After raising $230 million in venture capital and developing LED lighting components for a decade, Bridgelux in Livermore, Calif., is making a technology transition to drive down costs. The company is now counting on its partnership with Toshiba to make this transition a success. Read More »
Carter Bales, the co-founder and Chairman of private equity firm NewWorld Capital Group, is driven by dire pessimism and over-whelming optimism that converge through his livelihood: environmental investing. Read More »
One of the key misplaced assumptions that Valley VCs made in cleantech boom times is that the rapid progress of Moore’s Law could be created for cleantech with a little bit of VC funding and Valley smarts. Read More »
Nanosolar, which has struggled for years to fulfill its promise as the next major thin-film solar manufacturer, announced Thursday it has a new CEO. Eugenia Corrales, who has been the startup’s head of engineering and operations, is taking over the chief executive post effective immediately. Read More »
Startups looking to disrupt the traditional energy industries — oil, coal, gas-burning cars — need to have more than just innovative technology. They need a team and a plan in place that can scale their technologies to compete on the massive scale needed. Read More »
Cleantech venture capital and corporate investing for the full 2011 year was up in terms of overall dollar amounts compared to 2010, according to the research firm The Cleantech Group, but large follow-on rounds for matured companies continued to dominate the year. Read More »
There’s a widespread perception that cleantech venture capital must be tanking compared with VC overall. That perception is wrong. Read More »
Corporate venture capital plays a key role in the startup world, including the cleantech sector. In his Today in Green IT post, the curator of our research service, Adam Lesser, highlighted the role of corporate venture capital and pointed to an article in … Read More »
Turning renewable materials such as plants into useful chemicals seems a great idea, particularly when these green chemicals can replace compounds made from crude oil and natural gas. Genomatica, which filed for an initial public offering on Wednesday, certainly hopes investors will agree. Read More »
The common thread in greentech is: China. The country, which has been the world’s key growth engine for clean energy and green technology over the past few years, has begun to see some weakness, and that’s causing ripple effects through the global green economy. Read More »
Cleantech investing may not have produced many big exits and returns so far, yet it keeps attracting investors who believe they can do better. Here comes the Cleantech Syndicate, a group of 11 families that plan to invest $1.4 billion over the next five years. Read More »
When it comes to clean-energy investing 2.0, venture capitalists are beyond looking for the silver bullet — or the magic battery –- they spent the last decade hunting and hoping for. Today, VCs are more likely to invest their dollars in slightly less ambitious energy-efficiency projects. Read More »
More Must Reads
Greentech investment trends in the first quarter of 2011 either signal a record-setting expansion for the industry in 2011, or retrenchment in the face of economic and political headwinds — depending on how you look at the numbers. Read More »
Solar energy accounts for less than 1 percent of the U.S. electricity sources, but $100 billion of private investment and continual government subsidies could push that to 4.3 percent by 2020, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Read More »
Venture capital and private equity: That’s the sweet spot for the U.S. and one of the only areas where the country leads the world in terms of financing a renewable energy buildout, according to a new report from the Pew Environment Group. Read More »
By Jennifer Kho
Mar. 1, 2010, 12:00am PT
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Gary Conley, the entrepreneur who founded concentrating solar company SolFocus, is at it again. Last month he launched b2u Solar, a startup which uses the sun’s heat for industrial applications like drying, curing and commercial baking, and is one of a crop of startups working to … Read More »
Morgan Solar, a Toronto-based startup developing acrylic solar concentrators, told us today it has raised $8.2 million in its first round of venture-capital funding from Spanish utility Iberdrola, plastics manufacturer Nypro, and Turnstone Capital Management, which led the round. Back in October, when Morgan Solar announced … Read More »
Global venture capital flow into cleantech startups dropped significantly last year compared with a record-setting 2008, while Asia emerged as the dominant region for IPO and M&A activity and energy efficiency became a hot sector in 2009, according to analysis released today by The Cleantech … Read More »
Crunching the numbers on venture capital investments in green technology companies in 2009, Greentech Media Research (GTM) finds the sector both weathered this year’s financial storm, and thrived in terms of total deals. More startups shared the wealth in 2009, with 356 deals, up from … Read More »
The number of businesses and interest groups lobbying Congress on climate change issues ballooned in 2009. While greentech investors still make up a relatively small portion of the climate lobby, they’re upping the ante on Capitol Hill as the Senate considers climate legislation, according to a
As solar panel prices fall, installers’ valuations appear to be climbing. A report from NeXt Up Research that was released Monday on SharesPost, an online marketplace for trading shares of private companies, estimates that solar developer SolarCity‘s exit valuation would be between … Read More »
The idea of modeling government funds after venture capital has swirled, in various forms, around the Obama administration since back in the campaign days. Now comes the latest twist: The Obama administration has named a former VC, Jonathan Silver, to head up the Department … Read More »
The rate of innovation in clean tech, next-generation transportation, green products and sustainable business initiatives has never been higher. This year, nearly $4 billion in venture capital investment has been poured into green innovation, making it the most active sector of VC investment … Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Oct. 16, 2009, 12:44pm PT
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Want to hit it big in cleantech? Sign your Chief Financial Officer up for Mandarin lessons. “The hottest commodity today is a Chinese-speaking CFO with an MBA from an American school –- that person is worth a mint,” venture capitalist Steve Westly said this week … Read More »
Here’s how many renewable-energy startups envision their road to success: Raise venture-capital financing, prove their technologies in pilot and demonstration projects, secure project financing to build full-scale plants, build them and then enjoy all the profit rolling in. But even well-funded venture-backed startups are running into … Read More »
Industry watchers have been predicting – and companies have been eagerly awaiting – the return of tech IPOs for months. A123Systems’ successful IPO last week set off a new flurry of those forecasts, with many seeing it as a sign of more offerings to … Read More »
After the Nasdaq opening bell rings Thursday morning, keep an eye out on the ticker for the symbol “AONE,” which represents Watertown, Mass-based battery startup A123Systems. The company is expected to set its price on Wednesday and trade Thursday and represents the first spot of … Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Sep. 10, 2009, 11:29am PT
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Exceeding expectations is the name of the cleantech game for investor Steve Westly these days. Last night, he said at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit that his firm, the Westly Group, set out to raise $100 million for a new cleantech fund … Read More »
As with most electronics, solar panels lose efficiency when the temperature increases — and that’s particularly problematic considering the panels are usually installed where they can catch the most sun. SunModular, a young solar-component startup, hopes to help solve that problem with a technology … Read More »
By Justin Moresco
Aug. 24, 2009, 5:13pm PT
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Venrock, the venture capital firm that was originally established as the venture arm of the Rockefeller family, is bulking up its cleantech team. On Monday, it announced that Matthew Nordan, co-founder and former president of Lux Research, will join as vice president with a focus … Read More »
By Josie Garthwaite
Aug. 18, 2009, 10:24am PT
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Slow Going for Solar Phones: “Solar technology in mobile computing devices is still impeded by performance and price issues and isn’t likely to entirely replace batteries anytime soon, according to analysts.” — CNET’s Green Tech Farmers in the Climate Crossfire: Unrestricted greenhouse gas emissions will be … Read More »
Reports emerged last month that Vinod Khosla, the high-profile green venture capitalist and Sun Microsystems co-founder, was finally turning to outside investors to create two new funds that together would raise $1 billion to primarily back cleantech startups. Hard evidence has now surfaced about one … Read More »
In the days when a two-guys-in-a-garage startup could morph into a massive public offering with relative ease, SharesPost might have had a hard time making its case. The startup, which launched an experimental marketplace last month for buying and selling private equity, aims to … Read More »
Cleantech investment is on the rise again, according to two reports released this week, hitting $1.2 billion in the second quarter. “Cleantech venture investment has rebounded moderately after free-falling for two consecutive quarters,” said Brian Fan, senior director of research for the Cleantech Group, in … Read More »
We knew that cleantech startups were getting less venture-capital funding, but it looks like later-stage companies are really suffering. At the Financing the Cleantech Vision conference hosted by Thomson Reuters’ Venture Capital Journal in Palo Alto, Calif., on Thursday, Virgin Green Fund partner Anup Jacob … Read More »
Uncle Sam vs. Venture Capital Want to get funding from the federal government? Keep in mind that its objectives are different from those of venture capitalists, and explaining how your project meets political goals is just as important as highlighting technological advances and financial security. — … Read More »
Venture capital firms based in Israel have another dry year ahead of them. While deals between Israel’s VCs and cleantech startups picked up momentum in recent years, especially in the solar power and water-tech sectors, they’re in for a slowdown: Israeli venture capital … Read More »
Some six months ago, the venture capital community saw 2009′s cleantech investments as having about as many storm clouds as Sand Hill Road in July — which is to say, very few. With the economic downturn, though, the outlook has changed, as a growing portion of … Read More »
Six months ago, Element Partners Managing Partner David Lincoln heard a persistent question about cleantech investment, according to a Philadelphia Business Journal report: Was cleantech in the midst of a bubble? Excitement over growth in the industry had started to jack up the cost … Read More »
Updated: Apple has developed a reputation for sleek, hip and user-friendly computers and electronics. Now, Veranda Solar, a startup based in Portland, Ore. and Oakland, Calif., developing small, easy-to-install solar-power systems, says it wants to become the Apple of consumer solar products. (Updated to reflect … Read More »
Water management company HydroPoint Data Systems is looking to raise between $4 million and $8 million, Chief Strategy Officer (updated: and former CEO) Chris Spain told us recently, and he expects the round to close in the second quarter. HydroPoint is open to adding … Read More »
Solar installer Borrego Solar Systems Inc. said Wednesday it has raised $14 million in venture capital financing. It’s the first round of venture capital for the El Cajon, Calif.-based installer, which didn’t disclose its investor except to say that it’s a large corporation. The news could … Read More »
If the rest of the country had followed California’s lead in supporting clean energy, improving efficiency, and creating green jobs, it might not be in the economic doldrums it’s in today. That’s the assertion made by venture capitalist F. Noel Perry, founder of the nonprofit policy … Read More »
Big players in the lighting market have snapped up startups in recent years at a breakneck pace. Cree acquired LED Lighting Fixtures in March. Lighting Science Group bought Lamina Lighting’s assets in July. Philips spent $5.4 billion on startups between 2005 and 2007 … Read More »
Solar startup Lightwave Power said today it has closed a Series A round of just over $13 million, with Quercus Trust leading the investment and 21 Ventures co-investing. Lightwave co-founder Lawrence Kaufman told us the funding began in June, just six months after the … Read More »
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