The Week in Cleantech – May 6 – 12

Last week was not short on activity in venture-backed clean technology. Venture investment was led by one big deal: Bloom Energy, a maker of natural gas-powered solid oxide fuel cells for distributed commercial power generation that has hinted at a public offering later in the year, raised $130 million more in venture capital from Credit Suisse and another unidentified new investor. Existing investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates, DAG Ventures, and others.

Minnesota-based BioAmber became the first company in over a year to successfully complete an initial public offering in the biofuels / biochemicals space. The company manufactures biochemicals for agricultural applications, and specializes in bio-based succinic acid as a direct replacement for the petroleum-derived version. BioAmber sweetened the deal for investors, offering common shares along with warrants to purchase additional shares in the future at the offering price. The offering still went through at the low end of the planned range, at $10 per unit, however.

There were a couple significant acquisitions made during the week, as well, including two in the smart thermostat/home energy efficiency industry: First, smart thermostat maker Nest announced its acquisition of MyEnergy (formerly Earth Aid), an aggregator of home energy data. MyEnergy was backed by Capital-E Partners,Clean Energy Venture Group, and Point Judith Capital. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In the second deal, home security and home energy management company Alarm.com acquired EnergyHub for its thermostat and demand response management software. Terms of this deal were also not disclosed, and EnergyHub was backed by investors including .406 Ventures, Physic Ventures, and Acadia Woods Partners.

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