for the Mountain View advertising firm's executives to lavish money on friends and family.

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5041810&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Google, Makani, and the kite surfing-industrial complex at Moffett Field]]> How did wind energy startup Makani Power garner $10 million in investment from Google and space at the NASA-run Ames research center on Moffett Field? Through at least one convenient marriage and a shared passion for kite surfing, a tipster points out:

Nice to see NASA was able to find room at Moffett Field for Makani Power, the startup headed by kite-surfing dudes Saul Griffith (Tim O'Reilly's son-in-law) and Don "Father of Kite Surfing" Montague, which received $10M bucks from google.org, the foundation headed by kite-surfing dudes Larry Page & Sergey Brin.

So to recap, the Valley is a meritocracy, and there's money for anyone with a good idea. Assuming "anyone" means "marrying into the local entrepreneurial aristocracy" and "merit" means "can totally shred at kite surfing."

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