Cleantech firms snag $2 billion in funding during quarter

The numbers are in: cleantech firms continue to do just fine, thank you, in terms of finding funding sources. In fact, the amount that the deals are worth were up 43 percent in the second quarter (ended June 30) compared with a year ago, even if there were actually fewer deals transacted.

According to the preliminary data from the Cleantech Group and Deloitte, which compile the quarterly analysis of cleantech investments, there were 140 deals in the second quarter. The amount of amount invested was about the same as in the first quarter of this year. The first half, as a whole is up 65 percent versus the first half of 2009, the companies report.

Richard Youngman, head of global research at the Cleantech Group, described the following as some of the most notable factors related to last quarter's funding:

• A resurgence in solar technology, especially follow-on rounds, which suggest a maturing of the market. There was $811 million invested in the solar sector, across 26. One of the biggest deals involved Solyndra, which received $175 million after pulling a planned initial public offering, and BrightSource Energy, which raised $150 million in Series D funding.
• The return of the "mega-deal" valued over $100 million.
• An increase in corporate funding (deals driven by the VC funds of existing corporations rather than independent funds): The total here was $5.1 billion in the first of 2010, up an astonishing 325 percent from the same period in 2009. This money is coming from the likes of Intel Capital, GE Capital, Shell, Votorantim (a conglomerate from Brazil), Alstom (a power and rail infrastructure from France) and Cargill Ventures.

Youngman notes that government driven funding (in the form of grants and incentives) has been a major factor over the past two years, but he doesn't expect this funding source to be as dominant in months to come.

It's also interesting to note that many of the successful cleantech IPOs during the quarter were for Chinese companies (Chinese companies accounted for 12 of the 19 offerings tracked in the quarter), which reminds us here in the United States that other countries are working fast and furious to stake claims in the cleantech future. We need to stay on our game.

You can read a full run-down of the numbers on SmartPlanet, where the latest report has been covered in detail by my colleague Andrew Nusca.