Greentech VC Investment Roundup, Thanksgiving Edition

Solar, CPV, Alta Devices, biofuels, ocean power and energy efficiency all find something to be thankful for.

Eric Wesoff November 24, 2010

Eric Wesoff

Editor-at-Large
Greentech Media

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.

Greentech venture investing is alive and active despite the naysayers who claim that the VC model is broken.

VC Deals

SolFocus, the Mountain View, CA-based concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) vendor, raised another $20 million of a potential $50 million equity round. Investors listed on the SEC document include NEA, NGEN and Apex. This brings the total VC funding for the company to more than $190 million. Read more here.

Wave energy developer Aquamarine Power raised $17.4 million in funding led by Zurich-based ABB Group with existing shareholder SSE Venture Capital, the venture arm of Scottish and Southern Energy.

UK-based solar park developer and IPP mO3 Power closed a second round of investment, including a commitment from Tom Singh and the Family Trusts.

Cambridge, MA-based startup SunBorne Energy raised $3.1 million from General Catalyst Partners et al. for solar technology focused on India according to SEC filings. The startup raised $5.1 million in funding in late 2009.

NLAB Solar of Stockholm won $2.6 million in financing from Fasadglas Bäcklin, Scandinavia's largest glass facade firm. NLAB is working on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC), also known as Grätzel cells, and if that wasn't enough of a challenge, the company is combining that technology with photonic crystals.

Wilmington, Mass.-based fuel cell startup Lilliputian Systems received an investment from Intel Capital and made a manufacturing deal with Intel for their handheld butane cartridge-powered fuel cell charger for consumer devices. The firm was spun out of MIT and has raised more than $90 million since its founding in 2002.

CoolPlanetBioFuels, a Camarillo, Calif.-based developer of a technology for converting low-grade biomass into high-grade fuel, raised $8 million in VC funding. North Bridge Venture Partners led the round with GE Energy Financial Services.

Nlyte Software closed a $12 million Round C led by NGEN Partners with Balderton Capital, Ruffer LLP and Montalcino Holdings for data center infrastructure management and energy efficiency.

Stealthy Alta Devices received an undisclosed amount of investment from GE Energy Financial Services, according to Katie Fehrenbacher's reporiting in Earth2Tech. We've covered Alta Devices stealthy activity here.