Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati has launched a web portal primarily for investors and startups that tracks grants, loan guarantees and other financing mechanisms available at the state and local level.

As an added bonus, it also includes all of the grant awards. Thus, VCs and others can track who is applying for what and what sort of ideas they are proposing. The Small Business Innovation Research Program, for instance, has a $36 million fund for Phase I grants that top out at around $100,000. Phase II and II grants will follow. Applications are due by Nov. 20. Foro Energy, meanwhile, just got a $9.1 million grant to study geothermal drilling in ultra hard rock formations.

Is the...

If you have a green building startup, here's a name you will want to remember: Pegasus Capital Advisors.

The private equity firm, which manages about $2 billion and has been around for over a decade, wants to put more money into energy and in particular into energy efficiency, i.e. light emitting diodes, green building materials, building control technologies. Like most private equity firms, a significant portion of the money will likely go into established, but listing, companies but it will also invest in new ventures through a subsidiary called Pegasus Sustainable Century.

The fund was founded by Craig Cogut, who came out of Drexel Burnham (bit of '80s trivia for you). The list of...

We reported earlier this week on the resurgence of venture capital investment in greentech. We broke it out sector-by-sector in this post. The graph above breaks it down year-by-year and looks at the recovery quarter by quarter

The chart below is another example of some of the work done in the Greentech Innovations Report – where we carefully track every VC deal in greentech as well as report on a different renewable energy topic every issue.

Investors channeled $575 million into 29 solar VC deals in the third quarter.  The investments spanned the solar sector and ranged from the fanciful (solar in space from SolarEn) to the sublime.  Notable in this data is the number of small...

Dear Rick:

Hope you're fine and watching the game from home. Remember, tomorrow is recycling and trash pick-up day. You've really been piling on the empties lately – is there a problem you want to talk about?

Sincerely,

Your Municipal Trash Collector.

Notes like that (minus that last sentence) could become more commonplace in America if City Bin International is right. The company, the U.S. subsidiary of Ireland's City Bin, specializes in back-end computer systems for garbage haulers and recyclers with a particular emphasis on customer service.

"People think what they are getting is a good as what you can get," said City Bin CEO Gene Browne, adding that residents served by City Bin...

They're back.

After a weak first quarter that had everyone grinding their teeth and a modestly improved second quarter, venture capital investment in green technologies roared back with $1.9 billion invested in 112 deals in the third quarter of 2009. That's up from $836 million in 59 deals in the first quarter of 2009 and $1.2 billion in 85 deals in the solid second quarter.

Solar power was once again the leading investment segment at more than $575 million in 29 deals followed closely by biofuels, biomass, and gasification deals at $512 million in 17 deals. As forecast by GTM Research – investment in Smart Grid, Energy Storage and Automotive is gaining momentum.

Q3 VC Investment in...

VC investment in Greentech is thriving. After a soft first quarter brought on by recession and low investor confidence, VC in Greentech has been creeping up steadily. 

Greentech VC in 2009

Q1 2009                        $836  million in 59 deals
Q2 2009                        $1.234 billion in 85 deals
Q3 2009 (to date)          $923 million in 83 deals (to date)

Q2 was 50 percent more than in the first quarter, and the third quarter should exceed the second quarter – a nice trend. That said, rising investment in greentech is not exactly an indicator of the health of the industry. We need more startup revenue, more M&A, and more IPOs – and that's starting.

Some of the biggest VC deals this...

Diapers hold a lot of things, including atmospheric carbon monoxide.

Novomer – which said yesterday it has raised $14 million in a second round – can convert carbon monoxide into acrylic acid, one of the principal ingredients in the absorbent material in diapers, according to CEO Jim Mahoney.

More importantly, the company's polymers and chemicals are becoming cost-competitive with traditional fossil-fuel-based chemicals. In some cases, Novomer's materials cost less and can provide performance advantages. A container made in part with Novomer's materials might exhibit more rigidity, thus allowing the manufacturer to reduce the total raw materials consumed in packaging. Thus, even if...