We’ve all heard that following weak returns, venture capital cleantech investing has retrenched. So what’s next? A style of investing that is a whole lot more rational, return-driven, shorter timelines and capital lite. Read more »
One of the few investors to make money from backing cleantech startups, The Westly Group has finally closed on a $160 million cleantech fund. Read more »
SunPower, which makes solar panels and develops power generation projects, has seen quick growth of its residential solar lease program since its launch last year. The surge reflects the growing popularity of solar leases in California and elsewhere. Read more »
Yahoo signs more than a dozen sponsors to back what might be its most ambitious event coverage ever. Over two weeks, Yahoo hopes to reach 700 million viewers across more than 200 countries. Read more at paidContent »
Continuing a yearlong trend, the fourth quarter in big IT was all about big data, and Hadoop in particular. Still, many are beginning to recognize the software framework’s shortcomings, which is why this quarter also saw more attention for startups claiming easy analytics and real-time processing. Elsewhere in infrastructure, SaaS startups made out well and valuations for these companies are getting higher, and naturally there was news from the AWS camp. This quarterly wrap-up examines these events and more, including the quarter’s dark spot, the hike in prices in the hard-drive manufacturing space due to the floods in Thailand. Companies mentioned in this report include Calxeda, Heroku, Rackspace, Salesforce.com and Tier3. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Is Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) planning to release a Kindle smartphone by Christmas next year? Citigroup analysts Mark Mahaney and Kevin Chang say y… Read more at paidContent »
In a weird way, the lack of enthusiasm around this week’s CTIA Enterprise and Applications show demonstrates just how consumer-driven the mo… Read more at paidContent »
Netflix faced Wall Street analysts Monday to explain why its new subscription plans were a good idea. While many on Wall Street were surprised by the effect it will have on customer additions in the short-term, most agreed that the change won’t affect the long-term story. Read more »
Google is emerging as the ultimate clean power sugar daddy. On Tuesday, Google announced it has made its largest investment in clean power to date, creating a $280 million fund for rooftop solar panel projects that will be installed by solar company SolarCity. Read more »
YouTube has improved its monetization efforts, with more than 80 of the top 100 videos on the site serving ads now, up from 60 a year ago. That could help make YouTube a $1.3 billion business in 2011, according to a forecast from Citi. Read more »
Solar installer SolarCity continues its expansion plans this week with another acquisition. On Thursday, the company announced that it has acquired the residential solar installer division of groSolar, a solar installer with a large footprint on the East Coast. Read more »
Citi isn’t new to investing in solar energy projects, but the bank previously backed solar projects built for businesses and public agencies. But it has now jumped solidly into the residential solar installation market by agreeing to back $40 million in solar installations by SolarCity. Read more »
ScanScout Gets New CEO; nine months after the last chief exec left, video ad company brings in About founder Bill Day, and moves co-founder Waikit Lau back to president. (AdWeek) Engine Room to Premiere Sept. 15; new MTV reality show about making digital art will be […] Read more »
