IPO Action

Biofuel startup Amyris of Emeryville, California went public this week and Michael Kanellos covered it here.   Dan Primack at Fortune figures out who made money on the deal here. Here's the info from Mr. Primack:

"My initial thought was that Amyris must represent a giant crater for its VC backers. [...] The company raised around $363 million. Truth is, however, the firm's early VC investors are actually in the black.  Here's how it breaks down, based on the $16.50 per share price:

  • Kleiner Perkins: $16.48 million investment, now worth $69 million
  • Khosla Ventures: $15.59 million investment, now worth $65.36 million
  • TPG Biotech: $15.95 million investment, now worth $53.83 million

Each of those firms participated in the dirt-cheap Series A round, the over-priced Series B round and the Series C down-round. More importantly, they missed the two priciest -- and largest -- rounds: Series B-1 and Series D.

Here's a look at firms that didn't invest in the Series A:

  • DAG Ventures: $22.69 million investment, now worth $18.47 million
  • Advanced Equities: $35.05 million investment, now worth $29.7 million (including possible warrant conversion at $16.50 per share)
  • Total Gas & Power USA: $133.2 million investment, now worth $159 million.

It was DAG Ventures and Advanced Equities that got taken. Both firms are known as Series C and Series D investors for companies originally backed by firms like Kleiner Perkins. That means that they're often paying sky-high valuations, and hoping that they never fall. So far with Amyris, they're still left hoping."

So, KP, Khosla and TPG do OK with what looks like 4X returns for now.  Thanks, Dan.

VantagePoint Venture Partners will be one of five investors in Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Company (Goldwind) when the wind turbine builder goes public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next month, VantagePoint's most significant investment in a Chinese company to date. Goldwind is the world's fifth largest wind turbine producer, and the second largest in China.

VC Investments in Greentech

Brightsource of Oakland, California, the CSP aspirant with IPO plans, raised $173 million in its Round D which closed a few months ago, not $150 million, as was widely reported.

PVT Solar, a developer of solar thermal technology that captures heat from PV panels out of Berkeley, California, closed a $13.7 million Round B for applications in heating, hot water and cooling.  Sigma Partners led with return backers Khosla Ventures and Energy & Environment Investment (Japan).  Khosla Ventures has another hybrid thermal/photovoltaic company in its portfolio that we profiled recently: Cogenra.

Toronto's Enbala Power Networks (formerly known as Sempa Power), which builds some type of smart-grid product, raised $8 million in funding from EnerTech Capital, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Export Development Canada,  XPV Capital and The Walsingham Fund.  It's hard to discern what the company does from their website, as it is written in Canadian, but it looks to be a demand response aggregator along with some involvement in water grids, as well.

Serious Materials is moving into building management and raised another $56 million.  CEO Kevin Surace keeps winning entrepreneur-of-the-year awards for his window, drywall and building management company.

Germany's GreenPocket, a smart meter software startup, closed a Round A from Rheinland Venture Capita, ERP Start fund, et al.  According to their website, the firm provides intelligent solutions for the interpretation and visualization of smart meter consumption data for utilities.

Sweden's GLO builds nanowire-based LEDs and closed a $25 million Round B led by Wellington Partners.  Additional funding came from Provider Venture Partners, Hafslund Venture, Agder Energi Venture and Oslo-based Teknoinvest, VantagePoint Venture Partners, et al.  GLO is a spin-out from the Nanometer Structure Consortium.  

 

Brammo of Ashland, Oregon, an electric motorcycle startup, raised $12.5 million out of a Round B from Oklahoma-based oil and gas company Alpine. Previous investors include Chrysalix Energy Venture and Best Buy Capital. 

Brammo-electric-motorcyle-battery

 

Mechanology, an Attleboro, MA-based compressor startup, raised $5.8 million, according to an SEC filing. Mechanology builds an air management system for automotive fuel cells for those automobiles that are actually using fuel cells.

 

Venture Capital Fund Raising

Crosslink Capital closed its sixth fund with $200 million in capital commitments. The San Francisco, California-based investment firm focuses on VC and growth equity investments in IT and energy technology.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is raising a yuan-denominated fund to invest in Chinese firms with a target of about $90 million, according to VentureWire.  Presumably, there will be a greentech aspect to the fund.