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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.
One of the few investors to make money from backing cleantech startups, The Westly Group has finally closed on a $160 million cleantech fund.
Despite continued struggles for next-gen biofuel makers, VCs are still putting money into startups, particularly when it comes to follow-on rounds. EdeniQ announced that it has raised another round of more than $30 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and The Westly Group.
Biochemical company Amyris announced on Monday that it has secured $84 million in funding to help it shore up its business and continue to try to scale up its technology. The company went public back in Fall 2010.
Biofuel and biochemical companies continue to file to go public. But the reality is that the stocks of most of the publicly-traded biochemical and biofuel companies have suffered this year. Here’s the latest on the biofuel firms’ earnings from last week and stock prices.
When an investor or entrepreneur makes high-risk bets on early stage companies, failure is always part of the equation. For Kleiner Perkin’s Bill Joy he says more of the early-stage greentech startups he invests in with fail early, but can turn into something more meaningful.
Greentech investor Steve Westly has been out there raising a new $175 million cleantech fund, and recently closed on the first $50 million. Particularly interesting is that Westly plans to have a special focus on green building technology for the new fund.
Next-gen biofuel firm Amyris reported its first earnings results as a public company late Thursday, and the results were as expected: given the company isn’t yet in commercial production its revenues are flat and it’s still losing money.
First Wind Holdings has canceled its IPO, joining the ranks of greentech hopefuls that have found the recent economic climate — or perhaps, their own financials — too unfavorable to risk the public markets.
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.
How’s next-gen biofuel maker Amyris faring on its first day of trading? Not bad. Not rocking, but pretty steady. The company started trading at $16.50, traded as high as $17.40 by mid-morning, but dropped back down around $16.50 by the late afternoon.
Amyris has priced shares for its IPO at $16, below its previously anticipated range or $18 to $20. At least 5.3 million of Amyris’ shares will start trading later today under the symbol AMRS. The IPO has raised $84.8 million.
Next-gen biofuel producer Amyris plans to officially price its shares for its IPO before the end of the day and hopes to start trading tomorrow on the NASDAQ.
