Cleantech venture investments slipped in 2011 (Ernst & Young)
A new analysis of 2011 venture capital investments by Ernst & Young suggests that the amount of capital was off 4.5 percent during 2011, compared with 2010.
The total amount raised by companies in energy efficiency, energy generation, energy storage and other aspects of the cleantech sector was $4.9 billion, the business advisory firm estimated. The total of numbers, however, was flat, which means there were some bigger deals during the past 12 months than in the previous year.
As has been suggested in other recent reports about 2011 cleantech investments (such as the one published a couple of weeks ago by Cleantech Group), the interest in energy efficiency technologies, services and approaches continues to grow. Even Ernst & Young reports that the amount of money flowing into the space during 2011 was off pretty substantially (29 percent), this segment accounted for the most deals during the last 12 months with 78 transactions in all. That compares with 71 rounds related to companies in the No. 1 cleantech sector, Energy/Electricity Generation.
Here are some other intriguing highlights:
- The biggest solar deal in the fourth quarter of 2011 was related to Stion, a San Jose, Calif., company that makes high-efficiency, thin-film solar panels. It raised $130 million.
- Financing for energy storage technology companies skyrocketed: there was $932.6 million in VC given out, which represents an increase of 253 percent over 2010. There were 28 deals, up 47 percent year-over-year.
- 69 percent of the venture money was given to companies that are already in the revenue-generating stage of their business development, up from 50 percent of the money during 2010
- There were five cleantech initial public offerings during the year: biofuels companies Solazyme, Gevo and KiOR; research and development company Intermolecular; and clean energy company Rentech
- Corporate-sponsored investments were predominantly focused on solar and wind technologies
- California companies garnered the most cleantech investments, accounting for $2.8 billion of the total raised, as tracked by Ernst & Young; Massachusetts was second with $465 million, followed by Colorado with $363.3 million