Last week, Katie Fehrenbacher opined that cleantech funding seems poised for another big bump in the near future.  She cited a few big recent deals, and some other factors that are potentially encouraging for investors right now. 

For what it's worth, it still seems like most investors are sitting on the sidelines.  The number of companies seeking funding remains high, but even many well-positioned companies are still having a hard time lining up capital.  And I'm not sure that will change anytime soon.  With a few exceptions, VCs continue to have a hard time raising new funds from LPs, and many are scaling back their investments accordingly.  Until the VCs have more visibility into when the LPs' purse strings will be loosened, many are keeping their remaining powder dry.  I don't see any signs of any near-term shift in LPs' willingness to put money into venture capital, and even once that starts to happen, there will be a pretty big lag time before that starts to flow through to actual venture investments.  Also, the early stage is being relatively neglected, meaning that there won't be a healthy pipeline of growth stage companies when the big investment dollars start looking at them again...

The new Deloitte report on global venture capital (note: link opens pdf) seems to back this up.  It shows how two to four times as many investors are scaling back their investments, as those increasing their level of investment (see pages 5 and 6).  And while almost none are shifting to focus on earlier stage, over a third are shifting toward later stage.  That data isn't cleantech-specific, but gives a good sense of the mood among VCs right now. 

Then again, the Deloitte report also shows 63% of investors saying they're going to be shifting their efforts into cleantech over the next 3 years.  So I guess I'm suggesting that, while cleantech remains a relative bright spot, the overall negative market vibe will continue to weigh it down for a while.

Of course, even in this moribund market there are signs of life, and even Katie rightfully caveats her relatively optimistic perspective by noting that the investment levels won't get back to where they were last year.  And it's the summer duldrums, too.  So let's celebrate the few deals and moves of the past week:

• NanoSteel has apparently taken in $8M of a planned $11M round of financing.

• Amyris Biotechnologies has apparently taken in $24.7M of a planned $62M round of financing.  

• Southwest Windpower has taken in additional financing, of an undisclosed amount.  PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund participated alongside other existing investors Altira, GE Energy Financial Services, NGP Energy Technology Partners, and Rockport Capital.

• Plextronics has completed a $14M Series B-1 financing, led by Solvay North American Investments.  "Several" existing investors also participated.

• Cleantech investors in the news:  Matthew Nordan, co-founder of Lux Research (and one of the first to call the solar and biofuels subsegment bubble), has joined Venrock.

Other news and notes:  Time to get smart about the proposed "Green Bank"...  Finally, hey Richard, give Tennessee some credit!  ORNL, lots of sustainability efforts in the Chattanooga region, lots of cleantech-related manufacturing efforts: the Volunteer State may be a flyover instead of a destination for many software VCs, but certainly is gearing up for the implementation phase of cleantech.