Haute 100 San Francisco Update: Vinod Khosla

Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets—Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These people continue to make moves, so rather than waiting for the next Haute 100 issue to come out, we thought we’d provide you with regular updates on those Haute 100 members who are making headlines. Check back daily for more info on the most powerful people in your city. Today, as Earth Month nears its end, we highlight Vinod Khosla.

Vinod Khosla
Category: Entrepreneurs
Company: Khosla Ventures
Industry: Technology
What MADE Him Haute: Silicon Valley’s preeminent eco investor—named No. 1 venture capitalist by both Fortune and Forbes—Khosla invested more than $300 million of his personal fortune into start-up green technologies. Khosla was formerly a general partner at Kleiner Perkins and founder of Sun Microsystems. He created venture capital firm Khosla Ventures in 2004 to build businesses for the Internet, and the computing, mobile, silicon, and green technology arenas. In 2009, he announced that the Khosla Fund, one of the largest green tech funds, had raised $1 billion, and in January, luminary Bill Gates became an investor.

What Makes Him Haute Now This year, Khosla was amongst an elite group of six entrepreneurs who received recognition from the UN for their green efforts as “Champions of Earth.” Forbes listed him as one of the 10 Greenest Billionaires, which is apropos: In September 2009, Khosla Ventures announced it had raised  $1.1 billion in a “green fund,” to be used to aid in the development of renewable energy and other clean technologies. We can all take a lesson from the carbon-neutral Khosla, who is striving to soon be carbon negative.