The practice of greenwashing as a publicity stunt for startup companies has advantages for investors as well -- otherwise it's hard to imagine how billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Green Fund could justify investing in a company that offers vehicle operator monitoring and driver safety training.

But when the company dubs itself GreenRoad Technologies Inc., it makes perfect sense. Virgin led a $14.5 third round for the five-year-old company, which changed its name in September from Drive Diagnostics Inc. and is pinning its new marketing approach on its ability to monitor driving techniques in ways to improve fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases.

The company was founded in Israel in 2002 and raised about $500,000 from seed investors as it developed hardware and software to monitor acceleration, lane changes and driving maneuvers that would indicate aggressive road behavior. It then raised $4.5 million from Benchmark Capital and Baldertson Capital last spring as it prepared to open a U.S. office and begin marketing its products and services.

The system does not include a camera, as does a similar product offering from DriveCam Inc., but like DriveCam, it uses its own hardware to record behavior and report directly to the driver in real time, as well as report back to fleet managers, parents or insurance companies through a Web-based system.

The company will sell the product to fleet managers directly, and also is initiating partnerships with insurance companies as resellers of a consumer version that would help identify aggressive drivers -- that is, carbon abusers. - Clifford Carlsen

See Jan. 31 press release from GreenRoad
See March 2007 story from TheDeal.com
For more see VCCafe, Lost Drive Blog and The Car Geek