Today's big news in cleantech investing is the close of Foundation Capital's latest fund, at $750mm, with $250mm set aside for cleantech. This is just the latest in a long string of big cleantech-related funds that have been raised, so it's worthwhile noting the trend out there in the market. In part this simply reflects an overall trend across VC sectors of larger funds, as discussed out there in the blogosphere recently. But it does seem to be particularly striking in the cleantech space. Generalist firms are devoting bigger allocations to the sector, and specialist firms are launching bigger and bigger funds. A sign of the times...

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Join your Boston-area cleantech colleagues at the next Renewable Energy Business Network happy hour:

April 22nd, 6:30PM

REBN-East's Earth Day Happy Hour Location: The BU Pub (click for details, map and directions) 225 Bay State Road Boston, MA Co-sponsored by @Ventures and the BU Energy Club

 

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Deals from the past few days:

• PE Week Wire reported last week that stealth LED developer Illumitex has called down $5.25mm of a $10.5mm Series B round, with NEA and Aweida Capital as new backers, and DFJ Mercury as a return investor. VentureBeat has more details.

• Renewable energy and energy efficiency service provider Standard Renewable Energy has raised a $7mm Series B, with The Quercus Trust as a key investor.

• China-based ET Solar has raised a $19mm Series A, led by Tsing Capital/ China Environment Fund, alongside "another prominent institutional investor."

• eMeter has raised a $12.5mm fifth round of financing, just about a year after their $11.8mm Series C. Siemens led the latest round, which also included return backers Foundation Capital (see above), as well as DBL Investors.

• Cleantech VCs in the news: CMEA Ventures has promoted James Kim to Senior Partner, focusing on energy and materials.

Other news and notes: Thought-provoking column in the NYT on the vital role of technology in fighting climate change... It's true -- the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Ambassador Michael Wood, gives a pretty good presentation on Swedish cleantech companies... Is UK-based venture capital in trouble?... And finally, fixing the energy challenge is more important than curing cancer? Not touching that one...