Viewing posts tagged "Boston"

Watch out for giant flying turtles!

Well, guess we know where some of that big wave in cleantech “growth stage” capital is going…  VentureWire is reporting today that Miasole is “wrapping up” a new $200-220mm round of financing, at a pre-money valuation of about $1.2B.  VWire reports that the company was looking initially at a $150mm round, but investor interest pushed the size up a bit.  Doesn’t sound like the deal is closed yet, so details are still yet to be divulged, but it’s a notable piece of news in an otherwise slow week.  [Full disclosure notice:  I am a small personal shareholder in Miasole]

For other deals and cleantech investing news, see GTM’s latest Funding Roundup.

Cleantech cluster news:  Here in the New England region, the big news is that Massachusetts’ Green Communities Act has now been signed into law.  It’s an important change, promoting energy efficiency, renewables, and regional entrepreneurial efforts.  Gov. Patrick wrote about it in an op-ed yesterday that’s worth checking out.  Kudos to everyone involved in the effort (including the New England Clean Energy Council, among other strong proponents)...  Seattle, on the other hand, isn’t moving forward as much as it should, says one observer...  On the opposite side of the planet, meanwhile, IFCI Venture Capital is launching an Indian Green Venture Fund targeted at Rs 330 crore.

Other news and notes:  Early indications are that Q2 remained a strong quarter for cleantech investments, but we’ll have to wait until the numbers start being released soon…  The always snarky Earth2Tech picks on BlackLight Power (dedicated readers might remember them from our mention of them a couple of years ago)...  And finally, here’s the reason for today’s headline.

“How do I break into cleantech?”

As the sector heats up, far more people than I can possibly help are approaching me with this consistent question.  And while it’s a bit frustrating not to be able to help out as much as I would like, it’s certainly encouraging for the sector to see so much smart business talent seeking to get involved.

Almost 3 years ago now I wrote up a post on breaking into the sector, and most of it still applies well.  One major difference is that there are a lot more opportunities to get involved, given the sheer number of additional business efforts underway now.  So take heart, job seekers!

But also take to heart that the single most important thing to remember is that it’s probably best to look to take what you already have been doing and figure out how to translate that into a cleantech context.  If you’re a sales and marketing professional, what industries have you been selling into, and what are their energy, water and materials needs?  If you’re an operations professional, what clean technologies require similar manufacturing approaches?  Etc.  Too often the individual job-seekers or entrepreneurs seem to be wanting to simultaneously change markets, skillsets, etc., in order to go after the “hot” market segments.  But the great thing about cleantech for investors and job-seekers alike is how broad and varied clean technologies and cleantech markets are—and how much they tend to resemble other, more traditional sectors one way or another.

So find the place where you fit and are needed, don’t just go after the sectors getting the headlines.

Other ways to get involved:  The California Clean Tech Open is soliciting entrants, but the deadline is TODAY, so sharpen your pencils and get to work on that business plan…  And in a lighter-touch vein, REBN is working with The Economist on their Corporate Sustainability Debate, join in and have fun with it.

Deals from the past week:

• Congrats to Joel:  Greener World Media has raised a $1mm Series A round from the K Group.

• Eco2 Plastics raised a $6.5mm PIPE led by Trident Capital and Thompson Hutton, LLC.  Over $6mm in notes and interest also converted as part of the round.

• Chrome replacement company Helios Coatings announced a $4mm round of financing led by Hopewell Ventures.

• Algae-to-biodiesel startup Aurora Biofuels announced an insider $20mm Series B, led by existing investor Oak Investment Partners.  Previous investors Gabriel Venture Partners and Noventi also participated.

• Cleantech Invest AG announced an investment in Sinosol, a German-Chinese photovoltaics company.  Sinosol also announced plans for an IPO.

• Cleantech investors in the news:  Jim Matheson of Flagship Ventures has been writing up his experiences touring around the UK discussing cleantech—check out his adventures here, here and here.

• Cleantech cluster-building:  A report by the New England Clean Energy Council says that cleantech could bring in $1B in local investment by 2012…  Also, here’s a nice write-up on the Council’s newly-formed fellowship program.

Other news and notes:  Cleantech patent activity has been pretty flat over the last couple of years—with some of the hotter sectors seeing some curious declines…  Toyota puts PHEVs on a path for 2010 commercialization...  More and more, the consensus seems to be that water is the next big thing…  Finally, Earth2Tech did a nice FAQ on Obama’s energy policy proposals.

Happy Earth Day

While we usually focus on the investment opportunities in cleantech here on this site, today’s a day for getting smart and taking some personal action…   Unfortunately, big change isn’t easy—noticed there were just as many cars on the road this morning (including yours truly’s, mea culpa) as any other day.

So, here are a few easy things you can do today:

• If you’re in the Boston area today, join us at the REBN networking event this evening at Boston University, co-sponsored by the BU Energy Club and @Ventures.  Take public transportation if you can…  Mingle with your colleagues in renewable energy innovation, chat about possible solutions, and then go next door to Fenway to watch the Sox beat up on the Angels.

• Avoid using your printer whenever you can—but when you do print, try to reduce your margin size and save paper (not only to save trees, but also the paper industry is the 2nd largest user of fossil fuels).  These kids have taken the idea to Beacon Hill.

• Blackle.

• Sign up to join a carbon reduction challenge at Carbonrally.

• Donate energy efficient lightbulbs to Green Light New Orleans.

• Take political action.

It’s also a good day to check in on some of the Cleantech Blogger All-Stars—I’ve been remiss in pointing out their good thoughts in recent posts, simply due to lack of time, not because they’ve been taking a holiday…  So time to catch up with:

• Neal and his thoughts on ethanol energy balances—we need an FSC for ethanol, huh?

• Mr. Cleantech’s update on goings on in DC.

• Joel’s annual survey of green marketing surveys.

• Tyler’s search for a green taxi ride.

• Jim’s excitement over EVs.

The Innovation Cycle and the Commercialization Cycle

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our REBN-East networking event at Boston University on Tuesday night.  As a topic for discussion, I’ll throw this thought out there:

Had the pleasure of visiting NREL last week as part of a productive trip organized by the New England Clean Energy Council.  There, I and around a dozen other VCs from the Boston area were presented to by several of the Lab’s researchers in areas like solar PV, biofuels, energy storage, etc.  It was a good opportunity to once again peak “under the hood” at a DOE energy lab, to get a quick overview of some of the world-class research being done there.

It was necessarily a brief overview, but one thing that came through for me loud and clear (yet again) was how short the Innovation Cycle is in many of these sectors.  Yes, each innovation in an area like solar is often the result of years of difficult research.  But with so many efforts underway in parallel (at NREL and elsewhere), the results mean that every year there’s a new bright idea for how to eke out more electricity from available solar resources (for example).  New materials, improved manufacturing techniques, more effective components…

In many cleantech sectors there’s a backlog of these kinds of innovations, as the ideas languish uncommercialized in the labs and the literature, awaiting visionary entrepreneurs and investors.  But in some of the more investigated sectors, investors are quick to jump on the latest innovation out of the various centers of research.  Breakthrough innovations funded last year are trumped (on paper, at least) by this year’s funded innovations, and they’ll all be trumped by next year’s funded innovations.

Meanwhile, we’re all still waiting on many of the innovations from several years back to be fully commercialized.  Continuing to pick on the solar sector as illustrative example, we’re all still waiting for many of the promised thin-film manufacturers to fully hit the market.  That’s not to cast doubt on those players, it’s just a lesson in how long the Commercialization Cycle is for these technologies.

So the questions for Tuesday’s REBN-East event are these:

1.  Put on your “green cluster-builder” hat—what could this disparity between the Innovation Cycle and the Commercialization Cycle mean in terms of key roles for public policy?

2.  Put on your VC hat—what could the disparity mean for investors?

Speaking of cleantech clusters:  The NECEC has launched a new Fellowship Program to help experienced entrepreneurs from outside the industry to gain familiarity with clean technologies and launch the Next Big Things.  Check it out!

Deals from the past week (-ish):

• Grid-scale solar energy developer eSolar has raised $130mm from Idealab, Oak Investment Partners, and Google.org.  They plan on building a demonstration plant later this year.  Back in January we passed along word of Google’s $10mm investment—no word on whether this new investment figure includes that or not.

• Kleiner and RockPort have teamed up to help launch Th!nk North America (no, that’s not Al Gore’s latest public awareness campaign, it’s a car company), in partnership with Norway-based Think Global.  Think Global was already a portfolio company of RockPort’s.  Fortunately for the company, it would appear that Th!nk is not “very cute”.

• Ireland-based NTR has put $100mm into Stirling Energy Systems in what has been called an “investment,” but did result in a 52% ownership for NTR, so is really a bit of an acquisition.

• River- and tidal-energy system developer Hydro Green Energy has raised a $2.6mm Series A led by The Quercus Trust.

• Sensicore has apparently been acquired by GE.

Cleantech investors in the news:

• British Columbia has launched a new $90mm venture capital fund, managed by several institutional investors, with cleantech as part of its mandate.

• Bill Weihl in a good interview about Google’s renewable energy activity (but he won’t dish on which technology he thinks is overhyped).

• Piper Jaffray looks to ramp up their activities in cleantech.

Other news and notes:  Interesting article on something we’ve talked about before—the project financing challenge in cleantech…  Seattle-area VC firms “chided” over their relatively low cleantech investment amounts…  A good article illustrating how “green collar jobs” are being targeted for economic growth...  But on the other hand, some argue that the lack of strong technical talent in the sector is a continuing challenge...  Dallas points us to an update on the peak oil argument…  GTM puts out their updated Top 10 startups list—apparently the unstated 7th criterion is how much effort the company puts into PR (full disclosure: @Ventures portfolio company Powerit is mentioned)...  Finally, some tips on green choices consumers can make, from the recent NYT “Green Issue” (full disclosure: @Ventures portfolio company M2E Power is mentioned).

Oorja, Range Fuels, Luminus Devices, RecycleBank and others

• Methanol fuel-cell developer Oorja announced today that they are emerging out of stealth mode, with some other operational announcements as well.  Cleantech.com mentioned that the company has raised a total of $21mm so far in venture financing from Sequoia Capital, DAG Ventures, McKenna Management and Spring Ventures.  We first mentioned the company back in 2006.

• Jonathan Shieber at VentureWire reported this week that cellulosic ethanol producer Range Fuels has raised $100mm.  Khosla Ventures put in $25mm, and another investor led the round with another $25mm, with the rest of the funders not noted.  This round size suggests that the post-money valuation these investors put on Range Fuels may have been about the same or more than JP Morgan’s price for Bear Stearns…

• Los Alamos Renewable Energy, which is using concentrated sunlight to produce hydrogen, has raised a $20mm round of financing, according to VentureBeat.  Funders besides local New Mexico VC Sun Mountain Capital were not mentioned (although they were speculated) in the article.

• Coskata, which we mentioned recently in conjunction with their strategic investment from GM, has apparently completed their latest round of financing with $19.5mm, according to PEWW.  Globespan, GM Capital Partners, Khosla Ventures, Great Point Ventures and Advanced Technology Ventures all participated in the round.

• LED developer Luminus Devices has raised a $72mm Series E.  Braemar led the round, which also included participation by CMEA, Paladin Capital Group, and previous investors.

• RecycleBank, which sets up systems where residential recyclers get discounts from companies like Coke and Whole Foods, raised a $30mm round of financing led by Kleiner Perkins, according to VentureWire.

• Cleantech investors in the news: Daniel Leff is joining Globespan as a venture partner, to focus on cleantech…  And Google may invest in enhanced geothermal.

Other news and notes:  Business Week says clean energy is getting affordable...  Meanwhile clean energy markets continue to grow like gangbusters, according to CleanEdge and other coverage like SolarBuzz...  Just thought this write-up of Stion was pretty in-depth, so thought I’d provide a link...  “Green Construction Red-Hot with VCs”...  Meanwhile, here in Massachusetts, some very interesting efforts to encourage the implementation of “zero net energy buildings”, as well as more effort on Beacon Hill to promote clean energy adoption...  Paul Dickerson of the EERE summarizes how they’re looking to work with VCs...  Finally, could the Bear Stearns situation impact cleantech venture markets?

Last week in cleantech venture capital…

• SiXtron, a Montreal-based developer of thin-film coatings for solar cells, announced a C$10mm Series A.  VenturesWest led the round, which also included existing investors iNovia Capital, Innovatech sud du Quebec, and FIDD.

• Plextronics announced Applied Materials has added additional capital to their Series B round from September (Greentech Media pegged the new investment at $4mm).

• Novomer, which is developing technology for producing plastics from carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, announced a $6.6mm Series A.  Physic Ventures and Flagship Ventures provided the funding.

• Vaperma, a gas separation membrane developer, announced a C$21.5mm Series B, led by Low Carbon Accelerator, and including participation by Volvo and existing investors Emerald Technology Ventures, BDC Capital, and FIDD.

• Shell made a strategic investment in biofuel developer Codexis—terms were not disclosed.

• Sort of cleantech-related:  Applied Isotope Technologies, which is developing kits for the analysis of environmental toxin levels in urine, raised a $150k seed round from the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse.

• CTI reported this week that Trellis Earth Products has raised $750k in “seed funding commitments” from angel investors.  There was also a lot of revealing information about an $18mm Series A round ($60mm post-money, “set by the investment bank”) that the company is trying to pull together—it’s been interesting to see more and more articles by the cleantech venture dailies, talking about financing rounds that are being sought (as opposed to rounds actually done).  Are bankers telling the companies it will drum up more interest?  But does it result in more potential VCs being turned off of a deal, to see such open discussion and investors already crowding around the trough?  It would be interesting to track how many of these “announced rounds” end up actually coming together, and if so, when…

Other news and notes:  More evidence that cleantech can be a big driver of jobs growth—see this study and this write-up...  Another interesting study—diesel is better than hybrids or E85?  The RAND Corporation says so…  Another sign of the growing Boston-area cleantech cluster, this terrific MIT event...  Finally, half of all Xconomy readers would rather put their investment dollars into cleantech than biotech, robotics, Web 2.0, or mobile—and the columnist says that means you should actually avoid cleantech.