The idea was created in 2009 by Harvard Professor David Edwards, and the company has been working on developing foods like ice cream, yoghurt, cheese, soup, and even beverages, that have an edible, hard casing. Picture buying balls of yogurt at the store that have a hard granola crusted shell. Could be delicious, or a bit weird.

While the edible casings might sound like a niche, hippie product, if the technology ever became popular it could make a dent in reducing plastic and paper packing for food and drinks. Bioplastic companies — which turn corn, or plant waste into renewable plastics — are going after the same replacement packaging market, but without the edible angle.

That these two well-known VC firms are putting up a $10 million series A round, is an indicator that the technology could have a pretty large market. It would probably end up being licensed to packaging and food companies. WikiCell Designs plans to commercialize its products in 2013 and also announced on Tuesday that it has tapped co-founder Robert Connelly as its new CEO.

Edwards runs something called ArtScience Labs, which is an idea shop that is trying to innovate around science and design. Another of Edward’s ideas is Aeroshot Energy, which is a powdered energy drink shot.

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Compressed air is a decades-old technology which takes excess energy from a power plant or renewable energy and uses it to run air compressors, which pump air into tanks or underground caverns where it’s stored under pressure. When the air is released, it powers a turbine, creating electricity. There’s only a handful of compressed air energy storage projects in the world, including one in Alabama and one in Germany.

But there’s a new group of startups building the next-generation of this technology, including SustainX and competitor General Compression. A key to the new technology is a water spray that keeps the air at a constant temperature through the compression and storing process. In January SustainX announced a patent for that technology, and says it holds three patents around its technology. SustainX’s Kepshire says the company uses off-the-shelf parts and can offer energy storage at a disruptively low cost.

SustainX has already built a 40 kW project at its headquarters in West Lebanon, N.H., which Zarrella said has proven the technology. To build the pilot, the company has now raised $14.4 million from investors including GE, Cadent Energy Partners, RockPort Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, and Angeli Parvi. In late 2009, the Department of Energy awarded SustainX a $5.39 million grant to help it reach that commercialization goal.

General Compression has been working on a similar technology, and says its technology has a 70-75 percent round-trip efficiency. Because the units can respond in less than 30 seconds and cycle between compression and expansion quickly, they could be used to back up wind farm power output, which is the company’s main focus. General Compression also raised a $17 million Series A round of funding and $9.9 million back in 2007. Investors include US Renewables Group and Duke Energy, a utility with a lot of wind power to back up.

After these two companies commercialize their technologies, we’ll see how widely power companies will adopt the tech. The idea is that compressed air energy storage can be cheaper — over the lifetime of the system — than other energy storage options like batteries, and SustainX estimates the market for grid-scale energy storage will be $18 billion by 2015.

Image courtesy of SustainX.

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As usual, rumors surrounding the event run the gamut from fairly far-fetched to the safe bet. That said, the whole fun of Apple’s press events is that you can never really count out the left-field possibilities, thanks to Steve’s now famous “one more thing” stunts. Here’s a look at what rumors are being tossed around, and which ones I’m putting my money on.

iTV

Apple TV has been little more than a hobby for Cupertino to date. It’s not a bad little device, but platforms like Boxee and Netflix, which can operate on all kinds of different hardware, or support a wide variety of file formats, are limiting its living room presence.

It makes sense that Apple would target the Apple TV for a major overhaul. According to a number of sources, that overhaul will see a name change (to iTV), a smaller storage capacity (4GB) with a focus on streaming, a switch to iOS as the software that powers it, and, accordingly, the arrival of apps.

While I don’t doubt that Apple has big plans in store for the iTV, I find it very unlikely that we’ll see its introduction tomorrow. Changes this big would merit their own press event, and I don’t think Jobs would want to bury such a major overhaul amid exciting new iPods and changes to iTunes’ services. Which brings me to my next point…

iTunes

Everyone’s favorite poorly-named media management and library software will almost certainly see an update tomorrow; that much is clear. What exactly that update will entail is much less so.

The big rumor regarding iTunes right now is that Apple will introduce 99 cent TV show rentals, available only 24 hours after their original air date, for a rental period of up to 48 hours. It’s a definite improvement over the current price tag for owning shows ($1.99 and $2.99 for SD and HD, respectively), but you also miss out on actually owning the programs, as there’s no re-watching later.

Another rumor puts iTunes in the cloud, including streaming music and video directly to users’ devices, possibly even on a subscription-based model. This is a general rumor that’s been around for a while, and isn’t necessarily tied to tomorrow’s event. I don’t think we’ll see it tomorrow, but it’s definitely something Apple is testing the viability of, you can be sure.

iTunes probably won’t go to the cloud, but it may go to the web. According to Peter Kafka of Media Memo, the next big update for iTunes could see it relocated to the web, where a lightweight, more easily accessible version would put the emphasis on music’s social aspects, allowing users to share their tastes with one another. This would actually be a natural extension of the recently introduced web-views for iTunes store content, and I think we could see it tomorrow, though I don’t think it’ll completely replace the iTunes desktop software.

Finally, CNET is reporting that Apple is going to double song preview length in iTunes. This rumor feels pretty sound, especially since it isn’t very exciting.

iPods

We will see new iPods tomorrow. Apple always updates its iPod line in September, and it isn’t about to change that now. Among those new devices will be an iPod touch with a camera. Whether it’ll have two cameras and FaceTime is still open to debate, but likely. Recent rumors that it’ll also sport a 3G antenna are also interesting, but I would say unlikely for this iteration.

The iPod nano and shuffle could both also see updates tomorrow in what appears to be an exciting new form-factor, possibly incorporating a 1.7-inch touchscreen. Personally, I think the nano will retain its video-friendly current form factor, and the shuffle will get the updated design, which will put an emphasis on control, the main area of complaint customers have regarding Apple’s most diminutive media player.

A third possibility is that the new form factor will be an entirely different class of iPod altogether. It could be to the iPod touch what the shuffle is to the nano, i.e. a barebones, limited storage device without app support and only a few utilities in addition to the iPod music player, like a clock and calendar. I think Apple is looking to streamline, not complicate its iPod lineup, though, so if there is a new device like the one I’ve described that doesn’t get the “shuffle” moniker, expect it to replace the shuffle altogether.

Last and least, we have the clickwheel iPod classic, the old Clydesdales of Apple’s lineup. I see at most maybe a capacity boost, if Apple’s determined to keep it around, but you can bet that with its focus on iOS and touch computing, the iPod classic isn’t long for this world. Who knows? It could be “out with the old,” as well as “in with the new” on the menu for tomorrow.

What do you think is in store for tomorrow’s event?

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Littleton, Colo.-based Infinite Power says it will use the funds to build out manufacturing capacity, grow its sale,s and conduct more R&D for its batteries, which have the power of standard lithium-ion cells, but can be developed into flat, tiny and other non-traditional shapes for the gadget, sensor, and medical devices markets.

Price has long been the problem with thin film batteries. Manufacturers have to get the cost of the batteries low enough to be able to compete with coin-cell batteries, the circular batteries often used in watches, according to a recent report from research firm Frost & Sullivan.

But Infinite Power, founded in 2001, says it has already built out its first factory in Littleton to produce its thin film batteries — dubbed the Micro-Energy Cell (MEC) — and has been selling its batteries to developers of wireless sensor, RFID tags, medical devices, automotive and military products. The company licenses its technology from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Partnership deals will clearly be the key to success for Infinite Power. On that note, the company has signed an agreement to supply its batteries for products that Lockheed Martin is developing for military and civil applications, and has also signed a deal with Arrow Electronics.

Infinite Power isn’t the only thin film battery startup, and competitors include Planar Energy and Cymbet Corp. But Infinite says its ultra-thin rechargeable batteries deliver higher power than its competitors’ and also last longer, have longer shelf lives, and can be recharged more times. The company has said its batteries can be recharged more than 60,000 times and made as thin as 15 microns.

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The new cash comes after 1366 raised $4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program, becoming the first (and so far, the only) photovoltaic startup to be selected. The MIT spinoff, founded in 2007, also previously raised $12.4 million back in March.

1366 is developing technologies to boost the efficiency – and lower the cost – of manufacturing conventional multicrystalline solar cells, starting with two machines: one that “texturizes” solar cells, giving them a surface texture that increases internal light refraction and boosts solar panel efficiency, and another that produces thinner conductive metal “fingers” on the cells, which cut costs and reduce shading, again increasing efficiency.

Craig Lund, director of business development for the Lexington, Mass.-based company, tells us the company is about to sign on its third customer for testing these tools and plans to install them in its customers’ pilot lines in the first half of next year. The company has signed confidentiality agreements and can’t yet disclose the names of its customers, Lund said, adding that all three are based in Europe. The company last year had expected to deliver a machine for its first customer this March.

In September, chief technology officer Emanuel Sachs said 1366′s technologies have already produced cells of almost 18 percent efficiency, and the company expects to hit 19 percent this year, at a cost only pennies per watt more than that of producing cells with 16 percent efficiency. Standard multicrystalline cells average approximately 16 percent efficiency, although the most efficient multicrysalline cells, such as those made by Kyocera, already have exceeded 18 percent efficiency.

With its ARPA-E money, 1366 also is researching a new way of making wafers by molding them directly from molten silicon, cutting out many steps in order to potentially cut costs by 70 percent, reduce silicon waste by 50 percent and further boost panel efficiencies to up to 20 percent, Lund said. Such low costs could make it more feasible to produce wafers in the United States instead of in China, especially if the U.S. market takes off, he added.

If the technology works as 1366 hopes, the company plans to manufacture wafers – instead of supplying equipment as it is with its other technologies – and sell them to solar-cell manufacturers, the same customers that it’s targeting with its first machines. It hopes to have a factory up and running by 2012, Lund said, adding that the company is hoping to help fund the manufacturing facility with a federal loan.

1366 also is hiring, Lund said. The company has grown from 12 to 26 employees and expects to reach 30 employees by next month, he said.

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When it comes to scouting for cleantech deals, VCs are increasingly turning to academia and federally funded research. In February, the Department of Energy and several big-name venture firms, among them Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, announced an entrepreneur-in-residence program designed to pull clean technology out of national labs. But such deals are green in another sense, in that they involve young, unproven companies and technologies. In many cases, venture firms are investing small amounts in seed deals and commercialization efforts that force them to take on significant engineering risk, where the basic science can’t even be melded into an appropriate product yet. These deals tend to take a decade or more to achieve an exit — significantly longer than the five to seven years for which most VCs plan.

Such commercialization efforts have been funded at the rate of one or two deals a year since the beginning of this century — generally by firms experienced in tech transfer, such as ARCH Venture Partners or Battelle Ventures — but that pace has quickened in the last year and a half. In fact, a little more than half of the seed-stage deals for cleantech funds since 2000 have been inked in the past 18 months, according the most recent MoneyTree Report, which is jointly authored by the National Venture Capital Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Thomson Reuters.

Given the long time frame, such deals represent both the greatest risk and greatest potential reward for VCs. Earlier this week the NVCA released data that made clear that when measured at both the 10-year and the 20-year mark, seed investments generated the highest returns.

But not everyone is prepared to take on the risks involved with such a long timeline, among them Tucker Twitmyer, a managing partner with Enertech Capital, which has been investing in clean energy for 12 years. Enertech is also an adviser to Battelle, a company that manages some of the national labs and is the sole investor in Battelle Ventures. But while Twitmeyer says he sees the value in pulling technology out of the lab, as far as Enertech is concerned, it simply takes too long.

“Seed-stage investing where there is significant development needed has put too much time pressure on our return profile,” Twitmyer says. “It takes a long time to get those companies to revenue. We prefer to pick those up in the early stage, where there is some level of maturity around the company and product.”

However, he notes that many of the cleantech deals getting funded today, including those in Enertech’s portfolio, have ties to research done at national labs and universities. A look at recent fundings bears this out. In July Innovalight, which makes photovoltaic ink, raised $5 million in equipment lease financing from ATEL Ventures, and battery startup ActaCell raised $5.8 million in first-round financing led by DFJ Mercury. Both companies are based on technology commercialized from the University of Texas at Austin. Also in July, Wakonda Technologies, which is commercializing solar technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology, scored $9.5 million from Advanced Technology Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Polaris Venture Partners and Applied Ventures.

Innovalight, which is the oldest company of those mentioned above and furthest along the path to an IPO or exit, drew venture capital attention for the time in 2001. Seven years and more than $50 million in funding later, it has yet to start production of it silicon nanocrystalline ink. Until the company proves its technology scales to large-volume production, it can neither make money through selling a lot of its product nor make a high-dollar exit. Since many VCs are looking for exits within five to seven years, seed-stage cleantech deals may not be for everyone. Let’s hope the firms rushing into the market understand this.

This was originally posted on BusinessWeek.com.

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As it uses a peer-to-peer data transfer model after it makes the connection between the home computer and the remote user, LogMeIn faces less of an infrastructure burden as it grows. It has filed to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol LOGM.

The company sells primarily to enterprises, so the IPO may also be an effort to gain some credibility with corporate buyers. Some of that credibility may also come from a deal LogMeIn signed with Intel in December. The previously undisclosed deal involves Intel investing $10 million in LogMeIn and an agreement to tightly integrate LogMeIn’s services with Intel hardware. The chipmaker will also market and sell LogMeIn’s service to its customers and share that revenue with LogMeIn. Polaris Venture Partners, Prism Venture Partners, Integral Capital Partners and Intel Capital are backing the five-year-old company.

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