How Dem Moneyman Nat Simons Profits from Political Giving

A high-dollar Democratic donor whose foundation spends tens of millions of dollars each year promoting green energy policies also runs a venture capital firm that invests in green energy companies that have benefited from those policies.

Nathaniel Simons may take a 54-foot yachtto work every day, but his bona fides as an environmentalist donor are unimpeachable. Through contributions to Democratic candidates, interest groups, and environmental nonprofits, he helps advance liberal climate and energy policy.

Simons is a hedge fund manager, but he also provides venture capital for early-stage green energy companies through Elan Management and an offshoot VC firm, Prelude Ventures.

As Simons’ firm has invested in cleantech firms, he has promoted increased federal involvement in the energy sector. Policies advanced by Simons and the Sea Change Foundation, which he runs with his wife Laura, would benefit green energy companies such as those backed by Prelude.

The firm’s website lists 12 companies in its portfolio. Seven of them have received federal grants, loans, contracts, or other government assistance since 2009, when Prelude was founded.

Prelude-backed solar cell manufacturing firm Suniva was awarded a $141 million stimulus-funded Department of Energy loan guarantee in 2010.

The company passed on the award, saying it was “uncomfortable” with its terms. But it has since received additional federal support: a $5 million DOE grant last year, a $2 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and more than $750,000 in Justice Department contracts to build solar panels for federal prisons.

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