So it seems that the big push among cleantech startups right now isn't just asking for money from the government...  It's also putting out press releases announcing that they're asking for money.  I won't name names, but I now get a few of these PRs in my in-box each day.  I can't imagine it does much good towards affecting any official grant decision-making process.  And if that startup doesn't get the requested grant, then how does it look for them?

Worse, these announcements are often covered as breaking news by the industry media.  Sign of the times, I guess.  But it's still a bit much, IMHO. 

So onto real news -- recent announced deals:

• Solar startup Tigo Energy has raised a $10mm Series B, led by Israel Cleantech Ventures, and including existing investors Matrix Partners, OVP and Clal Energy.

• Cellulose-to-sugars startup HCL CleanTech has raised a Series A (amount not disclosed) from Burrill & Co. and Khosla Ventures, alongside existing seed investors Zohar Gilon and founders.

• I believe that 2009 is going to be a big year for venture investments in carbon-market IT.  Today's exhibit A is the unstealthing of Hara, which was funded by Kleiner last year (Kanellos reported the amount at $6mm).  

Other news and notes:  Here's a good update on the tidal power market...  Smart grid to be $17B market by 2014, says one analyst...  Here's some great market data on geothermal...  It's not about cleantech per se, but to an econ dork like me it has resonance -- a good overview of the use of auctions in economic policy...  Finally, here's someone who actually made money from corn-based ethanol!  (Well, not from the ethanol itself...)

One quick note -- if you enjoy the news and notes portions of these posts, I've been putting other such things up on a twitter feed (yes, I know, I know).

 

Here are reported cleantech venture deals from the past few weeks, showing that things are still a bit slow but the money is starting to flow into a more diversified mix of sectors:

• GreenRoad, a vendor of fleet driver safety and fuel efficiency monitors, has raised $15mm in "growth funding", led by DAG Ventures and including return investors Benchmark Capital, Virgin Green Fund, Amadeus Capital Partners and Balderton Capital.

• OutSmart Power Systems, a developer of commercial building energy efficiency systems, has announced a $2mm seed round from Bainco, Clean Energy Venture Group, and Manifold Products.

• Micro fuel cell developer UltraCell announced a $3.8mm insider round, from existing funders BASF Venture Capital GmbH, OnPoint Technologies, Espirito Santo Ventures (ES Ventures) and Miami Valley Venture Fund.

• VentureWire reported on a few fundings that have been discovered through Reg D filings:  Arxx Corp. (green building materials) has raised $3mm of a targeted $4.3mm round; Infinia Corp. (solar) has raised $14.1mm of a targeted $50mm debt/rights financing;Tendril Networks (smart grid) has raised $19mm out of a targeted $30mm equity raise; and Renewable Fuel Products (biofuels) has raised $145k.

• SpectraSensors raised a $6mm round of financing from new and existing investors, including Blueprint Ventures, Nth Power, American River Ventures, Nomura Private Equity Investment, and Chevron Technology Venture Investments.

• Wind developer OwnEnergy has added to its Series A with new financing from Clearpoint Ventures and GoGreen Capital.

• Lighting ballast vendor Fulham Inc. has raised $10mm from Braemar.

• Daimler is buying a 10% stake in Tesla.  For more information, see any news website anywhere...

• Biogas plant developer agri.capital has raised a EUR60mm round of financing.  TCW Group, Inc led the round, alongside existing investors Altima Partners, Green Partners, Halcyon and Ludgate Environmental Fund. agri.capital also raised a EUR10mm mezz debt facility with Ecofin.

• Terralliance, which got in a news a fair bit last month, has raised some new funding and (probably more importantly) converted a large portion of its debt into equity.

• Solar inverter vendor Sustainable Energy Technologies has raised C$1.3mm in a PIPE (note: link opens PDF).

• Germany's P21, which is developing fuel cell for backup power systems, has raised a EUR10mm round of financing led by Yellow&Blue Investment Management, alongside existing investors Target Partners and Conduit Ventures.

• Madrone Capital Partners has led a $22.5mm round of financing into solar micro inverter company Enphase Energy.  New investor Bay Partners also joined the round, which included existing investors Third Point Ventures, RockPort Capital Partners and Applied Ventures.

• Swedish transformer company Hexaformer has raised a EUR3.3mm round of financing from Sustainable Technologies Fund and InnovationsKapital.  

• Capricorn Cleantech Fund and GIMV have put EUR1.5mm each into a first round of financing for NovoPolymers NV. 

• Deeya Energy raised a $30mm Series C led by Technology Partners, to further their flow battery development efforts.

• ZettaCore raised a $21mm Series C -- GreenLight mentioned that part of the proceeds will go toward the development of energy storage applications.

• It's not a cleantech deal, but still, I thought this report by Cooley Godward (note: opens PDF) was very much worth highlighting, since it does a great job of illustrating the dramatic downtown in venture capital valuations over the past few months, across all stages.  Entrepreneurs, take heed...

Other news and notes: If you haven't seen it already, it's well worth reading Joel Serface's piece on his year as an EIR at NREL...  Finally, while the WaPo editors are down on the Chevy Volt, this column by Michael just made me jealous!

It's always fun to see how the mainstream journalists over-react to the latest short-term numbers, and how their editors feel compelled to over-dramatize every headline.  Thus last week we saw an article in the NYT with the headline "Clean Tech's Future Dims as Financing Drops Off."  Taking the very worst of the Q1 numbers we discussed a while back, the article literally asks:  "Has the green bubble burst?"  And paints a picture of cleantech funding drying up in the aftermath of a "hype cycle" and entrepreneurs being left out to dry.

Huh?

As we've discussed, the quarterly numbers are significantly down, but at a rate pretty comparable to what happened to venture capital overall.  The whole economy came to a crashing halt, after all.  It's not easy times for entrepreneurs, but it's not like there aren't deals being done (in fact, see below).

And what bubble in the first place?  Was there a solar bubble?  Most probably -- as we've talked about here for a while now, the solar sector got frothy in 2007-2008, as the quotes in the article reflect.  Was there a corn-based ethanol bubble?  Definitely.

But to simply declare that there was a "green bubble", as if solar and biofuels made up the entirety of the investment opportunities in the sector?  I don't know any investors arguing that sectors like water, energy efficiency, agriculture, etc. are over-capitalized.  At least not yet (stay tuned). And smart investors have always had a broad view of what "cleantech" (or whatever phrase they prefer) means.  So a bit of unnecessarily breathless reporting.

But what else would we expect from an industry with such a dim future as print newspapers?

So let's take the opportunity to mention all the deals from the past few weeks:

• Extremely pleased to report that Powerit Solutions, a Seattle-based vendor of automated smart grid solutions, has raised a $6mm round of financing led by Siemens Venture Capital, and including new investor ArcelorMittal's Clean Technology Fund, alongside existing investors @Ventures and Expansion Capital Partners.

• Superconductor vendor Zenergy Power announced a GBP 9.5mm PIPE (note: link opens pdf) from new and existing investors.

• Altira led with $10mm of a $30mm round for EPS Corp., an ESCO / energy intelligence services provider.  Existing investors NGEN and Robeco also participated.

• China's Chint Solar has raised $50mm from investors including Cybernaut Growth Fund and Shanghai Alliance Investment.

• Nanomaterials startup SDCmaterials, with emissions control and other cleantech applications, has raised a $14mm Series B (note: pdf) led by Invus Financial Advisors and including existing investors Emerald Technology Ventures, BASF Venture Capital and individual investors.

• ImageTree Corporation has taken in an undisclosed amount of strategic investment from In-Q-Tel.

• Israel-based ETV Motors has raised a $12mm first round of financing from Quercus Trust and 21 Ventures.

• Demand response / energy efficiency service provider CPower (fka Consumer Powerline) has raised a $10.7mm Series B led by new investor Mayfield Fund, and including existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Expansion Capital Partners, Schneider Electric Ventures, New York City Investment Fund and Consensus Business Group.

• Carbon capture technology developer Powerspan announced new financing of "over $50 million" (note: pdf) from new investors George Soros, Tenaska Energy, Inc., AllianceBernstein LP, and Persimmon Tree Capital LP, and returning investors NGEN Partners LLC, The Beacon Group, The Tremont Group, RockPort Capital Partners LP, Calvert, Angeleno Group, Fluor Corporation, and FirstEnergy Corp.

• Plastics-to-crude developer Plas2Fuel raised a $4.25mm first round of financing from Chrysalix, Saffron Hill Ventures and Reference Capital Management.

• Ausra raised $25.5mm in a new "equity facility".  New investors KERN Partners, Generation Investment Management and Starfish Ventures joined existing investors including Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins.

• Green chemicals startup Glycos Biotechnologies has raised a $5mm Series A led by DFJ and DFJ Mercury.

• Luxim raised a $12mm insider Series C.

• VentureWire reported that Crystal Solar raised a $10mm Series A in July of last year, from Oceanshore Ventures LP, Scatec Adventure LS, SIIF SARL of France, and David Bostwick.

• Solar-to-hydrogen startup Sun Catalytix has raised a $700k seed financing round from Polaris.

• A123 took in an additional $69mm in a round led by GE, with $15mm.  Other investors were not disclosed.

• LED cooling company Nuventix has raised $4mm to close out an $18mm Series C originally announced in July of last year.  Braemar (at $3mm) and Uniquest ($1mm) provided the new financing.

• Smart home vendor EnergyHub announced an undisclosed amount of Series A from .406 Ventures and Physic Ventures.

 

I've been having quite a few conversations with investors at generalist VC shops lately, where they've taken pains to point out that they don't use the terms "cleantech" or "greentech". I completely understand why. As cleantech/greentech have become a major part of the ongoing political discourse, the clean and green terminology is starting to get laden with "let's save the planet" meanings.  Many VCs tend to have allergic reactions to such things.  Such returns-focused VCs (and also those who think energy independence is as important as green-ness) will want to use other terms to demonstrate that they're focused on their bottom lines, and not the triple bottom line (social, env'l, business).  They'll also want to demonstrate that they're not just being "me-too", and using different terminology helps to illustrate a different approach to the sector. What all this branding and counter-branding is really all about, of course, is that people do view the sector in very different ways.  For some, it's about renewable energy generation.  Others include energy efficiency, water, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing, etc.  I tend to fall into the camp of those who see a very broad investment thesis around looming natural resource scarcity, which then gets us into all of the above sub-categories and then some.  The problem is, "natural resource optimization" is just not very pithy. But what are we to turn to as an alternative?  "Resource tech" perhaps?  Someone smarter at branding than I am will have to come up with the next big catch-phrase. For me, it doesn't matter what we call it, as long as we're talking about productivity-maximizing strategies for addressing looming natural resource constraints in energy, water, agriculture, and other commodities.  And until someone comes up with something else that catches on, I'll continue to write the "Cleantech Investing" column on the "GreenTech Media" website. Deals from the past week (with a few firms looking pretty active):

• Zigbee equipment provider Ember has raised an $8mm insider round of financing.  Investors included Polaris Venture Partners, GrandBanks Capital, RRE Ventures, Vulcan Capital, DFJ ePlanet Ventures, New Atlantic Ventures, WestLB Mellon Asset Management, Chevron Technology Ventures and Stata Venture Partners.

• OPX Biotechnologies has raised a $17.5mm round of financing, led by Braemar and including new investor Altira and existing investors MDV and X/Seed Capital Management.  The company is pursuing applications in biofuel and green chemicals markets.

• GE and existing investors have put a $10mm round of financing into Southwest Windpower.  Participating investors include Altira, Rockport Capital Partners, NGP Energy Technology Partners, and Chevron Technology Ventures.

• Lilliputian Systems has raised a $28mm round of financing from new investors Stata Venture Partners and Altira, and existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Atlas Venture, Fairhaven Capital and Rockport Capital.

• Fisker Automotive has raised $85mm from Eco-Drive (Capital) Partners and Kleiner Perkins.  Still waiting on my first Karma testdrive...

Other news and notes:  Here's an interesting interview with CMEA's Jim Watson...  Details on Ford's relatively quiet shift toward the electric drivetrain...  Finally: Enjoy. . . .

I spent a couple of busy days in Washington, DC this week, meeting with old colleagues and making some new connections.  (And I drove all 1,000 round-trip miles instead of taking the train, how do you like me now, Xconomy!)  One thing that was impressively clear in DC is how front-and-center energy technology is among staffers on the Hill.  A lot of very important things being worked on there right now, and minds seem to be pretty focused.  Great to see.  Unfortunately, it's also clear that the entire cleantech venture and startup community is gearing up to bombard the Hill and the DOE with funding requests... Meanwhile, outside of the Beltway, it's starting to feel like maybe some cleantech VCs are starting to get back in the game.  It's just anecdotal, but I see my colleagues in the industry getting more serious about doing deals, after a hiatus of a few months. For a while there, even VCs with capital left in their funds were sitting on the sidelines.  The limited partner community just wasn't making commitments to funds.  So VCs were forced to consider that it might be a long time before they could raise additional capital.  And thus, even if they still had capital left in their existing funds, they needed to hoard their resources and a) make sure they had enough in reserve to fully back their existing investments; and b) make sure that they stretched out their remaining new deals, so doing fewer deals over the course of 2009 than they had originally anticipated. Of course, many funds are still in this situation, so it's not like dealflow is coming rushing back.  It's still a very difficult time for VCs to raise capital from limited partners, and thus it's still a very difficult time for startups to raise capital from VCs.  But I do see some faint stirrings of life out there. Naturally, however, that won't be reflected in recent deal announcements, since there's a significant lag between VC interest and then deals and then the eventual press releases...  So here are the few announced deals from the past week:

• Lightscape Materials, an LED phosphor spinout from Sarnoff Corp., has raised a $3mm Series A from Wisepower Co. LTD and Foosung HDS Co. LTD.

• Nordic Windpower has raised $3.5mm in convertible notes from new investors I2BF Venture Capital and Pulsar Energy Capital, alongside existing investors Goldman Sachs and Impax Asset Management.

• New Leaf Paper, offering "environmentally responsible papers", has taken in a $5mm round of financing led by Pacific Community Ventures.

• Cleantech investors in the news:  Redpoint Ventures has added a cleantech CTO, Dr. Nety Krishna...  and Robeco is teaming up with China's TEDA International to launch a new sustainable private equity fund.

Other news and notes:  REBN continues to grow, with another great REBN-MidAtlantic event in Philly, and a new chapter being launched in North Carolina...  If you're reading the NYT Mag article on Freeman Dyson today, here's Hansen's reply...  A good catch-up on cleantech in the Pacific Northwest...  Here's a cogent critique of efforts to focus on breakthrough R&D efforts in energytech instead of driving adoption of already-commercialized energy efficiency technologies...  You heard it here last -- Al Gore is planning a new book timed to impact the upcoming climate legislation debate in Washington...  Finally, the Conspicuous Consumption Award has to go to this vacuum, which nature must certainly abhor -- if you can afford to buy it, I'm guessing you're not using it yourself.

Happened to notice that Sunday will be the fourth anniversary of my first Cleantech Investing post.  Going back through the archives really helps bring home what a wild ride it has been over the past 48 months in this sector.  And the fun continues... Many, many thanks to those of you who have made this site such a fun and interactive experience.  Keep those comments and questions and gripes coming!  I hope I can continue to make this column a useful resource for you (and the few thousand of our closest friends who regularly stop by).  And if you are a web2.0 type, check out the Twitter feed and the Facebook page for readers, so you can network with your fellow C.I. subscribers... In this era of "capital efficiency" and "energy efficiency is the next big thing" and "smart grid", it's fun to look back at some of what I and others have said on this over the past few years.  In particular, this three part series (column one, column two, and column three) on the smart grid kind of made me both smile and cringe when I stumbled upon it today. And of course, there are deals to report:

• PE Hub yesterday reported two solar financings that sound like they're of the convertible notes + warrants variety:  Optisolar raised $30mm, and Heliovolt has raised $17.5mm of a planned $32mm round.

• Thin film developer Sencera has taken in a $15.6mm investment from Quercus Trust.

• VentureWire reported that Silver Spring Networks has added $15mm to its Series D.  The additional capital apparently came in at a 20% premium on their first close back in October.

Other news and notes:  Here's one take on the SBIR reauthorization debate...  CFR has a good overview of the clean coal debate...  Google's Dan Reicher says energy efficiency could be the next big thing...  And finally, I'll extend the same generous offer to Fisker that I made (unsuccessfully) to Tesla -- simply give me one of your cars for a two-week test drive, and I promise a GLOWING review on this website!

Even in this economy, cleantech deals keep happening.  We're way behind on mentioning them here, so here's a catch-up of sorts:

• Microbial fuel cell startup Emefcy raised a Series A round of financing.

• ChapDrive AS, a Norwegian wind turbine transmission startup, has raised an EUR 6mm round of financing.  Existing investors NorthZone Ventures, Hafslund Venture and Energy Capital Management, and new investors StatoilHydro and Innovation Norway provided the funding.

• Lithium ion battery developer Nexeon raised a GBP 10mm round of financing led by Invesco, and including return investors PUK Ventures and Imperial.

• Wind project developer Invenergy took in a $30mm convertible note from Leaf Clean Energy.

• Oasys Water took in a $10mm Series A, co-led by Flagship and ATV, and including DFJ.  The company was formed with seed investment from GreatPoint Ventures.

• Triton Format AG, a Germany-based water tech play, raised an EUR 10mm round of financing led by zouk ventures, and including Meidlinger Partners.

• VentureWire reported that Bloom Energy is raising a $150mm Series F round of financing, with an asked-for valuation of $1.45B.

• Italian fuel cell manufacturer Electro Power has raised a GBP 4.7mm round of financing led by a private investor and existing investor 360° Capital Partners.

• Intel Capital invested an undisclosed amount into Pulse Technologies FZ-LLC, a UAE-based developer of home and hotel room automation software and systems.

• Green building startup Soladigm took in $10.6 in debt and convertible notes from Khosla Ventures and Sigma, reported VentureWire.

• China-based Astronergy raised $50mm from two Chinese private equity investors.

• Smart window manufacturer SAGE Electrochromics raised a $20mm insider Series C (note: link opens pdf) led by Good Energies, and including Applied Ventures, NV Bekaert SA and Bekaert Corporation.

• Advantage Capital Partners has invested $5.85mm in Environmental Operations Inc.

• Access Venture Partners has invested an undisclosed amount of capital into LED developer TerraLux.

• VentureWire reported that Fisker Automotive has added $3mm to their $65mm Series C.  Meanwhile that money has gone right out the door as they also reported Fisker invested as part of a $4mm round into Advanced Lithium Power, Inc.

• India's Acme Group has invested $30mm into eSolar in exchange for a 5% ownership stake and exclusive rights to deploy the technology in India.

• VWire reported that Smith Electric Vehicles took in $10mm in undisclosed financing earlier this year, as part of the company's formation.

• Green data center startup SynapSense added $7mm to their 2007 Series B round, with the funds provided by Robert Bosch.

• Craton Equity Partners invested an undisclosed amount of capital in GridPoint.  And also committed $10mm to Principle Energy Limited, a sub-saharan Africa biofuels project developer.

• Shell has reinvested in Codexis -- VentureBeat reports the amount was roughly the same as their previous $30mm 2007 investment.

• NorSun raised a $72.3mm round of venture financing and a $94mm bank loan.  Good Energies led the equity round, and were joined by Scatec AS and Norsk Hydro ASA.

• Think, the electric vehicle company, went bankrupt, reports VentureWire, and now its U.S. operation has been restructured to be a 100% subsidiary of Think AS, the Norwegian parent.  As part of the restructuring, Kleiner Perkins now has a direct stake in Think AS and RockPort has increased their stake in the parent as well.  The company is reportedly seeking a $40mm new equity infusion.

Cleantech investors and other luminaries in the news:

• Last month, VentureWire reported that CalPERS is considering a $200mm commitment to Khosla's new $1B targeted expansion-stage fund.  The article also pointed out a few other firms out there raising $1B+ sized later stage funds, including Riverstone Holdings, Clean Energy Partners, and C Change Investments.

• VWire also reported that Macquarie is in the process of raising a $400mm cleantech fund-of-funds.

• Element Ventures announced the final close of their new cleantech fund at $486mm.

• Index Ventures closed on a $438.8mm new fund, with cleantech as one stated area of interest.

• Here's a good thought piece from Paul Dickerson, the previous COO of the DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program.  And here's a good example of what Paul is referring to.

• Khosla Ventures has added Pierre Lamond, formerly of Sequoia...  And Braemar has added Scott DePasquale, formerly of GE...  Also, my @Ventures colleague Matt Horton has taken on an interim role as CEO at Propel Fuels [mandatory self-promotion alert, naturally].

Other news and notes:  Here in Boston, what sounds like a terrific group has been launched -- New England Women in Energy and the Environment (NEWIEE)...  Meanwhile, on the policy front, without getting into the pros and cons of it, it's worth pointing out the cleantech implications of an emerging debate on patent reform, as illustrated by this column [3/16 update: changed link]...  Also, here's another good article looking at the implications from the mention of cap and trade in Obama's budget...  China's cleantech sector took in $1.3B in venture capital and private equity last year, 120% up from 2007, according to one survey...  Xconomy's been running through a list of cleantech companies in selected regions, such as this list of Oregon players...  Martin LaMonica searches for the Google of cleantech...  Clean Edge released their latest annual clean energy market report, and while 2008 was a record year, they suggest 2009 won't be so rosy...  In Britain, the BVCA has set up an energy, environment and technology group...  Finally, "Show of hands," everyone!