We develop and invest in sustainable agriculture and energy technologies.
Portfolio
Solar Airborne Networks
Solar airplanes flying above the weather at 50,000 to 80,000 feet are hospitable platforms for mobile wireless and computing services. Reliably intense sunlight above the cloud cover, low air friction, and cool temperatures provide an abundant flux of energy for solar avionics. Free-space optics span hundreds of miles between aircraft, while phased antenna arrays enable line-of-sight wireless service more than a thousand times closer to ground than geosynchronous satellites. Operating at 100% duty cycle, solar airplanes with less aggregate weight and battery capacity harness ~20 times more renewable power than a high-range electric car driven 15k mi per year, while generating an ample stream of ongoing subscriber service revenues.
Carbon-rich Topsoils
Biochar—a form of charcoal used to enhance soil health and sequester carbon.
If all the excess carbon accumulated in the atmosphere over the last century were spread uniformly over the earth's farmed land and cultivated forests, it would amount to a layer only about a tenth of an inch thick at the density of sandy soil. Deep, fertile "terra preta" soils on the banks of the Amazon provide abundant evidence of sustainable agricultural methods that successfully enriched carbon in topsoils for thousands of years. Updated versions of these methods are based on biochar, a form of charcoal made from biomass that would otherwise burn or rot. Biochar in soil helps retain moisture and nutrients, and creates resilient, healthier plants. The above video, narrated by VenEarth partner Jerry Harrison, explains the history and promise of biochar.
Team
Before founding VenEarth, Mr. Moussouris was founding CEO and Chairman of MicroUnity Systems Engineering, Inc., a developer of broadband microprocessor technologies licensed widely across the computing industry.
Earlier he cofounded MIPS Computer Systems, where he led development of processors used in Sony Playstations, Cisco routers, and other innovative products. He taught at Stanford University and was a research staff member at IBM's Watson Lab and at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science.
He received an A.B. in physics from Harvard and a D.Phil in mathematical physics with Sir Roger Penrose as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. His interest in climate mitigation dates back to a low-pollution combustion engine company he cofounded in college. Enthusiasm for sustainable agriculture took root during summers on his grandparents' traditional organic farm on the Greek island of Cephalonia.
Prior to being a founding Partner of VenEarth Group, Jerry Harrison was a member of the Talking Heads from 1977 through their dissolution in 1995, He was a member of the Modern Lovers from 1971-1974. He has recorded three solo records and been a successful music producer since 1981. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has won MTV's video of the year, multiple Surround Awards and received Grammy nominations for both music production and album design. He was the cofounder of Garageband.com now iLike -- the predominant musical engine of social networks: Facebook, Hi5, and Orkut. He is on the board of directors of MicroUnity Systems, The Independent Online Distribution Alliance and iLike. He taught design at Harvard University. He received an A.B in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard College and studied Architecture at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard.
In addition to being a founding Partner of Venearth Group, Craig Hansen has been chief architect of MicroUnity since July 1990. Mr. Hansen was formerly chief architect at NeXT and at MIPS, where he was responsible for the original MIPS integer and floating-point architecture. Prior to MIPS, he was the architect of graphics, RISC and floating-point chips at Weitek. He began his career at HP, where he worked on the math architecture of PA-RISC. Mr. Hansen is an inventor of 62 granted U.S. Patents, and received his BSEE from Cornell and MSEE from Stanford University.
In addition to being a founding Partner at VenEarth, Mr. Buckmaster is President of MicroUnity Systems Engineering, Inc., where he has also served as Chief Operating Officer during his nineteen years with the company. Previous to MicroUnity, he spent two years at Performance Semiconductor and five years at Avantek. Mr. Buckmaster received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's degree in business administration from Santa Clara University.
David Wilson has almost thirty years of experience in the fields of intellectual property, corporate and securities law. He began his career at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. He subsequently practiced for over twenty-five years in Silicon Valley, primarily as a partner in the Corporate Finance and Technology Transactions Groups at Morrison & Foerster LLP, an international law firm. His practice focused on the representation of privately-held technology companies and complex licensing and intellectual property transactions in the life sciences and information technologies fields. Among other clients, Mr. Wilson represented MicroUnity Systems Engineering, Inc. for almost twenty years. He received his bachelors degree in computer sciences from the University of California, Berkeley.
Michael Cyrus is CEO of Sunlight Photonics., a VenEarth Group investment, and a member of the VenEarth Group Board of Advisors. Previously, Michael was CEO of Inplane Photonics, a leader in photonic integration acquired by CyOptics/Avago in 2007. He was Chairman of Kodeos Communications, a signal processing technology company acquired by Finisar in 2007, CEO of Defense Photonics Group, and President and CEO of Cyrospace Inc. Previously he was at Lockheed Martin Space Systems for sixteen years, the last six as VP of Operations with 5000 employees leading the R&D, engineering, and operations of many advanced programs including Lunar and Mars.
Craig Sams is Executive Chairman of Carbon Gold and a member of the VenEarth Group Board of Advisors. Previously, Craig was cofounder and President of Green & Black's Organic Chocolate, and a director and Chairman of the Soil Association, the leading UK certification and advocacy organization for sustainable agriculture. He was cofounder of Whole Earth Foods, and author of four books on organic food and agriculture. Craig has a B.Sc. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.