May 01, 2008
Mini-Windmill Maker TechnoSpin Wind Raises $8M
TechnoSpin Wind has raised $8M from 21 Ventures. Technospin has developed rotors and gears for very small wind turbines. The primary selling point is that mini-windmills using its turbines are not limited to areas with strong winds. They also claim the devices are cheaper to produce than standard wind power devices.
TechnoSpin was founded back in 2004 and was been funded to date by its three Israeli founders, CEO Maxim Rakov, BD VP and interim CFO Natalie Barlev, and Vladimir Kotler, CTO and inventor of the company's technology.
One of the least interesting videos we have ever seen.
Are the masses ready for mini-windturbines? If the can get this things to Home Depot at $200-300 and they don't break to easily, we think these could be a winner.
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April 22, 2008
$130M Investment To Build eSolar Power Plants
We keep hearing talking heads on NPR, CNN and other MSM sites prescribe academic and government investments to seed alternative energy technologies, which they expect will be followed by late stage private sector pick-up. Clearly these folks are not following the huge numbers on the board for venture backing of alt energy startups. Today eSolar announced that it had picked up $130M from investors Idealab, Google.org, Oak Investment Partners.
eSolar plans to launch pre-fabricated solar thermal power plants, both large and utility-scale power projects. The analog here is that its cheaper to build mobile homes in South Dakota and ship them around the country then to build one of a kind homes on the spot. eSolar says it will have a fully operational power plant later this year in southern California.
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April 15, 2008
Solar Firm Mainstream Energy Gets $40M Backing From Norwegian Firm
San Louis Obispo-basd Mainstream Energy Corporation has sold a 20% stake for $40M to Oslo, Norway based Renewable Energy Corporation, which bill itself as "the world's largest producer of silicon materials for photovoltaic applications and multicrystalline wafers."
Mainstream Energy was founded in 2005 by Timothy Ball, Christine Holz and Angiolo Laviziano who are all solar vets. In short order they have been able to close some major deals including a $100M deal with Evergreen Solar and another deal with Costco. Mainstream provides ystems integration plus it has distribution subsidiaries. Mainstream has invested in AEE Solar and REC Solar.
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April 02, 2008
Alt Energy Is Hopping: Range Fuels Does $130M Round; Nanosolar Goes With $50M
Broomfield, CO-based Range Fuels needs a good amount of capital to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Georgia - $130M is a good start. The startup completed an oversubscribed Series B round at $130M. The first phase of construction for its Soperton, GA plant is expected to produce about 20M gallons of ethanol and mixed alcohols annually. It's expected to go live in 2009.
Range Fuels is focusing on using leftover wood residues from timber harvesting to make ethanol.
This round was led by Passport Capital with BlueMountain, Khosla Ventures, Leaf Clean Energy Company, Shaw Capital, and Pacific Capital Group. Previously, Range Fuels received a $76M grant from the US Department of Energy plus a $6M grant from the state of Georgia.
The company is led by former Apple Computer pitch-man Mitch Mandich.
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Palo Alto's Nanosolar which sells solar panels, has raised $50M from EDF Energies Nouvelles. The equity is part of a strategic agreement whereby Nanosolar next year will begin supplying EDF with panels.
Nanosolar had also won a grant from the US Department of Energy - $20M. Plus it had raised around $100M from Mohr, Davidow Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Mitsui, Onpoint, SAC Capital, GLG Partners, Swiss Re and Grazia Equity.
Nanosolar has developed proprietary technology that makes it possible to simply roll-print solar cells that require only 1/100th as thick an absorber as a silicon-wafer cell (yet deliver similar performance and durability). It is building a factory in the US, Germany and Wales.
View - Nanosolar site
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April 01, 2008
Brenco's Brazil Blowback Brutal For Khosla, Clinton, Case & Co.
About a year ago, power VC Vinod Khosla was kind enough to grant us an interview. Khosla had just made the news over a major investment ($200M) in Brazilian sugar cane > ethanol refinery Brenco (aka Brazil Renewable Energy Co.) One of the questions that we put to Khosla was this:
Do you any your fellow investors (Steve Case, former World Bank President James Wolfenson, "Hollywood Producer Steve Bink, etc.) in the new Brazilian ethanol refinary called Brenco have any concerns that you might suffer PR blowback from the risks of investing in Brazil? The country is known for political corruption, labor abuses, and the burning of forests to make room for cash crops."
Khosla's response was simply "We have a very professional management team." BTW, President Bill Clinton joined the party as a investor.
Unfortunately, Khosla, Clinton, Wolfenson, Bink, Case and Co. put too much faith in their very professional management team. Today the AP reports that a team from Brazil's Labor Ministry found "degrading" living conditions for 133 sugarcane workers. At five sites inspected, workers "complained they were suffering from hunger and cold, and all of the locations were overcrowded and with terrible sanitary conditions." Brenco has apologized and said it is fixing the problems.
Indeed Brenco has very seasoned management. It is run by Henri Philippe Reichstul, the former CEO of Brazil's state-run oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro. The problem is that Brazil's labor conditions, especially in the hinterlands, are generally awful. To comport with the standards that would not embarrass the likes of Clinton and Khosla, Brenco's operations would need to be a Brazilian Shangra La. The company is hiring up 3,500 workers to plant sugarcane on 86K acres in three central Brazil states. So it will require a massive upgrade to working conditions to prevent Brenco's American investors from being forced to withdraw.
Tough conditions are hard to hide.
Read - AP Story
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March 31, 2008
German Fuel Cell Maker Clean Mobile Raises €3.3M From Earlybird
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.
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March 19, 2008
Calpine Founder Readies Advanced Power Projects
Fremont-based Advanced Power Projects has raised funding from Sequoia Capital, along with Bay Partners and Redpoint Ventures. The company is led by Pete Cartwright, who is co-founder and CEO, and who had previously founded energy giant Calpine.
The big idea here is to sell power plant owners technology that gives them more power at lower cost while reducing greenhouse gases.
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March 18, 2008
RecycleBank Raises $30M
Garbage recycling doesn't seem like ground-breaking territory to us but investors seem to see green here. Philadelphia-based RecycleBank has just close a $30M series B round led by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers with return backers RRE Ventures and Sigma Partners. The company had raised a $13.1M Series A round.
The startup is applying a market-based solution to everyday garbage. The company’s mission is to promote environmentally conscious waste disposal by offering households incentives to recycle. By measuring the amount of material recycled, RecycleBank provides households financial incentives able to be used at hundreds of local and national RecycleBank rewards partners. Local government is benefited through reduced trash hauling/landfill costs, improved economic development, and success at exceeding environmental goals. Sounds wonderful but how do they make a living? Simple enough. Local corporations pay to become members.
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Put A Nail In It. Renewable Energy Group And Pogo Jet Both Withdraw IPO
The global stock markets suck so why would you chose now to IPO? Neither Renewable Energy Group nor Pogo Jet want to be heros and have filed with US regulators to withdraw a planned IPO.
Renewable Energy Group, an Ames, IA-based biodiesel startup, had previously planned to raise $150M on the NYSE. Its 1997 revs were $178M.
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Meanwhile, Pogo Jet, a startup intending to provide private jet charter service, said it has postponed its planned IPO, citing unfavorable market conditions. Led by former American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall, Pogo has been controversial for filing for an IPO when it won't launch its air service until 2009. The Chicopee, MA-based on-demand jet charter service focused on the East Coast was in registration to sell 7M common shares at $12.50 - $16.50 per share. It would have an initial market cap of about $175M, if it came in at at the high end of its range. Financing to date has come from Tiger Partners, Village Ventures, Worcester Capital Partners and Long River Capital Partners. We expect that Pogo might have to go back to these investors for some more runway.
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March 07, 2008
Climos Funded To Work Have Plankton Suck Down Green House Gas
San Francisco's Climos has raised a $3.5M Series A round of financing led by Braemar Energy Ventures alongside angel investor Elon Musk (aka Paypal, Tesla Motors-man). We wrote about the startup a year back when it was forming.
Founded in 2005, Climos is exploring a number of processes for naturally removing large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. The first technology they plan to develop - ocean iron fertilization (OEF) - which the startup claims has the highest greenhouse gas mitigation potential of all available methods.
What is OEF? The idea is to apply trace amounts of iron to the deep ocean surface in order to enhance phytoplankton growth and as a result to trap atmospheric carbon dioxide in the deep ocean. If you are not a plankton scientist, the back story is that during natural plankton blooms, it has been observed that plankton remove greenhouse gas carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as they grow. Subsequently, some of the plankton sink trapping greenhouse gas beneath the water.
It sounds like a promising project but how does such a project put money in its pockets we wonder. The company seems to be banking on carbon offset projects where companies will bankroll Climos projects to help take care of their own emissions. That economy has yet to take shape so but we would expect Climos to be able to take significant funds from large corporations while the market matures.
Climos's Chief Science Officer is Dr. Margaret Leinen, most recently Asst. Director of Geosciences at the National Science Foundation. The company's CEO Dan Whaley was Founder and CTO at GetThere which did an IPO in 1999 and was sold to the Sabre Group (NYSE: TSG) in 2000 for $750M.
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February 29, 2008
Bloo Solar Wins Grant For Solar Brush Tech
Whether you get seed funding from angels or from the government, it shouldn't matter much. Sacramento's Bloo Solar (fka Q1 NanoSystems) has just won a $100K grant from the National Science Foundation for its solar brushes. Bloo’s Solar Brush is a ultra thin film solar photovoltaic product. The product is called a brush because it uses billions of vertically grown nano cables to improve the photovoltaic process. The firm says that each vertical nano bristle increases the total PV surface area by 700x over other thin film products on the market today. The company has a royalty share licensing deal with the University of California at Davis.
Founded 3 years ago, the company is forecasting commercialization of its technology in 2010, with an an initial 25-30 megawatt fab in California. The firm is led by John Argo, who was a product manager at HP.
Read - cleantech review
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February 21, 2008
Miles Electric Vehicles Loads Up With $15M
Founded in 2004 by Miles Rubin, Miles Electric has just raised $15M led by the private equity fund Angeleno Group.
The MILES XS500 prototype sedan currently under development will top 80mph and travel over 120 miles on a single charge.
Miles boasts a client list that includes Stanford, Yale, California State Polytechnic University, Queens College, UC Irvine, UC Davis, UCLA, NASA, the US Navy, the National Park Service, and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.
Miles Exec's Make Their Pitch
Miles competes with the likes of ZAP or ‘Zero Air Pollution’ Vehicles, based in Santa Rosa, CA. Chevrolet has also launched Volt.
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Press Release Source: Miles Electric Vehicles
Angeleno Group Leads $15 Million Investment in Miles Electric Vehicles
Thursday February 21, 6:57 pm ET
SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Miles Electric Vehicles announced today a $15,000,000 investment round led by the Los Angeles based private equity fund, Angeleno Group, with participation from existing investors. Funds will be used to advance the development of the all electric MILES XS500 highway speed sedan, which is powered by an advanced technology lithium-ion powertrain, and to expand its leadership in the low speed electric vehicle market.
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“Several years ago we made a commitment to do something meaningful to reduce the effects of global warming and to lower our dependence on foreign oil,” said Miles Rubin, Chairman of Miles Electric Vehicles. “Today, we are pleased to announce this investment from Angeleno Group as part of their commitment to funding clean energy technology companies.”
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Miles Electric Vehicles was founded in 2005 by entrepreneur Miles Rubin as an all electric, zero emissions vehicle manufacturer. MILES now successfully markets a line of low speed electric cars and trucks that combine the best of United States built motor and controller technology with the most efficient Chinese manufacturing and advanced battery production.
Daniel Weiss, Managing Partner of Angeleno Group, stated, “We are excited to lead the first institutional financing of Miles Electric Vehicles. The company has entered the global electric vehicle market with an innovative, practical approach combining best of breed U.S. and Chinese automobile and battery technology. Miles Rubin, a seasoned and proven entrepreneur, is building a world class company that we are confident will play a leading role in the growing clean transportation industry.”
ABOUT MILES ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Miles Electric Vehicles is dedicated to changing the world one car at a time by building safe, comfortable and affordable all electric cars and trucks that make it easy for individuals and fleets to make a difference. All MILES vehicles conform to U.S. NHTSA standards and are manufactured with safety and ease of use as prime considerations. To date the company has built a prestigious fleet customer base that includes the City of Chicago, NASA, UCLA, Cal Sate Polytechnic University, Stanford University, the U.S. Navy, the National Park Service, and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Building on its low speed production expertise, MILES is proceeding to develop the first safe, affordable, mass produced highway speed all electric vehicle for distribution in the U.S. and EU in late 2009. To learn more about Miles Electric Vehicles visit www.milesev.com.
ABOUT ANGELENO GROUP
Angeleno Group is the leading Los Angeles based private equity firm focused on high growth investments in the energy sector. It makes investments broadly across the energy industry to support innovative, well-managed, early to expansion stage companies. Areas of particular interest include advanced generation, energy intelligence and control, clean transportation, renewables, transmission and distribution, power storage, and energy efficiency and conservation technology. To learn more about Angeleno Group visit www.angelenogroup.com.
Contact:
Miles Electric Vehicles
Kara Saltness, 310-390-4890 ext. 311
ksaltness@milesev.com
Source: Miles Electric Vehicles
Posted at 11:45 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
February 06, 2008
$50M For Utility-scale Solar System Suniva
There are any number of solar companies that want to sell to green-powered home owners and even some businesses. But utility scale solar is a different beast and we haven't seen too many startups chasing this dream.
Silicon wafer solar cell developer and manufacturer Suniva, which was spun out of the Georgia Institute of Technology's University Center for Excellence in Photovoltaics, has gone big-time with a $50M round. The 2nd round was co–led by returning investor, New Enterprise Associates, and Advanced Equities. Goldman Sachs joined the round via its subsidiary Cogentrix Energy. Also back were HIG Ventures and Quercus Investments participated as well. The funds will be used for Suniva’s new manufacturing facility outside Atlanta.
The Atlanta plant is scheduled to start production in October and would employ about 100 this year and additional 100 next year. Suniva predicts $10M in revenue this year with profitability coming next year on $100M in sales. That's ambition.
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Read - Venturebeat
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February 04, 2008
Goldman Sachs Finances Green Credits' Exchange APX
Founded well ahead of its time in 1996, APX has announced that it has both raised a round of funding from Goldman Sachs and hired a new CEO and Chairman - Brian Storms. Goldman joins previous investors, including Bechtel Enterprises Holdings, Kinetic Ventures, ONSET Ventures, Technology Partners and Woodside Fund. Storms was CEO of enviro firm of Marsh Inc.
APX serves as a banker for environmental commodities. It allows industrial companies that have been mandated by courts or legislatures to clamp down on their output of pollution to to create, track, manage, and retire renewable energy certificates, energy efficiency and conservation certificates, carbon offset credits, and greenhouse gas emission allowances.
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January 25, 2008
Marquiss Wind Power Turns First Funding
Folsom, CA's wind turbine firm Marquiss Wind Power has closed its first financing round with $1.3M.
The company manufactures roof-top wind turbines. It claims to provide a sub 5-year ROI for the owner/operator.
Velocity Venture Capital led the Series A round with Strategis Early Ventures. Founder/CEO Paul Misso doesn't have much experience in alt energy. He was Sr. Director - IT at Flextronics.
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January 11, 2008
For Lithium Ion's A123 Systems, It's Go Time
The Wall Street Journal gives some front page love to A123 Systems. The startup has raised $132M from Sequoia Capital and others and says it plans an IPO as early as this year. A123 Systems's Lithium Ion batteries have won some nice business including broad use by Black and Decker.
But the big play is with car batteries for the next generation of hybrid cars. The Journal indicates that Japanese auto makers have stumbled in their lead with hybrid cars as their specs for lithium ion batteries produced prototypes that may burst into flames.
A123 made GM's short list of potential battery vendors for its Chevy Volt hybrid car which the company plans to roll out in 3 years. The company's CEO says that A123 has the chance of a lifetime in the next few years and if it misses that its a goner.
Read - WSJ
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January 10, 2008
Ze-Gen Wants To Squeeze Gas From Your Muni Dump
Boston's Ze-gen has raised $2.5M from Pinnacle Ventures bringing its total capital raised to $8M. Ze-gen is commercializing a gasification process to convert ubiquitous waste streams into synthetic natural gas which is then used to generate electricity. The firm is banking on credits giving to cities to work on green energy to boost its fortunes. The startup was founded in 2004 and has a test facility going in New Bedford, MA.
Senator John Kerry is a backer and calls Ze-Gen "the end of landfills" and says it has an important place in the nation's energy policy.
Tour the facility in New Bedford with Ze-Gen's CEO and Senator John Kerry
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January 04, 2008
Whodunnit at Imperium Renewables?
The what-happened story of the year to date has got to be Imperium Renewables. The company axed its guiding light and CEO Martin Tobias and withdrew its IPO two weeks thereafter. It's no surprise that Imperium pulled its flotation given worsening market conditions for alternative fuel companies but why did Tobias have to go? We have been very impressed by Tobias who has moved between founder and investor. He created the game plan for Imperium, raised the funding and gave it a change for a fast IPO. But something most have gone awfully wrong. Was it a personal transgression or mismanagement? The truth usually emerges, especially when so much money is at stake so why not put your cards on the table?
Imperium filed for an IPO -- which was expected to raise $345M -- in May. The company said it would use about $220M from the stock sale to open 100M gallon refineries in Hawaii, Argentina and Philadelphia. Last year, Imperium raised $214M in equity and debt financing.
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December 20, 2007
Dutch Giant DSM Invests In Green Plastics Firm Novomer
Plastics used to package all this Christmas presents are a problem. First they are generally made from petroleum which is of course expensive and its not bio-degradable. Cornell University spin-off Novomer has come up with a means to make biodegradable plastics from carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which are bio-degradable but the challenge is how do you create plastic from these elements without requiring a lot of energy. Novomer has found a metals-based catalyst that can create plastic with low energy and costs.
In November it raised $6.6M from Physic Ventures and Flagship Ventures. Now it has announced that a third (and strategic) investor took part in that round - The Netherlands' DSM which is big enough to use Novomer's plastics technology across a range of goods.
Novomer joins other green plastics makers including Cereplast and Metabolix.
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December 12, 2007
Clean Tech's Energy and Power Solutions Jumps Out With $20M Investment Deal
Enron was a fiasco for just about everyone who touched it. But more than a few people learned a lot there about energy and energy remains a hot market. Energy and Power Solutions was founded by execs who were engineers in the renewable energy department of Enron. Its telling that none of them use the word Enron in their bios.
Costa Mesa-based Energy and Power Solutions has now raised $20M in Series A. The funding came from NGEN and Robeco Groep. The firm says that it had initially planned to raise just $6M but the marketplace for investing in alternative energy is so great it upped it by $12M.
Founded in 2004, Energy and Power Solutions has one a number of top clients including Tyco, UPS, Miller Beer, and Dean Foods. It essentially provides an alternative energy consulting practice to figure out the whole range of issues that a company has to run through to get a green stamp of approval.
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November 19, 2007
More Alt Energy Fundings: Pythagoras, M2E, XJet
Israel's Pythagoras says it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from an un-named private equity firm. The startup sounds a familiar refrain: "it has been founded to fulfill the promise of static concentration and bring CPV technology to the grid connected market. The company's core technology is based on innovative optic design that produces the same level of solar electricity and use the same form factor compared to standard solar panels, but at significantly less silicon and at dramatically lower cost."
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Meanwhile, in Waltham, MA, M2E has raised $2M . M2E Power is focused on meeting the mobile power needs of the military. The startup's mobile power equipment consists of a micro-generator combined with traditional battery storage to create a system that captures the kinetic energy of normal everyday motion (human or vehicle) to generate enough electricity to power mobile devices. In addition to military applications, the startup also plans to sell its technology to cell phone makers who will be able to turn around self-charging cell phones.
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Back in Israel, stealth mode startup XJet has raised $9M. Like Pythagoras, xJet is working on solar panel technology but it remains in stealth mode and hell it doesn't even have a web site at this point.. The firm was backed by Gemini Israel Funds, Swiss investment fund Good Energies, Taiwanese semiconductor equipment manufacturer Spirox and private investors.
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November 08, 2007
Mascoma Buys Out Celsys BioFuels
VC-backed Mascoma has acquired Indianapolis-based Celsys BioFuel for an undisclosed amount. Celsys' technology was developed by Dr. Michael Ladisch, who will be taking a leave of absence from Purdue University to join Mascoma as the company's CTO. Some of the startup's IP is owned by Purdue. Cambridge, Mass.-based Mascoma, a biotechnology startup that develops biofuels from biomass. Celsys is similar but has taken a different path in terms of the raw materials. Mascoma has raised two rounds totaling $34M from General Catalyst Partners and Atlas Venture.
On the subject CNET run an interview with VC Vinod Khosla where he mentions Macoma. Says Khosla: "If they get to $1.25 per gallon or below (cost of production), you will have essentially unlimited market available to them. Unlimited from a start-up's point of view because that's how you can compete with gasoline. So that's the key. Multiple processes will eventually get there."
Mascoma Corporation Acquires Celsys BioFuels, Inc.
Dr. Michael Ladisch joins as Chief Technology Officer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mascoma Corporation, a leader in advanced low-carbon biofuels, today announced the acquisition of Celsys BioFuels, Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Celsys BioFuels, Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, was formed in 2006 to commercialize cellulosic ethanol production technology developed in the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering at Purdue University. The Celsys technology is based on proprietary pretreatment processes for multiple biomass feedstocks, including corn fiber and distiller grains. The technology was developed by Dr. Michael Ladisch, an internationally known leader in the field of renewable fuels and cellulosic biofuels. He will be taking a two-year leave of absence from Purdue University to join Mascoma as the company’s Chief Technology Officer.
Dr. Ladisch has served as Director of the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering and Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering with a joint appointment in Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University and courtesy appointment in Food Science. He earned his BS from Drexel University and MS and PhD degrees from Purdue University, all in chemical engineering. He has a broad background in bioscience and bioengineering, and has authored numerous journal papers, as well as a textbook “Bioseparations Engineering: Principles, Practice and Economics” (Wiley, 2001). He previously chaired the National Research Council Committee on Bioprocess Engineering and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1999.
“The acquisition of Celsys BioFuels strengthens our proprietary biomass processing capabilities and our intellectual property portfolio. It also expands our ability to integrate cellulosic ethanol into existing corn ethanol production facilities by utilizing fiber and distiller grains co-products as feedstocks.” said Mascoma CEO Bruce A. Jamerson. “Dr. Ladisch is a star in his field. He will add a new technology dimension to Mascoma.”
Added Dr. Ladisch, “Mascoma has amassed a tremendous amount of research and has made considerable progress in the development of sustainable biofuels for solving the nation’s energy and environmental issues. In addition, the company possesses one of the strongest management teams in the industry. I look forward to working with my new colleagues.”
As a result of the Celsys acquisition, Mascoma will acquire the rights to technology and intellectual property licensed from Purdue University. Dr. Ladisch will continue to perform limited duties as Director of the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering and in faculty status as Distinguished Professor.
In a related appointment, Dr. Andrew Richard, Mascoma's current Chief Technology Officer, will assume the role of Managing Director, Mascoma Canada and will be responsible for pursuing cellulosic biofuels opportunities in Canada.
About Mascoma Corporation
Mascoma Corporation is a leader in advanced low-carbon biofuels based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It produces biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass using proprietary microorganisms and enzymes developed in its Lebanon, New Hampshire laboratories and with research partners throughout the world. Mascoma’s production processes have a substantially lower carbon footprint impact on the environment than those of other liquid transportation fuels. Mascoma is developing demonstration and commercial scale production facilities at several locations. For more information, visit http://www.mascoma.com.
Contacts
Press
Makovsky + Company
Priscilla Li, 212-508-9659
pli@makovsky.com
Posted at 07:29 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
November 07, 2007
Green Plastics' Novomer Raises $6.6M
Ithaca, NY-based Novomer has raised $6.6M in a first round. Physic Ventures and Flagship Ventures co-led the round.
The startup is developing biodegradable plastics, polymers and other chemicals from renewable substances like carbon dioxide. The technology was developed by a professor at Cornell University Geoffrey Coates who explains: "Unlike other biodegradable plastics coming to market that are based on edible feedstocks and complex fermentation, we are using building blocks that are readily available and highly manageable. In particular, Novomer's use of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide as inexpensive feedstocks, rather than the use of valuable food resources, sets us apart from the competition."
Read - News.com story
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November 02, 2007
Green Building Maker Serious Materials Raises $50M
It costs a lot to make and sell green building materials it seems. Serious Materials out of Sunnyvale has raised $50M in a 2nd round co-led by New Enterprise Associates and Foundation Capital with Rustic Canyon Partners.
This funding will put towards building manufacturing facilities. It hopes to run its first factory, which will be capable of churning out over 400M square feet of drywall a year, on a 100-kilowatt solar system.
The startup has several lines of green building materials including a drywall product that it says uses zero carbon emissions during the manufacturing process which it it boasts could save 25 billion pounds of CO2 per year (if current drywall standards went away completely). It also has a line of insulated windows, wood, and coatings.
The company was founded in 2002 by CEO Kevin Surace who was CEO at CommerceNet
and CEO at Perfect Commerce.
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Serious Materials Receives $50 Million in Funding to Reduce the Impact of Building Materials on Climate Change
Funding Round Led by New Enterprise Associates, Foundation Capital, Rustic Canyon
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Serious Materials today announced that it has closed $50 million in additional investment, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Foundation Capital, along with Rustic Canyon Partners. Serious Materials develops and manufactures sustainable green building materials that considerably reduce the impact of the 'built environment' on the climate.
The investment will be used to build state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities for EcoRock™, which will go into production in 2008, ThermaProof™ high-insulating windows (2008), and to expand the company’s successful Quiet® product line. EcoRock looks, feels, performs and is used the same way as standard drywall. However, it uses virtually zero energy in its core production resulting in zero CO2 emissions, giving it the lowest carbon footprint of any drywall product by an order of magnitude. Using EcoRock instead of gypsum drywall could reduce U.S. CO2 emissions by 25 billion pounds per year.
The negative consequences of climate change demand a new approach to building materials that are ultra-sustainable, cost-effective and energy-efficient throughout their lifecycle. Manufacturing common building materials including cement, steel, glass and drywall contributes more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than all the cars on U.S. roads today.
“Those who successfully re-engineer the products and processes that are the most harmful to the climate will be among the leaders of the next industrial revolution,” said Forest Baskett, General Partner at NEA. “We believe Serious Materials is well positioned to be such a leader, building on their significant and fast-growing revenue base and their extensive distribution channels.”
“EcoRock is on the right side of the energy curve and Serious Materials has laid out an ambitious vision to address an immensely important problem,” said Paul Holland, General Partner at Foundation Capital. “We believe that there is a huge opportunity to address climate change with advanced materials and have made several investments in the space. We are extremely proud of our investment in Serious and believe it will pay dividends for us and the world at large.”
“We are in a climate emergency. Global warming is one of the greatest problems facing humanity today, and we all have a responsibility to take action now to help reduce greenhouse gases and stabilize the climate,” said Kevin Surace, president and CEO of Serious Materials. “Traditional building materials were invented during a time when energy was cheap and the effect of greenhouse gases on the environment was not understood. The impact of these materials on climate change is more than we can afford as a society.”
This year Serious Materials was voted #1 at Cleantech Venture Forum XII and was named to AlwaysOn’s Going Green Top 100 and Greentech Media’s Top 10.
About NEA
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a leading venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs create and build major new enterprises that use technology to improve the way we live, work and play. With approximately $8.5 billion in committed capital, NEA’s experienced management team has invested in more than 550 companies, of which more than 160 have gone public and more than 230 have been acquired. NEA has U.S.-based offices in Baltimore, Maryland; Chevy Chase, Maryland; and Menlo Park, California. In addition, New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has an office in Bangalore, India and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing) Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China.
About Foundation Capital
Founded in 1995, Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm committed to supporting entrepreneurs and their companies, targeting innovative opportunities in cleantech, consumer Internet and infrastructure; telecommunications and networking; and enterprise software and on demand services. Foundation Capital funds total more than $1.7 billion.
About Rustic Canyon
With over $800 million under management, Rustic Canyon Partners invests in venture capital stage and middle-market companies positioned for strong growth. Typical investments include private, growth stage companies that capitalize on opportunities created by technology change, market evolution, regulatory shifts or other factors. To date, they have invested in a broad array of technology-driven and middle-market companies in sectors such as communications, software, IT infrastructure, digital media, business and information services, materials science and efficient energy.
About Serious Materials
Serious Materials develops and manufactures sustainable green building materials that considerably reduce the impact of the 'built environment' on the climate. EcoRock™, coming in 2008, is an eco-friendly drywall that uses virtually zero energy in its core production, resulting in zero CO2 emissions. This gives it the lowest carbon footprint of any drywall product by an order of magnitude, making it especially well-suited for sustainable development and LEED projects. Quiet Solution, a division of Serious Materials, makes 25 Quiet®-brand soundproofing products that enhance livability and encourage sustainable land use such as urban infill and quality of life. Serious Materials has 22 patents pending. The company’s environmentally friendly products are manufactured in multiple plants in the United States and widely available through building products dealers in the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit www.SeriousMaterials.com or www.QuietSolution.com.
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October 29, 2007
SAP's Departed Golden Boy Shai Agassi Raises $200M For Electric Car Startup
Shai Agassi startled everyone at SAP when he left the company. Only 39 years old, Agassi was expected to some day take over the helm at SAP. At his departure from SAP Agassi indicated that he would be focusing on alternative energy in Israel.
Now news is breaking that Agassi has raised $200M for his startup called Better Place. The startup has raised $100M from Israel Corp. as well as funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners, a large New York investment bank that wasn't immediately identified, and angel investors including Edgar Bronfman Sr.
Agassi plans are to shake up the business model for electric vehicles. It will sell or lease electric cars to consumers in packages with monthly service fees (Agassi uses the cell phone plan as an analogy). Better Place will also operate networks of charging locations and service stations. One of the problems with electric vehicles is that you can't make it too far from your home base before you run out of juice. Better Place stations will just replace your battery so you can get on your way. Agassi plans to pilot the project in a few countries next year and begin mass deployments in 2010.
Read - BusinessWeek
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Evergreen Solar Plans To Spin-out EverQ For IPO
Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq: ELSR) says it will spin off its EverQ unit in an IPO in late 2008 or early 2009. Marlboro, MA-based Evergreen Solar jointly owns EverQ with Norway's Renewable Energy Corp. and Germany's-Q-Cells.
EverQ makes photovoltaic panels for solar electric systems. In conjunction with the spin-ff announcement, investors say they have approved a 144M euro ($205.9M) investment in a new solar wafer, cell and module plant in Thalheim, Germany, which will increase EverQ's production capacity by 80%.
Read - Boston Biz Journal
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October 22, 2007
Battelle Ventures Backs 3 Startups In Alt Energy
Battelle Ventures has invested $8M in three energy-related companies: Aldis, Ampule and Planar. Two of the startups are spinouts of the US Department of Energy’s National Laboratories managed by Battelle Ventures’ sole limited partner, Battelle Memorial Institute.
+ Aldis plans to sell traffic management technology.
+ Ampulse plans to sell flexible thin-film photovoltaic technologies
+ Planar Energy Devices is developing thin-film batteries
Read - announcement
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Solar's HelioVolt Goes Over $100M Raised Mark
HelioVolt has raised $24M and has now raised north of $109M. The Austin, TX-based startup is making copper indium gallium selenide solar cells. It competes with some other very well funded competitors including Nanosolar, Miasole, Solopower, and Solyndra.
HelioVolt plans to build an $80M manufacturing plant and has won approval from the Austin City Council for a 10-year abatement of 60% of its property taxes.
Read - Austin Statesman
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October 18, 2007
Smart Electricity's GridPoint Raises $48M+
Even if you don't understand the electrical grid, and most people don't, you would think you could understand a bit of what an innovator in electricity does. But GridPoint is tough. Gridpoint make most sense when it says that it is adapting information technology to the grid. The challenge in understanding Gridpoint it seems is that it is trying to do so much.
Among the functions that Gridpoint provides is that it offers a consumer portal where you might learn how much juice you are using and how much that is costing you. On the electrical utility side, it also provides load balancing tools plus capabilities to manage newer solar and other alt energy tools.
Washington, DC-based GridPoint says has closed a $48.5M Series D round led by Goldman Sachs and Susquehanna Private Equity Investments. The startup has raised $88M to date.
Read - announcement
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October 11, 2007
Solar Guys Burning $ In Their Pockets
How's this for a leaping start. Solar Power Partners was launched in January 2007 with an aggressive $10M in revenues projected for the year. The firm now restates that projection at $29M and more than $100M in '08 based on a $300M pipeline. Bonanza!
The company's model is to build, own and operate solar generators on schools, hospitals, municipal buildings and retailer outlets. The firm recently signed what is potentially its largest deal with Safeway and has begun work on location in 22 stores. Think of it as a systems integrator for solar power to companies and organizations that covet that good citizen badge of being green (as well as perhaps some cost savings.)
The firm did get a slingshot start as it was spun out of Eastwod Energy, which also launched another solar startup called sunlink.
View - site
Read - North Bay Business journal
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October 09, 2007
Alt Fuel Maker LS9 Raises $15M
San Carlos-based LS9 does not impress with its branding (brain-storming over a better corporate name is advisable). But investors sure like them. Today the firm announced a $15M round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with current backers Khosla Ventures and Flagship Ventures. The company is led by Robert Walsh who was with Royal Dutch Shell for 26 years.
LS9 was founded by geneticist George Church of Harvard Medical School together with plant biologist Chris Somerville, of Stanford. They call their product "renewable petroleum." That's because its process can yield crude oil without the toxic sulfur that petroleum contains. It plans to produce genetically engineered various bacteria out of a lab to be built in California next year.
View - site
Read - SF Biz times
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October 05, 2007
SQL Server Daddy Launches Car Biz V2Green
MSFT lifer David Kaplan spent a dozen years in Redmond managing SQL server. He's now backing V2Green, which is developing software and hardware that is is selling to utilities to manage power flows to plug-in vehicles. The startup is in small ball stage, as there are few plug in cars on the road, however, Kaplan points to predictions that we can expect to see hundreds of thousands or millions of plugin electricity power cars on the road over the next decade .
Sounds great unless you are a power company that covers a plug in crazy town like Berkeley, Palo Alto or Seattle and hear a giant sucking sound of electricity being pulled to power these vehicles.
Kaplan's idea is clever. He would install software on plug in vehicles so that when it charges it takes its time. A vehicle can slurp down volts quickly but if a driver is going to bed for 8 hours the vehicle can take its time charging and spare the grid.
Thus far, Kaplan has backed V2Green out of his own wallet.
Read - Seattle PI
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October 02, 2007
Good Energies Makes Good With $55M Funding Of Alt Energy's Everpower
New York-based EverPower Renewables, which develops utility-grade wind projects, has taken a $55M investment from Good Energies, an investor in renewable energy. Everpower management says it was able to hold onto a majority position in EverPower.
EverPower is currently developing more than 1.5GW of projects in 7 states with a focus on Pennsylvania New Jersey and New York. Earlier this month, EverPower was awarded a $3M grant by the Ohio
Department of Energy for a large project that the company is developing in central Ohio.
Read - announcement
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October 01, 2007
Goldman Sachs Invests in Nordic Windpower
In August we reported that Nordic Windpower was set to announce a major investment by an investment banker. Today we learn that Goldman Sachs has taken a stake in the San Rafael, CA-based wind power energy company. Nordic WindPower says that its technology comes thanks to $75M in investment fro the government of Sweden and its turbines have been in use in Sweden for a decade. It also says it has an order for 20 turbines, which it is producing in a JV with a Chinese manufacturer.
Read - announcement
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Light>Energy's Konarka Tops Off With $45M
Lowell, MA's Konarka Technologies has raised $45M in Series F according to SEC documents. The company has now raised $105M. The filing names 28 investors including previous investors 3i Group, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Enterprise Associates, and Good Energies Investments.
The company's product is a nano-enabled polymer capable of converting light into energy. It carries a strong scientific pedigree, with one of its founders being a Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry.
Read - Mass High Tech
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September 27, 2007
Energy Crop's Ceres Raises $75M
Thousand Oaks, CA-based Ceres has raised $75M in Series F funding led by Warburg Pincus. With this round, Ceres has raised over $150M in VC funding. The company develops energy crops that can be planted as feedstocks for ethanol. Ceres has a $137M agreement with Monsanto.
Read - anouncement
Posted at 12:16 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
September 24, 2007
US DOE Awards $20M Grant To Nanosolar
NanoSolar has won a $20M grant from the US Department of Energy and says it beat competitors like SunPower, First Solar, ad General Electric. Nanosolar had raised funds from Mohr, Davidow Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Mitsui and the Google founders. The company makes printable solar panels.
View - announcement