In the past week, Google announced that it will invest $75 million into a solar fund for startup Clean Power Finance, a California-based provider of integrated software solutions for the solar industry. Clean Power Finance will use the money to support solar rooftop projects by third party installers.
The complete highlights are as follows:
Venture capital and private equity investments
- California-based Siluria Technologies, a developer of methane conversion technology for creating biofuels and chemicals from methane, raised $20 million in Series B round of financing led by Wellcome Trust.
- California-based Power Assure, a developer of on-demand energy efficiency management software for data centers, raised $13.5 million from ABB Technology Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Good Energies and Point Judith Capital in Series B financing round.
- California-based Quantance, a developer of RF power management technology that significantly increases transmit signal power without sacrificing battery life of consumer electronics, raised $11 million from DoCoMo Capital, Granite Ventures, Interwest Partners and TD Fund in Series C financing round.
- California-based Smart Wire Grid, a provider of smart grid devices to control power flows on transmission lines, raised $3 million in a planned $10 million equity financing round, according to a regulatory filing.
- California-based Integrated PhotoVoltaics, a developer of solar PV systems, raised $2.9 million in a mixed equity-and-debt financing round, according to a regulatory filing. Investors listed in the filing are Alloy Ventures, I2BF Venture Capital and Peninsula Ventures.
- Arizona-based Abtech Holdings, a developer of water clean-up mechanisms and filtration technologies, a raised $1.3 million in a $2.5 million mixed equity and debt financing round, according to a regulatory filing.
Funds
- Silicon Valley growth firm Menlo Ventures closed its eleventh fund on $400 million, falling short of the $600 million to $800 million which the firm had originally targeted. Menlo Ventures has several cleantech companies in its portfolio, such as Pilant Technologies and DriveCam.
- Google announced that it will invest $75 million into a solar fund for startup Clean Power Finance, a California-based provider of integrated software solutions for the solar industry. Clean Power Finance will use the money to support solar rooftop projects by third party installers.
Mergers and acquisitions
- India-based Solar Semiconductor, a designer, developer, and manufacturer of solar PV technologies, acquired California-based NetCrystal, a developer of stretchable photovoltaic silicon for solar applications.
Other transactions and activities
- Nevada-based Blue Earth, an acquisition specialist in cleantech sectors, raised $15 million in a public equity purchase transaction, according to a regulatory filing.
Initial public offerings
- California-based Fulcrum BioEnergy, a developer of facilities for the conversion of municipal solid waste and other waste products to ethanol and other renewable transportation fuels, filed for an IPO that could raise up to $115 million.
- Oregon-based Trellis Earth, a producer of bioplastics-based products for use primarily in the food service industry, filed for an IPO on NASDAQ that could raise up to $27.6 million.