Cleantech VC expected to continue to rise

According to a KPMG survey of VCs and related professionals, 91% said they expect cleantech to be an even bigger sector in 2009, and 67% believe that the sector’s growth is sustainable and not over-investment.  Meanwhile, here’s another good article on the subject, with an unfortunate picture…

So, moving on… here are this week’s deals:

• Brammo, an electric motorcycle maker, has raised a $10mm Series A, with funding from Chrysalix, Best Buy Venture Capital, and others.

• Sustainable Spaces, an ESCO aimed at the residential market, has raised a $6mm Series A from RockPort and Shasta Ventures.

• Masdar has invested $174.8mm in WinWinD Oy, a Finnish wind turbine manufacturer.

• Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies, which recycles wastewater into commercial fertilizer, has raised a $10.5mm financing led by VantagePoint, and including Foursome Investments.

• Wind Power Holdings, the parent company of Northern Power Systems, has raised a Series A “in excess of” $50mm, from RockPort and Allen & Company and others.

• Solar concentrator startup GreenVolts has raised a $30mm Series B led by Oak Investment Partners.

• Flywheel developer Pentadyne announced a $22mm raise including “existing convertible ventures” (?).

• GridPoint, a developer of smart grid/ energy storage devices, announced “a recent $120mm equity financing,” plus an acquisition.  It’s unclear how this announcement is related to the news of their funding from back in April.

• Asetek, a developer of thermal management systems for electronics, has raised a $16mm Series B led by DE Shaw Ventures.

• Air management system developer VAIREX has raised a GBP 4mm Series A from Entrepreneurs Fund, Conduit Ventures, and angels.

• Mono Si producer Confluence Solar has raised a $12.7mm Series A, led by Convexa Capital (Norway), and including DC Chemical Co., Ltd., Scatec Adventure AS,      Oceanshore Ventures and others.

• For more on these and others, see GTM’s Funding Roundup.

• Cleantech investors in the news:  Mark Donohue has left Expansion Capital Partners and become an EIR at Babson College—VentureWire had a detailed column earlier in the week as well…  Israel’s Bronfman Fisher Group and the country’s former UN ambassador Dan Gillerman are forming a new cleantech investment fund (unclear from the blurb if it’ll do venture investments).

Other news and notes:  Gotta brag about my companies when they get awards—intelligent demand response system vendor Powerit Solutions has been named Deloitte’s “Rising Star” in Washington (note: link opens pdf) because of their 1,581% revenue growth over the last 3 years (obviously: mandatory self-promotion alert)...  GTM put out a list of the top 10 greentech venture fundings so far in 2008, and unsurprisingly it’s 9 solar companies and Range Fuels…  Here’s a pretty neat idea for a commercial bank offering…  Cleantech Q&A with Obama and McCain...  Here’s a neat idea—Yale’s Sabin Environmental Venture Prize...  The U.N. identifies millions of potential jobs in cleantech...  And finally, these have got to be better than a FEMA trailer, huh?