Tag Archives: vc
Aw Snap! Q2 2012 Cleantech Investment Down
Global cleantech investment dropped to $1.6 billion in the second quarter of 2012, down 14 percent from $1.9 billion in the first quarter and 25 percent down from the $2.1 billion invested in the second quarter of 2011. That’s the bad news from the Cleantech Group’s report Tuesday, which tracks a downturn in green technology [...]
SoloPower Raises $10M for Flexible CIGS
SoloPower, a manufacturer of CIGS-based flexible thin-film solar panels, raised a bit more debt and equity in its series E-3 round with an SEC filing of $10.8 million. This would appear to be an extension of the recently filed $7.1 million E-3 round in May. In other SoloPower news, the firm just added Paolo Pietrogrande [...]
Bloom Energy Raises Another $150M
Bloom Energy, Kleiner Perkins’ first cleantech investment, has raised another $150 million, according to VentureWire as reported in the WSJ. Bloom, founded eleven years ago, builds and sells fuel cells of the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) variety. The devices run on natural gas and produce electricity with less emissions than a diesel gen-set. This [...]
Solar Mosaic Raises $2.5M
Solar Mosaic has raised $2.5 million in its first round of funding for its crowdfunding website that plans to raise money for community solar projects. The Oakland, CA start-up will allow everyone to invest in community solar projects using crowdfunding – an online peer-to-peer lending system that allows individuals to invest – as little as $100 - in solar projects [...]
Nanosolar Lands $70M
Don’t count Nanosolar out of the thin film solar competition just yet. The firm just closed on another $70 million in VC funding to allow its CIGS thin-film photovoltaic factory to continue to scale and improve. A release from the company describers the round as “over-subscribed” with funding from existing investors and new investors including [...]
SolarBridge Lands $25M
As solar module prices drop, the cost and performance of the rest of the solar installation becomes even more crucial. Soft costs need to be addressed, as in the recent legislation in Vermont. Balance of system needs to play a larger and more innovative role — and the biggest piece of balance-of-system costs is the [...]
Sunrun Raises $60M
Sunrun, one of the leaders in solar leasing, has raised another $60 million in equity financing. The company has raised a total of $145 million in venture capital. Solar leasing is becoming the preferred way to install solar in the US and is seen as critical as a key market driver as government incentives dry up. Madrone [...]
SoloPower Raises $7.1M for CIGS Technology
SoloPower, a San Jose, California-based maker of CIGS-based flexible thin-film solar modules, just raised a small amount of venture funding, according to this SEC filing (and verified with one of the investors). SoloPower raised $7.1 million from existing investors which include Hudson Clean Energy Partners, Crosslink Capital, Convexa, and Firsthand. The solar startup is also [...]
What Recession? 3 Solar Companies Funded in the Past Week
Given the uneasiness investors have expressed about investing in capital intensive solar businesses since Solyndra, the recent bankruptcies, and industry woes, it’s noteworthy that three solar companies raised funds in the last week or so. California-based Solexel raised $25 million to build a pilot plant for its manufacturing process, which employs silicon gas to make solar wafers. SunPower (SPWR) is an [...]
Q1 2012 Cleantech Investment Nosedives
Global green energy investment stumbled badly in the first quarter of 2012, falling to levels not seen since the financial crisis of 2009. Looks like expiring U.S. incentives, European economic crisis, well-publicized solar bankruptcies and the threat of more high-profile green tech companies going under has taken its toll. Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported Thursday [...]
Fisker Automotive Raises $392M
Fisker Automotive, the VC-funded extended-range electric vehicle maker, has crossed the $1 billion mark in investment. The struggling plug-in hybrid automaker has raised $392 million in a financing round that’s aiming for $500 million in new investment, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s $129 million in new investment since February, [...]
Semprius Lands $7.5M for CPV
Can concentrated PV (CPV) compete against the still-plunging prices of standard photovoltaics? Semprius and its investors think so. Semprius just added another $7.5 million in venture capital to its war chest for its high-concentration PV systems. The funding came from existing investors Siemens Venture Capital, ARCH Venture Partners and Intersouth Partners. That follows a $3M [...]