The road hasn’t been easy for Next Autoworks (formerly V-Vehicle), which is backed by Google Ventures, T. Boone Pickens, and Kleiner Perkins. But the way forward has grown even rockier as legislators consider a proposal to shuffle around funds set aside for Next Autoworks’ project. Read more »
Large tanks filled with fluids could be the next low-cost way to provide energy storage for the power grid. A company called Primus Power is developing so-called flow batteries, and has now raised a round of $11 million from a group of venture capitalists. Read more »
Using silicon for converting power for electronics, gadgets and computing has reached its limit — or so says the CEO of startup Transphorm, Umesh Mishra. On Tuesday the company, which is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Google Ventures, launched a 600-volt transistor. Read more »
We like trash technology — tech that can turn trash into something useful — and clearly garbage giant Waste Management does, too. The serial corporate investor just added another one to its portfolio: Agnion Energy out of Germany. Read more »
Here’s good news for proponents of a solar tech that some thought would never be widely used: The U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday it’s offering a conditional commitment for a $90.6 million loan guarantee to build a concentrating photovoltaic solar power plant. Read more »
In a combination of loans, grants and equity, Fisker has raised over $1 billion, and plans to launch its first electric car the Karma to dealerships for demonstrations in May or June and then to customers in June or July. Read more »
On Friday afternoon Bloom Energy touted its growth, announcing that it has quadrupled the size of its factory in Sunnyvale, Calif. to 210,000 square feet, has grown its workforce by over 70 percent in 2010, and grown by 525 percent over the past four years. Read more »
Greentech VC hit $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2011, the second-highest quarter on record. Is that a sign of renewed investor confidence, or a sign that greentech IPOs are weak? Read more »
Recycling is a tried-and-true form of energy efficiency, so it’s no surprise greentech investors such as Al Gore would find the concept appealing. For Harvest Power, that means a $51.7 million round to build facilities to turn organic waste into fertilizer and energy. Read more »
HP has launched a whole bunch of energy and resource management products and indicating the progress of a couple of startups already in the resource management space, HP said it would be working with both Hara and C3. Read more »
Stealthy solar startup Alta Devices has raised a whopping $72 million from a long list of investors and gave a few more hints on the solar innovations it’s working on on Wednesday. Read more »
Transphorm, the startup that emerged from stealth with plans for building energy-efficient power conversion modules and with $38 million in backing from investors Kleiner Perkins and Google Ventures, has unveiled its first product: power diodes made of gallium nitride that can be embedded in power converters. Read more »
Stanford University spinout Amprius has landed $25 million from investors, including Kleiner Perkins and Chinese firms IPV Capital and Qian Neng Fund, to bring its silicon nanowire lithium-ion battery anode technology to commercial production, most likely for consumer electronics batteries. Read more »
Geothermal energy has long been touted as a good alternative to fossil fuel-based power plants because it’s able to generate power around the clock. A project in Oregon is underway, and the DOE has finalized a $96.8 million loan guarantee for U.S. Geothermal. Read more »
Here comes the biggest cleantech startup launch since Bloom Energy: Transphorm has emerged from stealth at Google Ventures’s headquarters, touting an energy efficient power conversion module and an enviable $38 million in venture capital from Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Lux Capital. Read more »
Klout — one of a number of services that are trying to measure influence in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter — has closed an $8.5-million funding round from Silicon Valley powerhouse Kleiner Perkins, and adding Kleiner partner Bing Gordon to its board of directors. Read more »
Since influencers are what makes the greentech industry world go round, we thought we’d bring you the 10 individuals that we think had the biggest effect on the greentech sector this year. From corporate bigwigs to policy wonks, these are the people changing the sector. Read more »
After Twitter CEO Dick Costolo wrote on the company’s blog about its funding round from Kleiner Perkins — which values the company at $3.7 billion — the blog post was edited to take some of Costolo’s witticisms out. Is Twitter too rich to have fun? Read more »
With the news that famed analyst Mary Meeker will be joining venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers as a partner in its digital practice, a big question remains: Will Kleiner be moving farther away from its foray into greentech and closer to its digital roots? Read more »
Stealthy thin-film solar company Alta Devices has added on yet another high profile investor: GE. A GE spokesperson confirmed with me this morning that GE has made an investment in the 3-year-old Santa Clara, Calif-based Alta Devices, which is also backed by Kleiner Perkins. Read more »
Remember AltaRock Energy? The geothermal startup, which suffered a setback last year when it canceled a demonstration project in California, is back with a project in Oregon that will be crucial for showing that its novel approach to engineering a geothermal field can work. Read more »
Callaway Digital Arts says it isn’t just another app maker; it calls what it does “convergent media publishing.” It may take some getting used to, but it was enough to nab a $6 million investment from Kleiner Perkins’ iFund and a number of other VCs. Read more »
Kleiner Perkins today reasserted itself as a powerhouse and relevant venture capital firm by rounding up Facebook, Zynga and Amazon to announce a $250 million fund for social web startups, called the sFund. Kleiner partner John Doerr today won on-stage testimonials from Facebook, Amazon and Zynga. Read more »
How’s this for a fund-raising pitch: We’re developing a cheaper, more sustainable way to produce a material that already finds its way into just about everything you touch? That’s the pitch Siluria Technologies used to attract $13.3 million in venture capital. Read more »
It’s a new day for V-Vehicle, an auto startup with ambitions to produce low-cost efficient cars. The company has just taken two steps common among startups whose investors are unhappy and pushing for a restart: a new name — Next Autoworks Co. — and a new CEO. Read more »
Amyris, which started trading on the NASDAQ today, has racked up millions of dollars from investors since its founding in 2003, including Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, and French oil giant Total. For some of those backers who took a chance early on, it’s a decent exit. Read more »
For Scandinavian electric car maker Think, the moment of truth for its U.S. ambitions could be a mere months away. When it comes to financing a planned factory in Indiana, Think’s CMO Michael Lock told us that everything rides on federal support. Read more »
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the legendary venture capital firm that made big money during the PC era and early days of the Internet, is looking to hire a partner who will focus on Digital Media investments, according to several Silicon Valley sources. Read more »
When Walmart decides to invest in emerging green technologies it offers considerable validation. That’s certainly the intention behind Walmart’s announcement that it will pay for solar electricity from installations that use thin film solar panels from MiaSole and First Solar and are installed by SolarCity. Read more »
Intel has taken up a patriotic cause this year, paying special attention to promising U.S.-based companies. The company announced four software and chip companies that have collectively received over $30 million from its Intel Capital Invest in America Technology Fund, including an energy software maker. Read more »
Adobe announced the latest version of its Flash Media Server today, with new features aimed at making it the streaming server of choice for enterprise webcasts. The addition of IP multicast and P2P functionality will open up a whole new market for Adobe in the enterprise. Read more »
After posting Kevin Tofel’s demo of the struggles he had with Flash-based video on his Nexus One mobile handset, we’ve received a ton of comments, including response videos from readers who showed their own experiences with Flash on Android mobile handsets. Here are just a few. Read more »
Picking winners and losers is always a dicey exercise, but Lux Research took that plunge and issued a report this week, which points to likely revenue winners and IPO candidates over the coming year. The names that popped out include Amonix, Enphase Energy and Abound Solar. Read more »
UPDATE: As it turns out, Juwi Solar really likes MiaSole. The German power project developer has inked a multiyear, 600-megawatt agreement that calls for MiaSole to ship 50 megawatts in 2011 and more in the following years. Read more »
LaCie’s cloud file storage service Wuala (which Om wrote about quite a while back when it was first launched) has announced the availability of a new feature, Wuala Sync, which allows users to automatically synchronize their files online and across multiple computers and operating systems. Read more »
Last month, General Electric announced that it would be taking submissions from inventors and entrepreneurs seeking a piece of a $200 million smart grid investment fund. Now GE says it has received 950 submissions from around the world. Read more »
One of the first disappointments a brand new iPad owner often faces is the fact they simply can’t use their magic new toy right out of the box. To setup an iOS device, you need a computer running a compatible version of iTunes. But why? Read more »
Jive Software has raised a $30-million round of financing from legendary Silicon Valley venture capital funds Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and Sequoia Capital, which the company says will help it take the concepts of social media and Web 2.0 and integrate them into the enterprise. Read more »
You have solar panels on your rooftop, a digital thermostat on your wall and a heating and cooling system throughout your home — why not connect the whole lot of them? Read more »
GE announces a $200 million fund for smart grid innovation along with an electric vehicle charger called the Watt Station and a home energy device called the Nucleus. Read more »
