August 04, 2008
Madrid's Solar Energy Firm SolarWatio Raises Euros225M From GE/Others
Spanish solar power project developer Fotowatio has raised $350M from GE Energy Financial Services and Grupo Corporativo Landon.
Fotowatio is developing 960 megawatts of solar projects in Spain, Italy and the US. It currently has 4 operational facilities.
GE Energy Financial Services will invest Euros150M in equity and convertible debt to acquire 32% while Grupo Corporativo Landon, a family-owned Spanish holding company, will invest Euros75M in equity to acquire 17.5% of a new holding company, Fotowatio SL. The existing Spanish investors will own the remaining 50.5%: Qualitas Venture Capital own 33.5%, and Fotowatio's management will own 17%.
At a time when wind seems to be getting a lot of attention and solar companies are facing a tough go, its nice to see SolarWatio grab some mojo.
View - site
Posted at 07:13 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
March 31, 2008
Munich's Clean Mobile Raises €3.3M
Munich's Clean Mobile builds fuel cell powered drives for small vehicles like city scooters, wheel chairs and small delivery vehicles. The company has just closed a €3.3M From Earlybird Ventures. Seed investor High Tech Gründer Fonds is also participating in the Series A round.
View - site
Posted at 07:27 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
March 05, 2008
Paris' Eco-Carbone Closes EUR2.1M For Carbon Offset
It will be interesting to see if VC-backed startups will be able to cash in on climate change mitigation. Alternative energy technology like new solar panels clearly are a winner but what about carbon offset?
Paris' Eco-Carbone has won a first round of financing at EUR 2.1M from Truffle Capital. The firm started out in 2001 as a carbon offset consulting firm and has developed a couple lines of business.
+ Eco-Carbone produces biodiesels from the inedible grains of Jatropha, a tree that grows in poor soil conditions. It has developed ten sites in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mali and Brazil.
+ It continues to consult to coal mines to help them to recoup methane emissions and turn that into energy. Mine owners, particularly in China, cash these in for carbon credits which are then sold on the international markets. Eco-Carbone says sells about 2M tons of carbon credits per year.
View - site
Posted at 03:15 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
March 04, 2008
Wave Energy's ORECon Raises $24M
Anyone with a solar cell can raise funds these days it seems and now some of that magic may be spreading to other alt energy fields. Today UK-based ORECon has raised a big $24M first round. The round was led by Advent Venture Partners with Venrock, Wellington Partners and Northzone Ventures.
ORECon plans to build a 1.5MW generator with the capacity to deliver grid compatible power ashore, based on wave energy.
Wave energy is an appropriate focus for CEO David Crisp. He took a sabbatical from 2002 – 2004 (2 years when as the skipper he circumnavigated the Atlantic Ocean. He sold his home in San Francisco, purchased a yacht in Southern France, crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean, sailed back to UK, sold his yacht, and returned to full-time work in the UK.
View - site
Posted at 06:56 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
January 09, 2008
Electric Cars Move Money
In its latest VentureCast newsletter, Library House highlighted some of last year's larger VC rounds. One of them was Think Nordic, the Norwegian electric car company, which received over €60M in two rounds of funding.
(Image source: Think)
It was not the only electric car venture to move capital last year. Just after Christmas, the news came out that Bolloré (French battery company) and Pininfarina (Italian auto design firm) are together investing €150M in a joint venture to manufacture a 100% electric car.
Pininfarina designs cars for Alfa Romeo (see the Brera above) but also for Ford (coupe shown here), and for Ferrari, among others. The plan for the JV is to use a new Lithium Metal Polymer battery developed by the Bolloré Group. We tried to get a photo of the new automobile but the press office declined, saying that it is not revealing the auto yet.
(Image source: Pininfarina)
Planned Features for French/Italian EV
- 250KM city driving range
- zero to 50 km/h in 4.9 seconds),
- acceleration sufficient to overtake other vehicles "safely"
- top speed: 130 km/h
- automatic
- standard electrical outlet for recharging
- charge time: five hours
- five-minute charge : 25 km reach
- Production capacity: 15,000 cars a year (dependent on Bollorés capacity to produce battery)
Sales are planned to begin in Europe, the United States and Japan beginning in 2010.
Think Nordic envisions full-scale production will begin in 2008, according to Library House. According to its website, the Think car will use battery tech from Tesla Motors.
View Pinninfarina
View Think Nordic
Posted at 01:28 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
January 04, 2008
Braggone Funded To Boost Efficiency in Flat Displays, Chips, and Solar Cells
Braggone, an Oulu-based company that has come up with a way to improve the way light is handled in flat panel displays, solar cells, and LEDs, among other things, has received a "multi-million dollar" amount of funding from Tekes, a state-backed organization.
The funding is meant to boost commercialization of its flat panel display and chip-targeted products, but Braggone is also promoting its coatings tech as a boon to photovoltaic manufacturers and manufacturers of bright LEDs, typically used in lighting applications e.g. automobile headlights and traffic lights.
Since the coating can be used as an alternative to chemical vapour deposition (CVD), or as an additional product improving step in fabs that already have CVD installed, the company has a good position to attract revenues sooner rather than later.
We think that the company's BizDev man, Paul Williams, has a pretty good cleantech pitch (increasingly bright LEDs are seen as a clean or green technology):
“Essentially, we are minimizing the optical loss in solar cells and modules..... We are capturing as much light as possible in the cells by taming the physics. With the new materials from Braggone not only do we have the capability to reduce the optical loss in the cell or module, but we can also improve the efficiency of electrical conversion within the cell. This has the real benefit to our technology users of driving down their production cost per Mw output.”
Braggone Receives Multi-Million Dollar Funding to Commercialize Nano-Engineered Polymer Technology for Semiconductor, Solar Panel and Flat Panel Display Manufacturing
TEKES, the Same Funding Agency That Backed Nokia, Invests in Optoelectronics Company for Materials That Can Be “Custom Tuned” for Application Needs
OULU, Finland (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) January 3, 2008 -- Braggone, the optoelectronics materials company, has received multi-million dollar funding from TEKES (The National Technology Agency of Finland) to commercialize their polymer materials for worldwide commercialization. TEKES is the same funding agency behind Nokia’s dramatic success in the cell phone market.
We've had great success working in collaboration with chemical companies and equipment manufacturers to fine-tune and optimize the physical and application specific characteristics of these polymers
Semiconductor devices and flat panel displays are primary targets
Braggone’s proprietary material technology allows for custom tuning of the inorganic-organic polymer material properties to suit specific applications. These flexible yet stable materials coat or print onto substrates at greater efficiency, lower temperatures and higher yields. The company’s current materials products are applied in digital displays used in mobile phones and televisions, advanced semiconductors, digital cameras, photovoltaic panels, LEDs and memory for PCs and MP3 devices. The TEKES funding is specifically targeted for taking the materials production and sales from the lab to commercial scales. These materials are part of an intellectual property portfolio of 17 filed patents, four of which have already been granted.
The research for the semiconductor industry has resulted in a unique set of materials that are nano-engineered siloxane compounds for silicon containing anti-reflective coatings (ARCs).
“We’ve had great success working in collaboration with chemical companies and equipment manufacturers to fine-tune and optimize the physical and application specific characteristics of these polymers,” commented Dr. Yrjö Ojasaar, Braggone CEO. “Due to that collaboration and now with the additional funding from TEKES, we are on a rapid path to commercialization, as we can deliver PV manufacturers with increased performance and reduced costs all in one turnkey solution.”
Nano-engineered materials can also revolutionize solar cell and panel manufacturing
Out of this same polymer research, Braggone recently announced a new product line that greatly increases the efficiency of solar cells and allows manufacturing facilities to cost-effectively increase their capacity. The custom designed compounds can dramatically reduce reflection from glass and silicon, and therefore, deliver substantially more light to the active regions of the solar cell, resulting in higher efficiencies. Even when compared to materials such as silicon nitride, the Braggone materials can cut reflection by half and costs associated with deposition tools by even more than half. By incorporating Braggone’s unique materials into the manufacturing process, the costs of manufacturing solar cells can be dramatically reduced. Braggone tunes the optics of the cell by spray, slit, spin, or dip coating layers of molecularly tailored material, rather than having to use expensive chemical vapor deposition (CVD) tools.
Ojasaar added: “Our technology and materials for solar cells will make the dream of sub-one euro per peak watt manufacturing costs a reality. We can replace the CVD batch process, expensive capex, and expensive operating costs by simply spraying, slit or dip coating the anti-reflective and hydrogenation coatings in a rapid and cost-effective atmospheric in-line process.”
About Braggone
With offices located in Oulu, Finland, London, UK, and Hong Kong, SAR China, Braggone is an innovative technology company focused on the manufacturing of advanced optoelectronic and information electronic materials and components. Braggone’s portfolio of materials and processes are utilized to improve performance and facilitate production for various component and system structures. Through fundamental materials development and advanced process applications, Braggone works closely with its clients to increase their products’ performance in flat panel displays, semiconductors, LEDs and solar cells. Additional information can be found at www.braggone.com.
Posted at 07:02 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
November 23, 2007
Airtricity Wind Co. Up for Sale at €2B
Irish wind energy power generating company Airtricity is in play with a €2B valuation, according to the Irish Indpendent. Currently lobbying to build a state of the art Supergrid, Airtricity has wind farms in the US and the UK/Ireland regions. (image source:airtricity.com)
Despite being a capital intensive business, the early investors in this eight year old venture stand to make stellar returns. The shareholders include private investors, a utiltiy company, and investment firm One51, as well the firm's CEO, according to a report in the Irish Independent. The article details the multiples expected.
Posted at 06:20 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
August 31, 2007
UK's SolarCentury Taps Good Energies and Zouk
The sight of silvery blue slices of photovoltaics clamped onto homes, hillsides, and office buildings has become a lot more common since your alarm:clock euro reporter moved to Europe more than a decade ago. And it is a trend that is going to continue -- at least that is the thinking behind the latest fundraising for a UK-based solar and thermal panel design and installation company Solarcentury Holdings.
It has raised £13.5M ($27M) from Good Energies and Zouk Ventures, joined by Vantania Holdings and Foursome Investments, along with existing investors VantagePoint Venture Partners and the utility Scottish and Southern Energy.
The company targets residential and commercial projects and is doing £13M in sales annually. It hopes to expand beyond its home market.
Images like these are becoming a lot more common in this part of the world.
View - SolarCentury
Read - UK Solar Firm Raises (environmental finance)
Posted at 06:07 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
July 24, 2007
Germany's Q-Cells Leads $50M Investment Into Solaria
German solar company Q-Cells has led a $50M investment in Fremont, CA-based Solaria while also committing to a long-term solar cell supply deal.
Solaria has designed a solar panel around proprietary plastic lenses that magnify the light on solar cells. As part of the deal, Q-Cells said, over the next 10 years it will give Solaria access to 1.35 gigawatts of Q-Cell's solar cells, the material in panels that converts light to electricity.
The companies said it was one of the largest solar-cell supply arrangements on record and will allow Solaria to produce 2.7 gigawatts worth of solar panels.
Read - announcement
Posted at 02:30 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
July 22, 2007
Dresden Solar Tech's Heliateck Gets Strategic Funding
Dresden, Germany's Heliatek has raised funding from Wellington along with BASF and Bosch. This is the startup's first round of funding led by an institutional VC-- the a:c euro reported its seed round last October. BASF and Bosch are each investing 1.6M Euros. The announcement was supported by the German government which says it will be investing in this sector alongside BASF and Bosch.
Heliatek is commercializing organic thin-film technology to make solar cells.
One item of note here is that the deal shows that the High-Tech Gründerfonds, despite investing at a fast clip is making some good calls, choosing ventures with solid potential.
Read - announcement
Posted at 08:32 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
July 17, 2007
Norway's Electric Car Company TH!NK GLOBAL Raises $60M
Norway's tiny car maker TH!NK GLOBAL has raised $60M in funding to support a new version of its all-electric, two-seater auto.
TH!NK GLOBAL was formerly part of the Ford Motor Company which invested $50M in R&D before punting it. TH!NK was taken over by a group of Norwegian investors in March 2006. Specifically, TH!NK GLOBAL was acquired in March 2006 by Alf Bjørseth, Reidar Langmo and Jan Otto Ringdal. The three made a fortune having founded Norway’s Renewable Energy Corporation, one of the biggest solar energy companies.
Despite the company's long, slow history now with the growing interest in low fuel use and low emissions, the company is getting its legs. TH!NK began its life in the mid 1990s, developed by a Norwegian company named PIVCO (for Personal Independent Vehicle Company). PIVCO's third-generation vehicle, launched in 1995, was named CityBee in Europe and Citi in USA. In 1996, 120 CityBees/Citi's were built, with over a third shipped to California to participate the Bay Area Rapid Transit station car program.
The latest round comes in part from new investors DFJ Element and RockPort Capital Partners and brings total external funding this year to $90M. London-based Hazel Capital and CG Holding, also new investors, joined existing institutional backers Canica, Capricorn Investment Group, and Wintergreen Advisors in the round.
The cars will come off the assembly line in December and TH!NK is offering a three-month trial period.
Read - Red Herring story
Posted at 11:34 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
July 11, 2007
Portugal's EDP Wants To Take US By Wind Storm
Energias de Portugal (EDP) is buying Horizon Wind Energy from The Goldman Sachs Group for $2.15B. Horizon develops and owns wind power generation in the US.
EDP CEO Antonio Mexia says that whereas Portugal and Europe have been innovating in wind for decades , the US has not. So it's a natural fit for a European company like his to consolidate the US market. He wants to expand Horizon's slice of the US wind market from about 9% this year to about 12% by 2010 and above 12% by 2020.
EDP wants to do an IPO with Horizon and NEO Energia, an alternative energy subsidiary in Europe, in 2008. Mexia said the company has not yet decided whether to list the shares in New York or Europe.
Additionally, EDP wants to use Horizon as a base to expand into adjacent markets like Mexico and perhaps Canada as well as into other types of alternative energy, solar in particular.
For those wondering how hard it is to raise money for alternative energy in the US, Mexia is telling you its like taking candy from a baby "Financing is not really a problem for alternative energy development in the U.S. market," Mexia said. When it was looking to buy Horizon, banks offered EDP more than twice the money it needed.
Posted at 12:24 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
May 30, 2007
Torino's Electro Power Raises €5M For Hydrogen Fuel Cell
Electro Power Systems out of a Torino, Italy has developed a clean energy solution based on fuel cell technology. It has now raised about €5M in VC funding from 360° Capital Partners. The fuel supply for the system appears to be hydrogen.
View - site
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May 22, 2007
eMap Pays £44M For GroundSure
Emap says it will acquire GroundSure, a Brighton, UK-based provider of environmental due diligence from shareholders like Metropolitan Venture Partners. The deal is valued at up to £44M, including an initial £30M cash payment plus up to £14M in earn-outs over the next two years.
View - site
Posted at 04:44 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
May 21, 2007
Vectrix: US Electric Scooter Maker With Italian Stylings To IPO On AIM
US-based electric scooter maker Vectrix said it plans to raise £37.44M through an IPO of about 259.36M shares. The company will have a market capitalization of about £135M. Trading is expected to begin on May 24.
While Vectrix was founded way back in 1996, it is only just now selling its first mass-produced vehicle, the MAXI Scooter, primarily in Italian cities, and in other European cities in Spain, the UK, Greece, France and Switzerland, as well as markets in the US and Australia.
There are some definite issues with the scooter, most notably its steep price. However, for some this is a dream vehicle, especially for greens. It has zero emissions. it is very quick. The MAXI is comparable to a 400cc scooter with the torque of a Ducati 900. Top speed comes in a 62mph. A standard three-pin plug is all that is required for a charge. And a two-hour charge will give you around 68 miles of riding. So this is a sweet ride for tooling around Milan but not the vehicle for people who want to Easy Rider it across the US.
Prior to the IPO, Vectrix raised significant funding from industrial giant Parker Hannifin. In March 2003, Parker acquired a 50% interest in Vectrix’s fuel cell hybrid patent. Other investors include Morgan Stanley and GH Venture. The company's COO is Carlo Di Biagio who was CEO and CFO of Ducati Motors.
View - site
Posted at 06:22 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
May 09, 2007
HgCapital Goes For Wind Farming
HgCapital has paid €69M to acquire a French wind farm portfolio from German power producer Enertrag. Bank of Scotland provided leveraged financing. The deal involves four wind farms located in the Picardy region of France. One is already in operation, with the other three to be built over the next year. As part of the deal, Enertrag will operate and maintain the wind farms for 20 years.
With this transaction, HgCapital will be able to produce total power output of over 100MW, which represents investment volume over €150M. HgCapital has also secured the rights to buy further renewable energy projects in Europe, which would produce over 500MW of power output.
HgCapital has also invested in other wind farms including Sorne Wind in Ireland, Tir Mostyn in North Wales and Wind Direct in Cumbria, England.
View - site
Posted at 05:59 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
March 29, 2007
Vinod Khosla Answers To Your Questions
We recently asked alarm:clock readers to mail in questions for VC titan Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, who has been busy lately making investments in alternative energy. Here some top questions with his responses.
Posted at 06:05 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
March 01, 2007
Bernoulli Inspired Water Power Startup
This week a UK alt energy startup, Hydroventuri, won a £40K cash innovation prize from oil giant Shell. We think that with the profits Shell and co. have been making it could have easily added two more zeros to that cash prize. We're sure its early stage VC-backer, Proton Capital would not have minded that either.
Be that as it may, the Imperial College spinout is currently running trials of its innovative power generation system. It works with slower moving and shallower water streams, so-called ultra low head waterways.
It claims that its lack of moving parts and Bernouill principle-inspired design is a cost-effective way to extract energy from rivers, channels and possibly tidal streams with minimal impact on the environment.
That is a combined goal that so far has been difficult to achieve.
Water powered mills before they became decorative features of countryside restaurants and theatres.
If this startup is successful in qualifying its technology, it could be a real growth story. We could see it forming joint ventures in China and Italy, for example, to develop and distribute its tech. These two countries are aggressively seeking renewable energy sources - particularly hydro power. We recently heard that the Italian market alone is looking to invest €10B to reach its renewable energy goals and hydroelectricity is on its radar (see Risk And Opportunities link below).
Read - HydroVenturi wins £40 000 award from Shell
Read - Alt Energy Risks and Opportunity (alarm:clock euro)
Posted at 06:23 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
February 23, 2007
Alt Energy's Stellar Returns - Size Matters, says Eurosif
Your a:c euro reporter has been calling out the positive returns in alt energy investing for a while now. A Eurosif study provides more fodder for that positive view and reveals some meaty figures on the European market.
The report, based on a survey of 23 funds active in the sector, says that VC-like returns are expected by those investing in the sector and in some cases are already happening. It's not about providing charitable donations.
And there are a couple of good case studies with exit multiples that show that green investing is not always about newfangled power generators or electric cars.
But pension funds and foundations are leaving the funding of green VC funds in Europe to high-networth individuals and family offices. We've posted here before that pension fund apathy and that of the well-paid folks that advise them, so-called gatekeeprs, are underfunding alt energy investment in the region and this report makes it clear.
Maybe it's a form of the short-termism that Paris-based Sofinnova's Jean Bernard Schmidt talked about recently at an institutional inestor confab (see Short-termism link below).
Other nuggets are listed below.
Last year was a boom year with €158M invested by those surveyed
The good news, about €1.58B was raised by 2006 for alt energy investing in Europe. The bad news, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the €72B raised mainly by private equity houses in the region.
Early returns are stellar --
Of the 57 portfolio companies sampled, five had completed an IPO and three had been sold to a trade buyer. This group of companies had produced an average annualised return of 476% for their investors.
> Schmack Biogas delivered its VC backer 10 times money at its IPO and they still have some share left
> SimplySwitch delivered its VC backer 22 times money.
It is not all rosy. There are companies that don't make it, as the report shows, and many that have not appreciated in value since initial investment. Not surprising since most of the VCs in the study have only been putting money into the sector for a few years. Let's hope they don't all start investing with a short-term strategy, that is, investing for the quick flip or backing only late stage deals.
One of the findings of the study is intriguing: larger funds had better IRRs (The Internal Rate of Return is a metric used by buyout and VC firms to measure returns over time and can be applied to a single investment or a fund - we are not informed which is the case for the following quote).
Funds that had attracted more than €100 million of capital earned IRRs more than ten times those of funds that were under €100 million.
Read - Short-termism damages EU economy (reuters)
View Eurosif Report (pdf)
Posted at 06:40 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
February 22, 2007
Norway's TH!NK Raises Capital For Electric Car
Norwegian electric care maker TH!NK GLOBAL got commitments for $50M in funding and accepted $25M, reports CNET. The company says that later in the spring it will try to raise an additional $50M.
Read -Cute Electric Carmaker TH!NK Raises (alarm:clock)
Posted at 05:40 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
January 31, 2007
Fuel Cellco P21 Adds Goldman Sachs
Last May we wrote that P21 GmbH was looking to raise about €10M and an announcement today says it has completed the financing round, although the amount was not disclosed. P21's Series C financing round, meant to fund its growth and international product roll-out plans, attracted new lead investor Goldman Sachs, London which joined existing investors Target Partners, Munich and Conduit Ventures Ltd., London.
Its fuel cells are targeted at the telco industry for power backup and supply.
The a:c euro notes this is the latest in a trend that sees the world largest investment banks participating in the financing of all sizes of privately owned alt energy companies. Follow the link(s) below.
Read - US Cleantech Funds Invest In Euro Alt Energy (a:c euro)
Posted at 12:08 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
January 30, 2007
US Cleantech Fund Invests in Sweden's Chemrec
Chemrec, a Swedish gasification technology startup, specialized in converting "black liquor" to energy, has raised an undisclosed amount of financing from a Vantage Point Ventures cleantech fund and from Volvo Technology Transfer, according to easier.com.
a:c euro Ed. This deal is just the latest in US investment into European alt energy companies. We've been covering the trend in recents posts listed below.
The tantalizingly named Black Liquor is a major by-product of pulp and paper mills and a highly concentrated form of biomass. It has been proven by Chemrec to be a a significant energy source, that can yield electric power, and potentially motor fuels or chemicals.
“Chemrec has shown that there is an efficient process for converting biomass into renewable fuels,” says Anders Brännström, President of Volvo Technology Transfer. “The Volvo Group has no intention of becoming a fuel supplier but wishes instead to continue to conduct engine development on a broad front. On the other hand, we do want to participate in the development of new processes for the production of alternative fuels.”
Read - Volvo investing in the development of renewable fuels (easier.com)
Read - Big Name Money For Sulfurcell and G24i (alarm:clock euro)
Read - Goldman Sachs To Invest in Solar Panel's Solel At A Valuation In Hundreds of Millions (a:c)
Read - Billions Of Reasons To Invest In Alt Energy (a:c euro)
Posted at 10:22 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
January 24, 2007
Germany's Sulfurcell and Welsch G24i Pull Big Name Money
Some big name investors are reaching across the Atlantic to invest in Euro solar cell companies. Two deals this week came across our screens.
G24i - In an upbeat report, the International Herald Tribune hails European cleantech innovation and within the report is the news nugget that G24i has raised an undisclosed amount of capital from Renewable Capital, a California-based investment firm.
G24i is based in Wales and is commercializing Grätzel (named after the Swiss professor that discovered the technology) cells. We recall that there are several other licensees of this type of photovoltaic, such as Konarka in the US/Austria and DyeSol. These are not as efficient as traditional solar cells but they can be produced more cheaply and don't rely on silicon.
Sulfurcell Solartechnik - Germany's Sulfurcell Solartechnik GmbH attracted a Credit Suisse managed fund known as Masdar Clean Tech as a new investor, along with exisitng investors Vattenfall Europe, Ventegis Capital, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft and industrialist Engelbert Giesen to its latest round for expansion of its solar module biz (it's cells are based on copper indium sulfide films, which also alleviates a reliance on silicon).
Glass Is Coated With Layers Of Light Absorbing Material Using A Simpler Manufacturing And Assembly Process
We heard about the i-bank interest a few months ago at the European Energy Venture Fair in Zurich. The investment banks, like Credit Suisse and Citibank, are interested in solar firms because they have seen how well their colleagues in corporate finance have done on IPOs in the sector.
Read - Ventegis Capital AG: Solarunternehmen Sulfurcell erhält Wachstumsfinanzierung (FAZ.NET)
Read - Europe Creates Attractive Clean Energy (IHT)
Posted at 02:32 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
November 27, 2006
The Wattson Says What's On From Do-It -Yourself Kyoto
Tech that makes consumers a lot more careful with energy is on our minds at the a:c euro this morning.
It's The Nabaztag For The Energy-Saving Set - The Wattson Monitors Household Energy Consumption
Last week the media frenzy over the mysterious death of a former Russian spy in London overshadowed the news coming out of a Russo-EU summit in Finland that the European Union failed to establish a new agreement with Russia for the supply of gas and oil - the terms of agreement for a new charter meant to replace one that will expire next year are not in place.
That failure could very well result in higher oil and gas prices for the region in the coming years. Meanwhile, the Swiss press is reporting the hottest November here in 500 years (how they get the stats for the year 1506 we don't know - but we'll let that query slide).
Rising energy costs and temperatures, means that the market is ripe for the kind of gadgetry from companies like DIY Kyoto, which sells the Wattson. The wireless sensor device displays the amount of energy used in watts or in pounds sterling (it's only available for the UK market at the moment). It also communicates the info via colour. When the sensor is blue, energy consumption is low and if it's red, it's high - so even young children can understand what's going on. PC connectivity is also supported.
It is off to a great start, but there could be a lot more products and services targeting consumers to help reduce energy consumption and to improve energy efficiency across the board.
Read - DIY Kyoto proifle (NESTA)
Read - Russia, EU Meet as Trade Talks Stall on Polish Row (Bloomberg)
Read -
Meat-Imports Ban Dampens EU-Putin Talks (AHN Finland)
Read - EU-Russia summit yields little fruit (people.com.cn)
Posted at 06:57 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
November 13, 2006
Cleantech VCs In Europe Having Trouble Closing Funds
It looks like being European is still a tough sell for VCs trying to raise new funds. Researchers at the Cleantech Venture Network (CVN) said today that over the past two years cleantech investment in Europe has exhibited a "choppy" investment trend, compared to the 9 consecutive quarters of growth in the US market.
It is something that CVN attributes to "capital constraints in Europe, where institutional (e.g. pension fund) participation in the European cleantech private equity space is less than their North American counterparts."
In other words, cleantech investors in Europe are still having a hard time closing funds and are not able to invest as steadily and quickly as they could be.
Some more data:
The year-to-date venture investment in European cleantech is at $533 million (€682 million) compared to $652 million (€835 million) at the end of Q3 2005. It is an 18% decrease year on year.
European Q3 venture capital investing in the cleantech category was $144 million (€184 million) versus the $268 million (€343 million) the previous quarter.
The energy segment led the way with $77 million (€99 million) followed by $35 million (€45 million) invested in the clean manufacturing and industrial segment and $16 million (€20 million) in clean Agriculture & Nutrition companies.
Read - European Cleantech Q3 Investment Dips (press release)
Posted at 03:38 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
EDF's Alt Energy Unit Planning IPO
It's a good time to be floating alt energy companies in Europe- check out the graphic from New Energy Finance (below) and EDF, the French utility which owns a large chunk of the "green" power company, EDF Energies Nouvelles, has noticed it too apparently.
The French press is reporting that EDF Energies Novelles will announce the details of an IPO planned for later this month that could raise up to €550M to build up the firm's wind, biofuel, hydroelectric and solar plants. The company filed its papers with the AMF, the French equivalent of the SEC, in late September.
Read . EDF Energies Nouvelles : les modalités d'IPO connues dès demain (voila.fr)
Read - Alt Energy Big Swinging (a:c euro)
Posted at 07:22 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
October 25, 2006
Study Finds VCs Are Not Really Investing In Good Industries
Swiss academic, Rolf Wüstenhagen, who we run into at venture conferences in Zurich, published in January a report entitled Do Venture Capitalists Really Invest In Good Industries?
It is a good study and has some informed analysis on the risks and rewards of alternative energy investing. At the risk of oversimplifying, here is our take on the content.
Premise: Energy sector is huge, alt energy is showing signs of hugeness and therefore VCs should be investing in it
Research Result: VCs are not investing in alt energy the way they should be.
The report came out in January and is based on a recent survey but some of the data is aging and may not reflect the current situation. We think he'd have a much better argument today. He could then use data on private equity and VC-backed exits such as Q-Cells, Conergy, and Renewable Energy Corporation.
This graphic from New Energy Finance would grab the VC's attention.
With that in mind, the results of a new survey would likely show more open-minded generalist VCs and the emergence of several new smartmoney driven cleantech funds in the works, such as zouk ventures and former 3i man, Partick Sheehan’s ETF Fund to boot.
Read - Do venture capitalists really invest in good industries? Risk-return perceptions and path dependence in the emerging European energy VC market
Posted at 06:56 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
September 22, 2006
Alt Energy's Big Exits Pumping VC-stage Valuations
At the recent European Energy Venture Fair talk on the sidelines was that the current valuation on some alternative energy startups was getting a bit pricey. We think that this slide from New Energy Finance showing the valuation at exit of such companies over the past 18 months or so explains why investors are keen to get in on venture rounds.
For example, Norway's Renewable Energy Corporation had an exit valuation of some $7.5B on an investment of $44.2M, and India's Suzlon had an IPO valuing the company at $3.3B. Its pre-IPO backers had invested $21.5M.
Recent New Energy Pe/VC-backed Exits
Image source: New Energy Finance
Another thing we notice in this slide is that 7 out of the top 10 exits in the sector dubbed “new energy” were European companies. It was part of a presentation by Michael Liebreich, of New Energy Finance, a specialized research and database publisher.
Posted at 01:18 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
September 12, 2006
Risks And Opportunities In Renewable Energy - VC Buzz
For the past few years we've covered the annual European Energy Venture Fair at the Swiss Re Global Dialogue Center in Rüschlikon and the latest installment did not disappoint. We say that for several reasons, not least of which was the food and drink - the journalist's equivalent of danger pay - for example, real coffee and espresso between sessions, not the usual battery acid that passes for coffee at the new Hyatt, the Marriott, Novotel, and Dolder where other private equity and VCs events are held here.
Also served up was some fine information on where smart investors could be putting their money to relieve some of the bottlenecks and pain points in the renewable energy sector, bulleted below.
Photovoltaics - High market demand for solar cells has led to a shortage of solar silicon worldwide, suggesting factories producing such silicon using alternative means have a golden opportunity, but also thin film, organic and dye-sensitized PPVs could make some inroads;
Wind Energy - two year waiting period to take possession of the large-sized wind turbines currently in vogue suggest room for startups or conversion of factories making smaller turbines to meet demand;
Biofuels - experienced engineering firms able to set up biofuel heat and power generation stations are overbooked;
Distributed Energy Production - computing and software solution required to manage and optimize energy production in increasingly distributed power generation networks;
Ocean Energy - possibly at an inflection point - Thomson's Paris bureau chief, Michael Strauss says it's where wind power was about five to seven years ago;
Project Finance - new financing instruments are required to build renewable energy production sites worldwide. Italy alone could use €10B worth or private investment to reach its clean energy goals, according to Roberto Longo, Director of an association of renewable energy firms in Italy and chairman of ATMOS, an Italian private equity firm.
That's the good news. The bad news is that nothing has changed in terms of risks or constraints for investing in alternative energy, namely the effect of the price of oil and the reliance on government policies and regulations, things that experienced cleantech VCs will be familiar with.
But there's a new one to add to the list now: the idea of builiding nuclear power generating stations in Europe is "back from the dead", says Thomson's Paris bureau chief, Michael Strauss, who's been covering energy markets for most of his career.
The availability of relatively cheap nuclear power could cause a problem down the road because renewables are compared to competing methods of producing power - ie. the cost of burning oil or the cost of using nuclear energy.
On a purely economic level, as long the price of oil remains high and there is not a lot of nuclear energy in the market, it makes sense in many cases to use renewables.
Failing that then demand is driven in a large part by government policies, which affect the market in the form of subsidies, grants, and regulations that promote uptake of alt energy.
Businesses in general, as well as VCs, don't like operating in markets where policy-makers and politicians are in the driver's seat. But these are the risks that go with alternative energy investing and always have done. It hasn't kept the diehard specialist cleantech investors out of the market and the large number of them on hand at the event is proof of that.
For more generalist VCs, it's a lot to take on, we hear. The market constraints described above come in addition to the usual risks that they have deal with when investing in early stage tech companies, such as founder skills, market adoption, competition from incumbents, and technical hurdles.
Nevertheless, we think that we'll see some new names from the more generalist tech funds in our future reporting on alternative energy deals, but they will probably be co-investing with the specialized venture funds.
(image source: Swiss Re Global Dialogue)
Posted at 09:20 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
September 11, 2006
Solar-Power For Trans-Atlantic Ships
We're going to the European Energy Venture Fair this morning to hear about the latest trends in venture capital investing in alternative energy and cleantech startups, so today's post fits that theme.
Martin Wüst, the founder of an Yverdon-based solar-powered boat manufacturing company, is preparing to sail his 14-meter-long catamaran powered exclusively by a large sheet of photovoltaic cells across the Atlantic "without using a drop of gasoline".
The privately financed project is called Transatlantic2. In October, the ship will begin its journey from Switzerland via the Rhine to The Netherlands and from their to Seville to begin the ocean crossing.
The solar powered catamaran sails to the West Indies and then on to ports in Florida and New York, where it is due to arrive in Spring 2007.
Wüst hopes to demonstrate that solar boats are not just for the small ferries and pleasure ships that his company makes for Switzerland's tiny lakes, but also highly suitable for ocean navigation.
Link- Transatlantic21
Link MW Line Yverdon Les Bains
Posted at 06:30 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
July 03, 2006
Norway's TH!NK With New Investor
Electric car startups in Silicon Valley have garnered some VC interest now that the price of oil has made alt energy a viable investment category again. It is also true in Europe, although it's not the brand name VCs jumping in just yet.
For example in Norway the TH!NK car company just got itself some new money and investors.
TH!NK was founded back in 1973 and had some success in the late nineties, but wobbled through the early part of this decade as it was bought and sold by several different investors, including the Ford Motor Co. over the years.
In March the firm announced that InSpire Ventures has taken a majority stake in the firm and funded a management buyout.
The company whose vehicles are targeted at mainstream drivers (as opposed to the Tesla which is a high end electric car) and now expects to launch a new model in Norway in 2007 and selected international markets in 2008. Its first model hit the road in 1999.
The investor is new to us but seems to have a good track record. InSpire was founded by Jan-Olaf Willums, an environmental technologist with VC, political, and business experience. InSpire backed a couple of successful ventures, including artificial intelligence IT company Computas, Avenir acquired by Ementor, and Solenergy, a Photovoltaic company which became part of REC, whose IPO last year was the largest ever seen on the Oslo stock exchange, according to the firm.
Read - Think is taken over by Norwegian Investor Group (press release Th!nk)
Read - Silicon Valley's Tesla vs Smart (a:c)
Posted at 12:39 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
July 02, 2006
Q-Cells Invests In Swiss Solar Startup
Solar cell manufacturer -- Q-Cells, which had one of Europe's best venture-backed IPOs last year with a current market cap of € 2.4B -- has invested €7M in Swiss startup Flexcell (formerly known as VHF Technologies) to finance the younger firm's first production line. It's a minority stake with the potential to go to 51 percent if production quotas are met.
This is a diversification move for Q-Cells whose solar cells are made from ingots of silicon, sawn finely into wafers and then cut and assembled into cells. This type of photovoltaic produces the most electricity but it relies on a steady and reasonably priced supply of so-called polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon ingots.
Flexcell's manufacturing process is different. It uses a gas form of silicon which is applied to a surface in a thin film. They are much cheaper to make and can even be applied to non-rigid surfaces (a couple of examples from Flexcell are show here), but they are less efficient and so are targeted at apps that Q-Cells is probably not yet addressing.
Flexcell was founded in 2000 at the Ecole d'Ingénieurs du Canton de Neuchâtel, in the heart of the country's watchmaking (and wine) country. Although it has been around for a while, it had yet to find either a VC or a strategic partner that could expedite the industrialization of its innovation. So this deal with Q-Cells is a good one. The German company has quite the track record in solar cell manufacturing and business development
Read - Giant Solar company Q-Cells invests in new Swiss technology (flexcell press release)
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June 28, 2006
Fuel Cell Startup Pemeas Raises Internal Round
German fuel cells startup, Pemeas, has has raised € 6M in an internal round, according to FuelCellWorks. The report says that the capital will be used to support market development in the area of portable electronics, back-up power and stationary fuel cell systems.
Pemeas says it is the only commercial supplier of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) that can be operated at temperature between 120°C and 200 °C.
The MEA is used inside polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Founded just two years ago as a spinoff of Hoechst Chemical Group, the firm has raised €26M to date.
Read -PEMEAS raises € 6 million to support continued growth in the fuel cell market (FuelCellWorks)
Posted at 03:37 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
June 12, 2006
The Case For Alternatively Fuelled Cars
Investor's Business Daily presents a gloomy picture for alternative energy vehicles. But before we start dumping alt energy investments, take a look at the share price performance of Toyota, which introduced the hybrid Prius, to GM which pulled, and then pulverized its electric car in 2002.
Source of this graphic: SAM Group, Zurich
Read: Hydrogen And Hybrid Vehicles Latest Better-Mousetrap Efforts
Read - European Car Makers Need to Get up to Speed (SAM Group)
Posted at 07:28 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
May 31, 2006
Fuel Cell Component Startup Gets Seeded
Fuel cell component company Bac2, based in Southampton, UK, has secured £0.5M seed funding to enable it to further develop its components for fuel cells, which it calls ElectroPhen.
It is also getting a government grant of £0.25M. The startup's tech offers a cheaper and easier to manufacture alternative to existing fuel cell components, it says.
The investment round was lead by London Seed Capital in conjunction with the London Business Angel Network (LBA) and the LBA EIS Tracker Fund III.
Founder and Technical Director Graham Murray Holding The ElectroPhen Product
Posted at 06:17 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
May 29, 2006
Fuel Cell Startup P21 Raising New Capital
P21 GmbH, a developer of fuel-cell based emergency power generators, is looking to raise up to €10M to finance international sales growth, according to an article in Manager Magazin.
The startup was founded in 2001 as a management buy-out from the Mannesmann/Vodafone group. It targets the telecommunications and IT sector and markets its fuel cells as uninterruptible power supplies. Backed by Target Partners, Conduit Ventures, Techfund Europe, the firm raised a €6M first round in 2004.
It was seed financed by angel investor Eberhard Faerber, who founded IXOS, a software firm that was acquired by OpenText, and tbg.
This bit of info was found in a feature story that tapped investor, founder, and LP opinons on the current state of the VC industry in Germany. If you don't read German, the verdict is that the turnaround point has been reached. Stats show that investors are putting money into startups again, and exits are improving. LPs are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for VC investment in Germany and Europe. And few VCs are excited about state-backed investment funds - with four out of five thinking that the money will be wasted backing the wrong kind of firms.
Read - Ein Breiter Strom (manager magazin)
Posted at 11:12 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
May 09, 2006
Money Flows To Solar Buildings Company
Solarcentury, British vendor of energy and heating systems based on photovoltaics has raised £5.5m in a deal led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, along with existing investors Scottish and Southern Energy PLC. The new capital is to be used for product development.
The company has a whole line of heating and energy panels that are typically installed on rooftops. They are targeted at schools, building owners, community centers and the like.
Read - Solarcentury Picks Silicon Valley's VantagePoint (press release)
Read - Scottish & Southern invests further 3.125 mln stg in micro generation (Forbes)
Posted at 03:53 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
April 27, 2006
Wave Power Startup Readies 2007 Full-Scale Demo
Scotland's AWS Ocean Energy Ltd, which makes an alternative energy generator (grid-connected) that relies on wave power, has raised £2 million in equity funding from RAB Capital, after completing a trial off the coast of Portugal.
On its website, the firm said that the new funding will enable AWS to assemble a "world-class engineering and commercial team, and to complete the design of a full-scale demonstrator to be fabricated in 2007 and commissioned in 2008." An updated version of its Mark Two design will be built which will exploit lessons learned from the "successful testing off the coast of Portugal" last year.
Read - AWS Ocean Energy Press Release (Tornado Insider)
Posted at 05:26 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
April 20, 2006
Smart Fuel Cell Taps VC On Back Of Contract Wins
Smart Fuel Cell has raised a new round of €15M, reports Tornado Insider. We note that the deal came on the back of winning several contracts for joint development in the consumer electronics sector. There was no disclosure on the names of the investors. We've been watching SFC for several years, since it launched its first prototype of a portable fuel cell targeted at constructions sites and campers (picture here).
Over that time, the management has been consistenly executiing on the business plan, which is not always the case with alt energy startups, and therefore worth noting. In prior rounds PriCap Venture Partner AG and 3i Group Ltd. were key backers since 2000.
Read - SFC Smart Fuel Cell raises €15 million for growth (tornado insider)
Read - SFC raises €15M For Growth (press release)
Posted at 02:58 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
March 26, 2006
California VCs Eye Fuel-efficient German Auto Startup
Over at Silicon Beat, there is a report on Silicon Valley VC interest in alternative energy investment. The Economist also featured a profile of a billionaire VC who has turned to alternative energy because high tech doesn't do it for him anymore. We note the trend and also want to pick up on SB's coverage of a German startup, Loremo AG.
The company has built a super-efficient "Loremo LS" coupe that costs only 11,000 Euro and features a "mind-blowing" 157MPG mileage. It was shown in Geneva earlier this month.(Silicon Beat)
The German startup is aiming to bring two versions of its lightweight and aerodynamic auto to market, one that clocks its highest speed at160 Km/h, and one that tops out at 220 Km/h, which would be good for German autobahn driving where speed limits are not assigned. Both are slated for 2009 delivery.
Loremo's engineers appears to have adapted some efficiency-enabling design tricks used by mobilephone manufacturers.
The company is based in Munich and has been in the works since the early nineties. The founders, Uli Sommer, Stefan Ruetz and Gerhard Heilmaier, brought in some investors in 2005, according to the firm's website.
We think that Loremo is on the right track, but it should also develop a model that would offer an alternative to the gas-guzzling minivan favoured by parents that insist on driving their kids to school or the ones that get "volunteered" for the tri-weekly socceer run.
For inspiration, we say take a look at the Fiat Multipla (pictured above), which might be ugly, but it is the first four meter chassis vehicle that comfortably seats six. Its short length makes it easy to park in Europe's tight spaces and it has an optional natural gas powered engine. The Multipla is a highly under-rated vehicle. Italy's Fiat is unfortunately not as good at marketing as it is at innovation and design.
Read - >Face value | A healthier addiction (Economist.com)
Read - Billionaire green entrepreneurs; the sweet Loremo & SF's cleantech competition (Silicon Beat)
Posted at 07:44 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
March 23, 2006
Paper Battery Startup Charges Up First Round
Tornado Insider is reporting that Enfucell, a Finnish developer of disposable paper batteries, raised a €600K first-round for R&D and commercialization. Further details of the funding were not disclosed. The company was founded in June 2002 and spun out of the Automation Laboratory at Helsinki University of Technology.
Enfucell hopes its batteries end up powering smart cards, micro sensors, greeting cards, and other small, low power electronics.
There is another startup with a similar product, PowerPaper, based in Israel, which not only develops similar batteries but also developed several products on top of the battery tech, such as a wrinkle reducing gadget (pictured here) which delivers electrical current along with skin rejuvenating elixers.
PowerPaper delivers the PowerCosmetics line of beauty treatments.
Read - Enfucell receives first VC financing round
Posted at 04:31 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
March 17, 2006
Alt energy a sizable market in Europe
Startups targeting alternative energy and eco-tech have a sizable market to address, one that is growing at a 5 percent rate, according to Europe's Environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas who was speaking at the European Business Summit in Brussels yesterday.
Expenditure on eco-industries – which include hybrid cars and renewable energy technologies – accounts for 200 billion euros annually, more than two per cent of the EU’s GDP. The sector has experienced annual growth of around five per cent.
Read - Energy issues dominate eco-innovation debate
Read - The future is eco-technology
Posted at 05:41 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
March 03, 2006
Industrial strength solar energy gets some Good Energies cash
One year old Concentrix Solar GmbH announced this week raising its first round of finance from Swiss investment company, Good Energies. Until now Concentrix, a spinoff of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg, Germany, has been producing only demo volumes. The new capital will enable it to start shipping its heavy duty solar cell product line in late 2006.
A Concentrix view of the power plant of the near future. It sure beats looking at oil spills on Spanish and North American beaches.
Concentrix makes concentrator photovoltaic (PV) cells that use Fresnel lenses to concentrate light onto advanced semiconductos
The startups' PV cells use so-called III-V semiconductor materials, typic