NASA has devoted $75mm to launching Red Planet Capital, which is a non-profit effort to provide venture capital for companies whose technologies are applicable for space travel. Solar PV, fuel cells, batteries, sensors, drinking water and wastewater treatment all come to mind as possibilities, as well as various advanced materials, so Red Planet is now entering the ranks of cleantech investors.
ICP Solar Technologies of Quebec announced a reverse-merger-go-public financing of $5mm from unnamed institutional investors, with $5mm of warrants also issued. The company will now be traded OTC. The company's customers for their thin-film solar products include automakers, notably (solar-powered Winnebagos, e.g.).
Other news and notes: Fun quote re: biofuels: "If we wanted to build a 100 million-gallon plant, we would have venture capitalists calling us up. I'm looking for someone investing a half a million bucks and to see how it goes"... There are now apparently 136 venture-backed, independently-operating nanotech startups around the world... News of an upcoming cleantech conference in Tel Aviv... As someone who's been beating the drum for innovative, technology-based energy efficiency opportunities for a while now, I am very glad to see this news.
Rob Day is a Partner with Black Coral Capital, based in Boston. He has been a cleantech private equity investor since 2004, and acts or has served as a Director, Observer and advisory board member to multiple companies in the energy tech and related sectors. Rob was a co-founder of the Renewable Energy Business Network (www.rebn.org), a non-profit organization which was acquired in 2009 by the Clean Economy Network. The views expressed on this blog are those of Rob, not necessarily the views of any of his colleagues and affiliated organizations. Contact Rob at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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