• GTM this past week told us about several cleantech VC deals including:
  • AqWise (wastewater treatment)... [2/4 correction:  Heard from Gene Dolgin at Israel Cleantech Ventures that the original source I'd used here was incorrect in some of their numbers, and instead that the accurate story was that "Israel Cleantech purchased 11% of the company in a secondary transaction in a deal that valued the company at $10M"]
  • Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide took an approximate 25% stake in Asola (solar PV) for an undisclosed sum.
  • Green Plug (advanced power strips) took in an undisclosed amount of first-round funding from Peninsula Equity Partners.
  • Israeli solar thermal power developer Solel raised a significant amount of financing from Ecofin, which spent $105mm total in the new investment and in purchases of existing equity (Clean Technology Investor reported it was about half and half). Another round of financing is also planned, at which time Ecofin will hold a "very significant minority stake in the company."

• In another Israel-based cleantech deal, regenerative (flow battery) fuel cell developer EnStorage took in a $2mm round of financing from Greylock, Canaan Partners and Siemens Venture Capital.

• Solar micro-inverter developer Enphase Energy took in a $6.5mm Series B (note: VWire reported that this amount actually reflects a combination of Series B and an earlier Series A round) led by Third Point Ventures. VWire also reported that the Series B took place back in 2006, and is only being made public now as the company emerges from stealth mode...

• Driving-feedback company GreenRoad took in a $14.5mm Series B from Benchmark Capital, Virgin Green Fund, and Balderton Capital.

• Advanced lighting tech developer Luxim Corporation took in a $21mm round of financing from Sequoia Capital, Crosslink Capital, and DAG Ventures.

• PE Week Wire reported on Thursday that solid state lighting developer SJS Technology Inc. has taken in $2.5mm of a $5mm Series A led by Khosla Ventures.

• VentureWire reported that a 20 year old aerosol and particle technology company MSP Corp., with applications in pollution control and thin films, raised a $6mm Series A from Hunt Growth Capital.

Cleantech investors in the news:

• Journalists covering the sector are confused as never before, with recent articles suggesting the sector is varyingly too hot, or potentially hitting the brakes, or on the verge of becoming the biggest VC sector. Oh well.

• Elon will have to wait an extra couple of days for his Tesla... I'm guessing I'll have to wait even longer for mine, but my offer to the company still stands: If they let me have one for, oh, a 6 month test drive, I promise a very positive product review...

• Stanford Venture Capital Holdings has committed $10mm to Israel-based water tech AquAgro Fund.

Other news and notes: The Weather Channel is disappointed in Bush's latest climate change policy announcements... Meanwhile, here's a disquieting article describing the links between climate change and the availability of water in the U.S. southwest... The NYT on the emergence of the clean energy industry in California... If you're going to be at the GTM/ Prometheus Institute solar day in NYC later this month, make sure to say hello... With 2/5 right around the corner, here's your greentech voters' guide... Finally, and sadly, we send our condolences to the family and friends of Tyler Palmer, who died Monday in a tragic accident.

We deferred mentioning the deals and other news from last week to focus on discussions about the looming recession and the numbers from last year, but a lot happened during the week. One of the reasons for moving this column over to GreenTech Media was to take advantage of their reporting about deals, etc., so as always please bookmark the GTM home page and check there regularly for more timely updates! Deals from the past week:

• Building-integrated wind turbine developer Marquiss Wind Power raised a $1.3mm Series A, led by Velocity Venture Capital, with participation by Strategis Early Ventures.

• Khosla Ventures increased their stake in Transonic Combustion, at a "substantially higher valuation" than their second round of funding last year. Khosla Ventures is now the biggest preferred shareholder.

• Clean Technology Investor mentioned on Friday that coal giant Peabody Energy is putting an undisclosed amount of strategic investment into GreatPoint Energy.

• VentureWire's Jonathan Shieber reported on Thursday that stealth-mode diesel engine developer Achates Power has taken in an undisclosed amount of financing from a syndicate including Sequoia Capital, RockPort Capital, Interwest Partners, and Madrone Capital Partners. The VWire story's been written up a few more places now -- see the column at CNet's Green Tech Blog, for example.

• Renewable energy monitoring and reporting software vendor Fat Spaniel raised an $18mm Series B, led by Ignition Partners, and including participation by Pacific Corporate Group and Applied Ventures, as well as existing investors Element Partners and Chrysalix Energy.

• Solar thermal power developer eSolar took in a $10mm investment from Google.

• VWire also reported that wastewater treatment tech developer Microbial Solutions Ltd. raised a GBP1.2mm round of financing led by Oxford Capital Partners, with participation by H2O Venture Partners and existing investor The Rainbow Seed Fund.

• CTI reported that W.R. Grace is planning on investing $3mm and "up to $5mm" total in concrete developer CeraTech.

• Aquaculture (Kona Kampachi hatchery) company Kona BlueWater Farms has taken in a $2.6mm Series D, according to VWire. Investors in the company include Cornerstone Holdings; Garrett Gruener, co-founder and director of Alta Partners; and other undisclosed investors. The company now plans to raise a large Series E to expand into Mexico.

Cleantech investors in the news:

• A nice hagiography of Aileen Lee and Samir Kaul in Forbes -- Samir's "managing 35 greentech startups", according to the story.

• Very pleased to welcome back Todd Kimmel to the dark side! Todd's back at ATV after his successful effort to launch Coskata.

• Angel investor Jonathan Bonanno is launching a new green energy project development group.

• Intel Capital is joining the wave of corporate venture groups in getting more into cleantech.

It's becoming clear that Project Better Place is going to be receiving a lot of PR-driven attention over the coming months in part just because it's a bold idea, and in part by design. The latest announcement with Nissan and Renault in Israel was big news this past week, although it was also notable to see in the CTI coverage that the car companies are going to continue their own ground-up EV development efforts anyway. Readers are invited to post or email their own thoughts and questions about this fascinating endeavor. I'll kick us off: "In a geographically small country where 90% of drivers travel less than 70 kilometers per day, why do they need to stop at re-charging centers instead of just plugging in their cars at home or at work?" Maybe the answer is that it's all on-street parking in Israel? Other news and notes: Florida is looking to bring in more cleantech venture dollars... Color me skeptical, but Neal thinks Climos may be for real... Interesting overview of CIGS markets and movers... The energy intelligence market consolidation wave is coming... Tesla's planning on their first shipment being 3/17... Finally, it's only tangentially related to cleantech investing, but what a great quote.

Apparently everyone got the memo that this was the week to announce the latest deals and other news...

• General Motors announced an undisclosed amount of investment in cellulosic ethanol startup Coskata.  The company may take in additional strategic investor capital as well.  It's part of the company's Series B round, which is "nearly complete."  The big public bogey now is $1 per gallon ethanol...  Plenty of news and commentary on this one out there, given the high profile -- GTM had a nice summary.  This and the Morgan Stanley news below are just more signs of cleantech being elevated to the boardroom at the biggest companies around.  That's good news for the market in general, and good news for potential exits for venture investors.

• The hardest working man in show business is still at it, with Khosla Ventures' latest announced investment in diesel engine developer EcoMotors.  The amount of the investment was undisclosed.

• News came out this week that Tesla Motors has cut some staff -- Jonathan Shieber at VWire revealed that the company is also "putting the finishing touches on a $40 million round of funding."

• Also in transportation-related fundings, serial hybrid designer Fisker Automotive received an undisclosed amount of second round financing from Kleiner Perkins.  The company had previously raised a $5.5mm Series A.

• A large syndicate of investors signed on for NanoGram's newest financing round (we're guessing it's a Series D), which totaled $32mm.  The round will be used to develop the company's solar applications.  New investors include Global Cleantech Capital, Masdar Clean Tech Fund, Mitsui Ventures, Nagase & Co., Nanostart AG, TEL Venture Capital and Yasuda Enterprise Development.  Existing investors also participating in the round include ATA Ventures, Bay Partners, Harris & Harris, Institutional Venture Partners, Nth Power, RockPort Capital, SBV Venture Partners, and Technology Partners.

•  Knight & Carver Wind Group, which inspects and repairs wind turbine blades, has taken in a $12mm investment from Global Environment Fund.

• VentureWire also reported that Germany-based Fludicon has taken in a EUR3mm round of financing led by Munich Venture Partners, with Schneider Electric Ventures, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, KfW Mittelstandsbank and TechnoStart also participating.  The company's components, based on electroreological fluids, can apparently provide energy efficiency and other performance benefits to a variety of devices.

Lots of cleantech investor news as well:

• Clean Technology Investor is reporting that VantagePoint is raising a $400mm cleantech-focused fund.

• Morgan Stanley has bought a minority ownership stake in NGEN Partners.  Interesting to see them buy into the GP itself, rather than taking an LP role.

• Sacramento-region venture group Velocity Venture Capital has raised a $15mm second fund, and is aiming for a $60mm third fund.  The company invests in multiple sectors, including cleantech.

• PE Week Wire revealed yesterday that Robert McIntyre has left CMEA Ventures.

• Here's an interesting column by Drew Clark of IBM's Venture Capital Group.

Other news and notes:  SVB has formed a dedicated cleantech group...  Mr. Cleantech on the uptick in cleantech VC activity in the pacific northwest...  European venture investing is down -- but not in cleantech...  And finally, here in the U.S. venture capital fundraising was very high, and Spark Capital's Todd Dagres believes cleantech, social networking and Internet video are "frothy".

• Flow-battery (large-scale energy storage) developer Deeya Energy has raised a $15mm Series B round, led by NEA and including existing investors BlueRun, DFJ and DFJ Element.  Some fo the capital will be used to fund development of a factory in India.  VentureBeat and GTM also had write-ups.

• EnerTech Environmental, which is developing plants to capture energy from wastewater sludge, has raised a $42mm second round, led by Citigroup and Masdar, and including Nimes Capital and CNM.

• StreamControl, which offers systems to reduce water loss in municipal water systems, has raised a $250k round of financing from Israel's Shari Arison's investment fund.

• Cleantech investors in the news:  Dutch cleantech venture capital firm Icos Capital has brought on Dinant Veehof as a General Partner...  Brad Barton, formerly of the DOE's EERE program, has joined NGP Energy Technology Partners...  And Yellowstone has launched a second, $50mm fund.

Other news and notes:  Here's a pretty good overview on carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)...  Measurement and verification -- critically important in the carbon offset business...   Nathanael is thinking BIG this year...  An update on biofuels...  An update on green electronics...  Pretty interesting tally (note: pdf) of the biggest R&D spenders in the corporate world (lots of them increasingly focused on cleantech)...  Finally, don't try this at home with your salt shaker.

Outsiders are winning presidential primaries, cleantech IPOs are getting pulled, and the big cleantech venture deals keep rollin' in.  It's going to be a fun year... So let's get things kicked off with a few disconnected items:

•  We talked last week about how 2008 will be a make or break year for the first wave of post-2005 cleantech venture investments, and already the first big relevant news item has come out -- that Imperium has pulled their planned IPO.  We'll let the journalists do their job on these kinds of stories, digging into the details.  But expect a lot more stories like this in 2008:  "Big changes afoot at Company X -- does this spell trouble for the company??"  It's just important to recognize that whenever these stories come out, changes aren't necessarily a true indicator of problems at the company in question.  It's natural for startups to go through senior management changes as they near an exit event or simply progress in their development.  It's even normal for workforces to expand and contract as different technology, product and market development stages are hit.  That's not to say whether things are going well or poorly at Imperium or any of the other companies that have had similar types of stories lately, we'll let the companies share that and let the journalists dig into that.  But readers of such stories should always remind themselves that no reporter's job is to write a "hey, a change happened, but everything's fine" story -- they're paid to discuss controversy and to be professional skeptics.  Since there will be a lot of these kinds of stories in 2008, it's just important to keep that in mind.  And with all that said, sometimes it really will be a company in trouble.  Stay tuned...

• Revisiting past predictions, here's what I wrote back in 2007:

A small prediction: The total amount of cleantech venture dollars invested will likely go down in 2007. Why? Because the significant growth in “venture dollars� invested in energy generation technologies from 2005-2006 was in many ways driven by non-traditional investments, such as fundings of solar companies intended to help build out their production lines. While some VCs may have participated in these financings, they do somewhat skew the total dollar figures, since the rounds are necessarily much larger than your traditional venture financing — we saw back in Q3 that a mere 5 deals out of 47 made up 60% of the “venture dollars� tracked in cleantech in that quarter. Such mega-financings have mostly gone into solar and biofuels. And it’s only an educated guess, but while there will be more such large fundings in solar and biofuels in 2007, it will probably be a smaller number. Note that this only refers to total dollar amounts. The number of deals done in cleantech may continue to go up, as LP interest is still strong and more and more investors are getting into the space in one way or another. Oops.  Way off on that one.  The basic assumption, that deal sizes would come down and that mega-deals would stop dominating the dollars going into the sector, was dead wrong.  But I'm sure my predictions this year will all be much more accurate...

• The Renewable Energy Business Network continues to expand, with the launching of REBN-Houston, thanks to the local efforts of Cheng Chang.  They're going to be kicking off their networking efforts with an inaugural event on January 30th, readers in the area should check it out.  And a reminder to Boston-area readers, that the next REBN-East event will be January 22nd at the Muddy at MIT, co-sponsored by the New England Clean Energy Council.

• Lithium ion battery developer Boston Power has raised a $45mm Series C, led by Oak Investment Partners, and including participation by Venrock, Granite Global Ventures, and Gabriel Venture Partners.  Xconomy had a good writeup, with a pretty insightful observation that in energy storage we're still waiting for that game-changing technology...

Other news and notes:  New Energy Finance reported that, across all geographies and investment categories, cleantech pulled in $117B in investments in 2007...  Here's a nice write-up on the recent upsurge in cleantech venture investing in the Seattle area...  2008 to be a year of a big push for more green policy shifts...  Tyler's predictions for 2008...  A highly entertaining post by Joel...  And last but certainly not least, here's a nice column by Neal on how cleantech bloggers are changing the world.

Since the beginning of 2005 there have been something close to 700 cleantech venture capital financing rounds in North America (using a broad definition of "cleantech", of course).  Even accounting for multiple rounds per startup, this still means several hundred venture-backed cleantech startups have been invested in since the uptick in VC interest in the sector, around 2004 or so. And yet there haven't been many exits (good OR bad) since this dramatic upswing started.  That means a lot of venture dollars have gone into a lot of companies, with investors still waiting for their returns.  Sure, there have been some good indications of favorable exit potential:  IPOs like Sunpower, Hoku, Metabolix, Comverge and EnerNOC, and M&A exits like Powerlight and Celunol.  But I took a quick review through a popular venture capital database, which revealed less than 20 IPO or M&A exits for U.S. cleantech venture-backed companies that had taken in their VC dollars since 2004. Furthermore, a shake-out hasn't occurred either.  That same database scan revealed only 3 bankruptcies among U.S. VC-backed cleantech startups. These numbers are probably a bit understated on both sides (there have definitely been more M&A activity and more foiled startup efforts than recorded in the database in question).  But the point still stands:  There are billions of dollars of cleantech venture capital dollars already out there, and a pretty deep inventory of existing portfolio companies being managed, while the track record for sectoral exits is only now starting to come together. 2008 will see this story start to emerge.  Particularly for some of the high-profile cleantech startups that have taken in very large amounts of venture capital investments and yet still haven't started generating revenue, the clock is ticking, and 2008 will be a "make or break" year.  We're already starting to see some of the first indications of this pressure:  Top management changes at Miasole (self-"promotion" alert: yours truly is a shareholder), Greenfuel and Imperium, as well as stories about layoffs at some of these and other cleantech startups.  Expect more of the necessary shake-out in 2008, especially in particularly heavily-invested sectors... On the other side of the coin, numerous startups that have been making progress for a while now are primed for some kind of exit.  If the economy is good, strong IPOs and acquisition binges by larger strategic buyers could mean very good things for the industry. If the economy turns south as many expect, however, we could see the exit window fail to open as hoped, and thus a raft of potentially valuable companies run through their capital and be forced to either take in dilutive new financing rounds, or shut down. This is one reason why many VCs say that capital-efficient startups with management teams focused on achieving cashflow break-even will often have a better chance at being successful investments -- even if the "swing for the fences" efforts get all the headlines.  Because it can be very difficult to plan out years ahead of when the exit windows will be open or not.  So it's best to have the company able to self-support and continue growth, until the windows open again... In any case, as previously mentioned, 2008 will probably see the beginnings of the exit cycle for this latest surge in cleantech investing -- some good stories, some not so good.  Hopefully mostly the former, but definitely more of both than we've seen to date. Deal announcements from the past week:

• See GTM's Funding Roundup for news about deals including Validus, Tesla, and Novomer.

• VWire's Jonathan Shieber wrote this week that Khosla and GreatPoint Ventures have invested an undisclosed amount of financing in Ethos, a Cambridge, MA company developing ethanol projects in Latin America.

Other news and notes:  Michael Kanellos at News.com thinks 2007 was an off year for Kleiner's "greentech" efforts, but Al may disagree...  Green bricks?  Cool...  An interesting review of the past year in green transportation tech...  Last (and least), this may give you a year-end laugh.

If you're in the Boston area, save the date of the next REBN-East happy hour, Jan. 22nd at the Muddy at MIT, co-sponsored by the Clean Energy Council... 

Also, don't forget to take the Cleantech Investing readers survey -- you only have a day or so left to put yourself in the running to win a GreenTech Media USB stick or a Powerit Solutions mug!

Finally, a very happy new year to everyone, our heartfelt thanks for continuing to visit and read this site, we hope it continues to be useful... Best wishes for a clean, green, peaceful and successful 2008!

This week has already seen several new deal announcements and other developments in energy-efficient lighting:

• Element Labs, a provider of LED-based products for entertainment, architecture and signage applications, has raised a $12.75mm Series B (note: link opens pdf), led by Expansion Capital Partners, who contributed $10mm of the round. Existing investor Sierra Ventures and lender Gold Hill also participated in the round.

• Meanwhile, Ceelite, another developer of LED solutions for signage and other "highlight" lighting applications, announced a $4mm round of financing, with half coming from the Musser Group and the other half from undisclosed investors.

• Orion Energy Systems, a manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting solutions for "high-bay" (ie: high-ceilinged) environments, had a very successful IPO today (although it's been drifting back down this afternoon), demonstrating the exit potential for energy efficient lighting (and overall energy efficiency) investments. (self-promotion alert: yours truly was involved in Expansion Capital's initial investment in Orion)

• Pretty busy week over at Expansion Capital -- they also announced this week that they and Advantage Capital Partners had co-led SensorTran's new $8mm round of financing (VWire reported that the first tranche of the Series B round was $5mm), with other existing investors WHEB Ventures and Stonehenge Capital also participating (self-promotion alert: yours truly served briefly as an observer on the SensorTran board during my time at Expansion Capital)

• The other cleantech deal announced this week was a $25mm Series C announced by Purfresh, the ozone-production device manufacturer formerly known as Novazone. Lots more details in this GTM article; the round included Chilton Investment Co., Foundation Capital, Grauer Capital, Chrysalix and one "strategic investor to be named."

Other news and notes: Here's an interesting attempt to track cleantech-related patent issuances... The new energy law is in the books, but not everyone's pleased... Nick Parker's Eight for 2008... Here's a well-done article linking climate change and water shortages... Finally, here's a sign of the times, regarding the polysilicon shortage.

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First-year MBA student readers -- here's the final notice of @Ventures' Summer Associate opportunity