Don't have much insight unfortunately but wish you the best and I'll be watching the thread closely. I have a few energy company ideas (conventional) but they require a ton of capital and a much better financing environment.
I'm sure you've already experimented with this path, but I am acquaintances with a general partner of a VC firm. His portion is 6-700 million; he was one of the first investors in netflix and a few big software companies. He gave a speech to his methodology two weeks ago to one of my graduate school classes.
Due to the poor investing environment they have a ton of capital at their disposal as people chase decent returns. He follows a simple formula-
25-50 million total investment (in tranches)
30-70% ownership
minimum 5 times, expecting 10 times his initial investment upon IPO/buy out.
~2 guys and a power point (just an idea and a competent individuals)
Passed the "science project" point.
His firm is Foundation Capital if the above sounds appealing. I'm expecting a commission if 3 years from now you IPO for 500m! :smile: