New York-based Shapeways sells 3D printing services to designers and makers and also has an Etsy-like marketplace for creators. The startup, a transplant from the Netherlands, was printing more than 100,000 products a month and had over 150,000 users inside its community last year, so has no doubt grown that audience and volume since then.

Last month Shapeways debuted their new API which enables developers to create consumer facing applications that can tap into the Shapeways printing network and marketplace. That’s important because, as GigaOM Pro analyst Mike Wolf explained it, the API gives Shapeways greater access to the bigger, non-maker audience who want access to 3D printed objects but don’t want to learn how to use sophisticated 3D design software.

Shapeways has been planning to expand through its new New York factory, which is supposed to occupy up to 30,000 feet in Long Island City. Previously, much of the printing work was being done in Europe at its Eindhoven factory in the Netherlands or through partners.

Check out our Field Guide to 3D Printing on GigaOM Pro (subscription required), which defines 3D printing as:

[A] process that produces physical 3D objects by adding layer upon layer of material. Direct from a computer model, objects are “grown.” These objects can be almost anything: engineering prototypes of automotive components, tooling for manufacturing, medical implants, architectural models and sellable goods for end users.

We’ll be digging into 3D printing more at our RoadMap conference on connected design in November in San Francisco. To be the first to register for this event sign up here.

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• GigaOM Research highs and lows from CES 2013
• The fourth quarter of 2012 in cleantech
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But for investors that still believe in the underlying trends of cleantech — the fairly obvious notion that the world will one day need better management tactics for resources like energy, food and water — the so-called “cleantech cliff” actually has some noteworthy silver linings. The most important one of those is that there’s just not that much competition out there anymore for investors to find and fund new startups in clean power, smart grid, energy storage or tech for more sustainable transportation.

Back in the years between 2006 and 2008, investors had to compete with their peers for the chance to fund promising young cleantech companies. These were frothy times and the startups’ valuations were often higher than the investor wanted. This was the age that produced crazy-high valuations for companies like Solyndra, Nanosolar, Fisker Automotive, and others.

In contrast 2013 is basically an open field for investors that are sticking with cleantech investing. Valuations haven’t just dropped back to earth, they’re running below market value. If you believe in this sector, there’s undoubtedly some really great deals out there.

Lux Capital’s Peter Hebert, whose firm just closed on its third fund, which will partly be dedicated to investing in energy technology, described another positive affect of the weeding-out process as “people in it today are there for the right reasons: passionate, want to build real companies, not just flippers, hucksters and passers-by.” The entrepreneurs and company builders are also a lot more rational, said Hebert.

For Khosla Ventures Andrew Chung, investors that have built a substantial portfolio in energy, resource management and sustainability could use the “network effect” for their benefit during this time. The relationships we built with corporate partners, star executives, private and public funding sources can all serve to benefit multiple companies, said Chung.

Khosla Ventures is also betting that the move away from backing cleantech companies — and companies that innovate around the underlying trends — is cyclical. “Venture is highly cyclical business, and we expect sustainability investments to experience a renaissance as today’s breakthrough companies successfully commercialize and have massive impact on society’s infrastructure,” Chung wrote.

Still, it can be lonely out there for investors that stick with it. And that means there’s fewer investors willing to partner with firms like Khosla Ventures and Lux Capital for follow-on rounds. VCs commonly need partner with other investors for larger rounds.

Chung said that just means they have to be more creative and patient in finding sources of funding, often tapping global investors who continue to have enthusiasm and corporate investors who can provide strategic benefit alongside capital. Khosla also has set up multiple funds so that the firm can do early stage seed investments, and then follow-on with larger rounds for companies that hit milestones and show promise.

While it could be the best of times, there are a couple of other hurdles that loyal investors will face. Hebert said that alongside fewer investors, there are fewer entrepreneurs, as some entrepreneurs have moved onto greener (easier) pastures. In addition, there’s more pressure on the investor — from both limited partners and general partners (not focused on energy and cleantech) — to produce returns for the companies that they’ve been nurturing for years.

Then there’s the situation that word “cleantech” itself has become rather toxic, as 2013 gets underway. Investors like Lux Capital and Khosla Ventures are not using this term; they call their portfolio companies in this space “energy tech” and “sustainability investing.”

So if cleantech does come back, it’ll have to have a new and improved brand.

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A few of Lux’s portfolio companies appear to be doing pretty well. Kurion, a startup developing nuclear waste cleanup tech, scored a breakthrough deal to help clean waste water for Japan’s Fukushima nuclear meltdown. About a year ago I called them “the most successful greentech startup you haven’t heard of.” Portfolio company Shapeways has become synonymous with the emerging industry of 3D printing, and smart grid startup Gridco just launched to build a next-gen power grid using solid state transformers. Portfolio firms that have been acquired include skin company Magen Biosciences, LED tech company Crystal IS, and chip companies SiBeam and Silicon Clock.

“There’s definitely been negative sentiment towards cleantech in the market,” said Hebert, but it really “depends on the individual Limited Partners” (the groups that put money into venture firms). Our LPs still see substantial innovation ahead around energy and resources, said Hebert. Going forward in 2013 “we remain disciplined and selective,” said Hebert.

While Lux says it remains committed to energy tech investing, other firms have been unable to raise new cleantech funds, and some have dialed back or transformed their energy and cleantech focused divisions to make them more capital efficient. VantagePoint Capital Partners shut down its efforts to raise a $1.25 billion cleantech fund recently, and firms like Mohr Davidow and Draper Fisher Jurvetson have reduced their commitments and turned to backing IT-based cleantech, or cleanweb companies only. In 2012, venture capital firms put a third less money into cleantech companies compared to 2011.

Still some investors like Lux Capital still see the potential of energy and resources technology innovation. Canadian firm Chrysalix says its energy focused portfolio is doing well. NEA says its still committed to energy investing, though its scaled back a bit. Khosla Ventures still continues to make aggressive and many bets across sustainability from energy to agriculture to smart grid to biofuels.

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Three-year-old Gridco is selling this networking gear and software to utilities to enable them to have greater control over their networks and to be able to maintain a greater degree of reliability, more similar to the reliability that Internet companies currently have, and utilities rarely have. The promise is that potential utility customers can have self-healing, and smarter grids, so when one section of a grid goes down, other areas of the grid can route around that section and the overall system can maintain function.

With old-school electromechanical grid equipment, which is the dominant form of grid power electronics today,  it’s hard to create this type a resilient grid. The sector needs digital control systems, says Patel, to enable the installation of widespread solar panels and wind turbines. These type of new solid state transformers are new, and so is the combo of using them with more sophisticated digital networking tools.

Gridco has raised a little over $20 million so far, from investors including General Catalyst, North Bridge venture partners, Lux Capital, and RockPort Capital. This is a Series A round, so you can imagine that the company might raise quite a few more rounds before it matures.

Patel tells me he wanted to create a product in the power grid industry because of the “massive opportunity” for “an industry that sorely needs it.” He likes “solving big problems,” says Patel, as does his investors. The team is still a small group, though Patel wouldn’t name how many employees the company has. The company also was mum on all details of its technology.

“The network could embody the best of telco networks, delivering higher degrees of reliability to the distribution network,” says Patel. Patel wouldn’t tell me which utilities were trialling its technology, but said the company is engaged in talks around pilots for a variety of vendors.

The clear draw back of this technology is that because it’s a replacement product, meant to replace the current old mechanical transformers, utilities — and their rate approval boards — might take awhile to justify the investment.

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Transphorm says it’s raised a round of $35 million (series E) led by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) — a partnership between the Japanese government and two-dozen Japanese companies like Sharp and Toshiba — as well as power electronics giant Nihon Inter Electronics Company (NIEC). Existing investors including Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Lux Capital also participated in the round.

Five-year-old Transphorm makes energy-efficient power conversion devices out of the semiconductor material gallium nitride, instead of the more commonly used silicon. Power conversion devices are used in any device that uses electricity, like electronics, HVAC systems, servers, data centers, electric car chargers and solar panels.

Transphorm says its energy-efficient power conversion devices can eliminate up to 90 percent of electric conversion losses. The company has been making strategic products in its early days, like power diodes made of gallium nitride. Transphorm is also working with solar inverter company Enphase Energy (also backed by Kleiner) to develop a solar power conversion device using financial support from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program.

Transphorm didn’t invent gallium nitride as a semiconductor; other companies have been tinkering with the material for years. But most companies that use gallium nitride are working on low-voltage conversion, while Transphorm is looking to crack high-voltage conversion. Transphorm’s products will likely be more expensive than comparable silicon ones in the short term.

Transphorm has now raised $104 million. The news today also includes a business partnership with Nihon Inter Electronics to help Transphorm move into commercial high-volume manufacturing. Check out our video interview with Transphorm CEO Umesh Mishra from Green:Net 2011.

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But does this necessarily mean that greentech startups eying the public markets in 2012, shouldn’t waste their time? Well, take a look under the hood of most of these companies, and the problem isn’t really about being green or selling into the energy sector, it’s the lack of profits and even revenues in some cases.

As the co-founder of Lux Capital, Peter Hébert, tweeted Friday morning (@peterjhebert):

“Lot of hand-wringing about #cleantech IPOs. No morals in mkts. Should not expect willing buyers of unsustainable, profitless businesses.

So true. I was wondering just how few revenues and profits these firms have been taking in, so I decided to table ‘em up. The ugly truth:

The reality is that Enerkem and Luca Technologies had really no business going public with their current financials — the moves seemed like attempts to raise money to build their operations, and the markets just didn’t want to do that. As soon as BrightSource pulled their IPO plans, likely Luca and Enerkem just saw the writing on the wall.

BrightSource on the other hand, has a growing, though clearly, for the time being, a money-losing business. When (and if) the company builds out its first solar plant, Ivanpah on time and budget, then the firm will start moving into a more financially lucrative position. BrightSource was likely also hampered by the fact that the solar panel markets are really struggling, even though BrightSource builds solar thermal plants and doesn’t make solar cells or panels.

Enphase Energy was the one company that actually went through with their IPO and it’s not surprising that they have the most sound 2011 year financials. Enphase Energy is growing pretty dramatically, but that firm, too, has a lot of new competition in the marketplace, so has a big year ahead of them.

Image courtesy of angusf.

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Nuclear waste cleanup startup Kurion (which I once called the most successful greentech startup you haven’t heard of) says it’s responsible for removing 70 percent of the radioactivity from the waste water at the Fukushima nuclear plant after last year’s disaster. Kurion says, since it shipped its technology to Japanese utility TEPCO last summer, the Kurion system has processed 36 million gallons of contaminated waste water and removed 9.4 million curies of cesium (see graphic below).

Kurion has developed a material it calls “ion specific media,” which basically soaks up nuclear particles and then shrinks the materials down to a small enough size so that it can be turned into glass, which is a process called vitrification. It’s the standard process used by the nuclear industry to encapsulate waste, but Kurion has created a more modular process, so the cleanup technology can be quickly shipped to a contaminated site, then the waste can be safely shipped elsewhere for storage.

Kurion was one of a group of companies selected by the beleaguered utility to clean the seawater that had been pumped into the reactors to cool them down. Other companies that made up the cleanup crew included France’s AREVA, Japan’s Toshiba and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy; Kurion was the only startup included. Kurion is a profitable four-year-old, 15-person, startup based in Irvine, Calif., which was backed by Lux Capital and Firelake Capital Management.

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Three-year-old Kurion makes a cleanup material (they call it ion specific media) that soaks up radioactive cesium and iodine in contaminated water and contains the waste by shrinking it down to a small-enough size, then turning it into glass, a process called vitrification. The company is backed by investors Lux Capital and Firelake Capital, and is the only American company and startup company to work on the Japanese cleanup efforts.

Vitrification is the standard way to cleanup cesium and iodine in nuclear-contaminated water, but Kurion says it makes that process cheaper, faster and more efficient. Often, the standard vitrification process requires the contaminated materials to be moved to a centralized plant, but Kurion’s process brings the technology to the contaminated materials.

Near of the Sea Water intake of Unit2 in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

Kurion isn’t cleaning the some 90 million gallons of contaminated water on its own. Japanese conglomerates Hitachi and Toshiba, and French nuclear provider AREVA, are also helping to clean the some 90 million gallons. The water was pumped into the turbine buildings at the power plant and wasn’t only contaminated by nuclear materials, but also filled with debris, oil and salt (from seawater).

The group has been working in a haste to clean the massive amount of water. Kurion’s CEO John Raymont told me in an interview back in June that the rainy season just started in Japan, and if the contaminated water overflowed, it could damage the area’s environment even more. There’s also the concern that more earthquakes could occur in the area, which could also cause the water to overflow. Raymont told me that the startup delivered the cleanup material and technology to Japanese utility TEPCO in five weeks, which is a fraction of the time he says it took to start cleaning water at the Three Mile Island accident.

Nuclear waste management is a problem that hasn’t seen a whole lot of innovation over the past few decades. According to some estimates, $1 out of every $4 from the Department of Energy’s budget goes toward nuclear waste management, so there is a sizable opportunity to help the DOE cut that expense. And with the Japanese nuclear disaster, there’s an immediate market.

Images courtesy of Kurion, and TEPCO.

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Fixing the Grid at Fukushima

A group of nuclear tech companies are poised to begin cleaning the contaminated water in the turbine buildings at the Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan that suffered damage in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. Japanese conglomerates Hitachi and Toshiba, French nuclear provider AREVA, and Silicon Valley startup Kurion plan to start cleaning the massive amount of water — tens of millions of gallons — that have been pumped into the turbine buildings and has now been contaminated by nuclear materials, and is filled with debris, oil and salt (from seawater).

The group has been racing to officially start the cleansing process as soon as possible, hoping to officially begin at noon on Friday Japan time (8 p.m. Thursday night PDT). Speed is essential, because the rainy season just started in Japan, and if the contaminated water overflows, it could damage the area environmentally even more. There’s also the concern that more earthquakes could occur in the area, which could also cause the water to overflow. “We delivered the technology to TEPCO in five weeks, which is a fraction of the time it took to start cleaning water at Three Mile Island,” Kurion’s CEO John Raymont, told me in an interview.

Near of the Sea Water intake of Unit2 in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

For three-year-old Kurion, working on TEPCO’s nuclear cleanup is a game-changing deal. The company, which is backed by Lux Capital, and Firelake Capital, is the only American company and the only startup tackling the problem. Kurion has already run two tests on the contaminated water at the Japanese nuclear plants using its cleanup material (they call it ion specific media). One test it ran on its own, and one in collaboration with the complete tech cleanup crew. The tests were successful, “met the criteria, the performance and the flow rates,” said Raymont.

Now the colossal process of cleaning some 90 million gallons will begin imminently. First Toshiba’s tech will remove the oil and debris, then Kurion’s material comes in and soaks up radioactive cesium and iodine and then AREVA’s technology soaks up radioactive strontium. Kurion’s “media” contains the radioactive waste, and shrinks it down to a small enough size so that it can be turned into glass, a process called vitrification. Vitrification permanently encapsulates the nuclear waste so it can be stored and transported more easily, and is the standard way that nuclear waste is dealt with.

Kurion’s business model is based on making vitrification modular, which makes it cheaper, faster and more efficient. Often, the standard vitrification process requires the contaminated materials to be moved to a centralized plant, but Kurion’s process brings the technology to the contaminated materials.

Nuclear waste management is a problem that hasn’t seen a whole lot of innovation over the past few decades. According to some estimates, $1 out of every $4 from the Department of Energy’s budget goes toward nuclear waste management, so there is a sizable opportunity to help the DOE cut that expense. Now with the Japanese nuclear disaster, there’s an immediate market.

Images courtesy of TEPCO.

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Dispersing Dust Protectant, Common Pool Area

Nuclear waste cleanup startup Kurion says it has shipped several hundred tons of its equipment that will be used to clean contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan that suffered damage in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. Kurion says some of its engineers have already arrived at the Fukushima sites, and more will arrive over the next two weeks, and by June Kurion expects its radioactive water cleaning technology to be installed at the nuclear plants. We reported in April that Kurion was working on the Japanese nuclear disaster.

Kurion’s technology, and business plan, is to make the process of vitrification — turning nuclear waste into glass — modular, which makes it cheaper, faster and more efficient. Vitrification is the standard way to clean up nuclear waste, and Kurion essentially brings the technology to the waste tanks, instead of taking the waste to a massive centralized treatment plant.

Before Kurion turns the waste into glass, it uses a material to soak up the waste, which it calls “ion specific media,” and then shrinks the material down to a small enough size so that it can be turned into glass. Vitrification essentially permanently encapsulates the nuclear waste, and while it’s still radioactive, the waste can be stored and transported more easily.

Kurion says at the Fukushima plants, its technology will be used on radioactive contaminated water that is in the turbine buildings, as well as on new cooling water that is being added every day. Some of the more standard nuclear cleanup materials couldn’t be used because they don’t work with saltwater, and sea water was pumped into the Fukushima plants in order to cool the reactor in response to the disaster.

Kurion’s cleanup material has previously been used to clean up contaminated liquids at the Three Mile Island incident. But Kurion CEO John Raymont said in a statement that while the Three Mile Island clean up preparation process took 18 months, it only took five weeks to deliver the technology for the Fukushima project, due to developments in innovation and modularization. As an additional defense against radioactive waste at the Fukushima plants, Areva is also developing a second radioactive removal system that will be used, and both Toshiba and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy are involved in the project, too.

Kurion is a three-year-old company based in Irvine, Calif. backed by Lux Capital and Firelake Capital. Kurion says it is the only American company working on this cleanup project. Kurion has completed other milestones over the past several months, including small scale testing of its technology, and has also moved into “a long series of tests on simulated waste streams.” In addition Kurion says it has a contract with engineering firm CH2MHill to test out its tech to manage uranium metal bearing sludges at a site in the U.S.

Nuclear waste management is a problem that hasn’t seen a whole lot of innovation over the past few decades — according to some estimates $1 out of every $4 from the Department of Energy’s budget goes toward nuclear waste management, so there is a sizable opportunity to help the DOE cut that expense. Now with the Japanese nuclear disaster, there is an immediate market.

Image courtesy of TEPCO (not Kurion’s tech).

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