Bloom Energy

Bloom Energy traces its roots to work performed by Dr. KR Sridhar, Bloom founder and Chief Executive Officer, in connection with creating a technology to convert Martian atmospheric gases to oxygen for propulsion and life support. Dr. Sridhar and his team built a fuel cell for NASA™ capable of producing air and fuel from electricity generated by a solar panel. They soon realized that their technology could have an even greater impact here on Earth. In 2001, when their NASA™ project ended, the team decided to continue their research and start a company. Originally called Ion America, Bloom Energy, was founded with the mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone on earth In 2002, John Doerr, and Kleiner Perkins became the first Bloom Energy investors. Kleiner Perkins was legendary for its early investments in other industry changing companies, like Google, Amazon.com, Netscape, and Genentech, but Bloom Energy was its first clean tech investment. In fact, at that time, clean tech was not even really a word.