Last week Tesla Motors closed on another $40mm in bridge financing co-led by Chairman Elon Musk and Valor Equity Partners -- haven't seen yet anywhere if other investors took part, but it wouldn't be surprising. At the Piper Jaffray Clean Technology and Renewables Conference in NYC, where a Tesla Roadster is parked right out front in the Madison Ave. courtyard of the New York Palace, the company presenter also mentioned that they have a "clear path to our Series D E later this year," which the FT reported could be as much as $250mm including equity and debt, "and an IPO next year," which may also be part of that $250mm total. I think I also heard the presenter say that Musk now owns 40% of the company, which would be surprisingly high to me, but as always yours truly is no journalist -- I could have heard wrong on any of the above, so happy to correct that if so...
I look forward to my test drive.
Cleantech investors around the world:
In South Africa, German billionaire Hasso Plattner is announcing a R350mm (approx. $45mm) venture capital fund, to invest in local tech startups -- including cleantech and, given South Africa's current major electricity shortages, alternative energy.
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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