The Week in Cleantech – March 11 – 17
Last week was an exciting one in the world of clean technology. The long awaited initial public offering of smart grid networking company Silver Spring Networks was held on Wednesday at $17 per share, the midpoint of the planned range, generating $81 million in net proceeds. The IPO was oversubscribed, with Silver Spring issuing around 1 million more shares than it had planned. Following on the back of SolarCity’s IPO in December, Silver Spring’s successful float represented more good news for the sector, showing continuing improvement in public markets’ appetite for cleantech stocks.
Suntech Power, one of the world’s largest producers of solar panels, was acquired in a bailout scenario by its local municipal government in China. Wuxi Guolian Development Group, the state-owned holding company of China’s Wuxi province, came to the distressed solar company’s rescue after the global over-supply of silicon and panels took their toll on this manufacturing giant.
In venture capital, several companies raised rounds during the week. From the Energy Efficiency sector, Alphabet Energy raised $16 million in a Series B round from Canadian natural gas producer Encana, Claremont Creek Ventures, TPG Biotech, and the California Clean Energy Fund. Alphabet Energy is commercializing a thermoelectric waste heat recovery system originally developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
There were also several interesting partnerships formed during the week. One that stood out was the link-up between digital wireless telecommunications giant Qualcomm and electric vehicle charging startup Chargemaster. The companies have partnered on trials of Qualcomm’s ‘Halo’ wireless vehicle charging system in London.
To dynamically track dealflow like this in the clean technology space, consider subscribing to Cleantech Group’s i3 Platform today. And finally, we hope to see many of you starting this evening at Cleantech Group Forum San Francisco. And for those of you unable to make the trip to the city by the bay, we hope to see you April 16-18 at Cleantech Forum Europe in Bilbao. Register today!
