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Top 50 VC-Funded Greentech Startups

Greentech Media announces the top 50 startups in greentech

[image:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/content/images/articles/GTM50_Badge_360260.jpg]

Venture capital firms have invested almost $20 billion into hundreds of
greentech startups since 2005. All of these firms are looking to launch a
disruptive force into their target markets, scale rapidly and grow quickly.

Very few of these firms will actually make it.

We put our energy analysts, reporters and editors to the task of picking
fifty VC startups in greentech that have at least a fighting chance of
succeeding as VC-funded startups and making an impact on our
energy-intensive lives.

[image: http://www.greentechmedia.com/images/wysiwyg/News/vcgtech.jpg]

Selection criteria:

- Technological edge
- Potential to severely disrupt the market
- Great management team
- Massive market opportunity
- Substantial war chest
- Feasible exit strategy
- Sheer hype power
- Only venture-backed private firms

Methodology: We spread the names of 500 VC-funded firms on the Greentech
Media dance floor and cut the head off of a
chicken<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=julnt19Pl8E&NR=1>.
Wherever the chicken landed - that was a winner. We stopped when we ran out
of chickens.

*Solar*

Brightsource Energy<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/1.37b-in-loan-guarantees-for-brightsource-solar/>:
Big-name investors, a large war chest, a partnership with construction-giant
Bechtel, more than a gigawatt in California utility PPAs and $1.37 billion
in federal loan guarantees make this power-tower solar thermal player an
easy choice. Now the challenge is getting past further environmental
objections to its first 396-megawatt power plant.

Chromasun<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ausra-co-founder-returns-with-solar-air-conditioner-5893/>:
Air conditioning accounts for fifty percent of the demand for power during
peak periods in California, according to Peter Le Lievre, founder of
Chromasun. It's an enormous problem and market awaiting a solution.
Chromasun uses solar thermal collectors to gather solar heat to run a double
effect chiller which curbs peak power, broadens the market for solar thermal
technology and fits well within the practices of the building trades.

Enphase Energy<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/solar-inverter-2009-wrap-up/>:
This well-funded microinverter innovator has shipped more than 120,000 units
for residential and commercial deployments. The contract manufacturing
model is working and the company continues to grow. There are a number of
microinverter startups but Enphase is the only one to reach credibility and
volume shipments in a high-growth $2 billion market.

eSolar<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/china-gives-esolar-contract-for-biggest-solar-thermal-plant-ever/>:
Fifteen months ago, eSolar was on the ropes. It desperately sought funds to
build solar thermal power plants. It then switched strategies and decided to
license its technology and sell equipment, leaving the actual building of
the power plants to others. Since then, it’s signed deals that will lead to
gigawatts worth of its solar technology planted in China, India, Africa and
the Middle East. A 5 megawatt demo plant went up last year and construction
on the first 92 megawatts begins this year. The secret sauce: software that
helps improve the efficiency of the overall plant. Funding from Google,
India's Acme Group<http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s257/spacepope4u/looney_tunes_acme_company_products.jpg>,
Oak Investment Partners and NRG Energy.

Innovalight<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/innovalight-tops-up-with-18-million-for-silicon-solar-inks1/>:
The silicon nano-ink developer recently pivoted its business plan and
shifted from solar panel manufacturing to panel manufacturing along with
liscensing and joint ventures. Innovalight's inks allow silicon wafer
manufacturers to boost their cell efficiency by up to 2 percent with a low
capital outlay. This could be one of the last novel, "new" type of solar
cells to make it out for a while.

Nanosolar<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/video-nanosolar-hits-16.4-percent-efficiency-in-lab/>:
The CIGS thin film pioneer got started in 2002, making it one of the
earliest thin film companies supported by Silicon Valley. Since then,
Nanosolar has used every avenue of funding to fund their potentially
disruptive solar firm, now at about $500 million in funding to date.
Nanosolar is shipping product in the 10 to 12 percent efficiency range and
has panels in the lab topping 16 percent efficiency. Nanosolar faces the
same challenge as every other solar panel manufacturer -- keeping up with
silicon and cadmium telluride prices and efficiency.

Petra Solar<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/solar-on-the-pole-petra-solar/>:
Not so much a technology play as a channel play, Petra Solar and its more
than $50 million in VC funds is exploiting an untapped sales channel - solar
panels on utility and power poles. Petra has a large contract with Public
Service Electric & Gas, New Jersey's biggest power utility, to install solar
panels on streetlights and power poles across the distribution network.
PSE&G looks to install 200,000 panels and about 5 percent are up so far,
according to PSE&G. Potential for high growth in a new application.

SolarCity<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/u.s.-bancorp-boosts-funding-for-solarcity-projects/>:
Fast growing SolarCity has emerged as one of the largest residential solar
installers in California and has moved into other solar-friendly states.
The startup has innovated in the installation field as well as in the
financial field by offering leasing options for homes and small businesses.
U.S. Bancorp has set up a $100M fund to finance SolarCity's residential and
commercial installations. Entrepreneurs are needed in the downstream solar
business as much as in the technological side.

Solyndra<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/solyndras-ipo-registration-by-the-numbers/>:
With almost a billion dollars in venture capital and half a billion in DOE
loan guarantees, Solyndra is the clear winner in the money raising contest.
The CIGS thin film solar company's S-1 is filed and the firm has customers
and $58.8 million in revenue in the 9 months ending Sept, 30 2009. The
investors and the company claim immense savings in balance of system costs.
But skeptics abound and many believe that the company’s solar panels are
more expensive than the competition. CIGS solar cells aren’t easy to make
and Solyndra's cylindrical design adds to the complexity. The debate won’t
be answered until the customers start taking their data public.

Suniva<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/suniva-to-build-250m-solar-cell-factory-in-michigan/>:
Well-funded Suniva has made numerous technological advances to raise
crystalline silicon solar wafer efficiency and lower manufacturing cost.
Investors NEA, Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pincus have invested more than $125
million.

SunRun<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/sunrun-and-residential-solar-theres-a-ton-of-business1/>:
SunRun is a home solar service company located in San Francisco, California
that offers residential PPAs: "home solar as a monthly service." The
company has seen 8 to 10 times growth over last year. Sunrun has received
venture funding from Foundation Capital and Accel Partners, as well as a
$105 million tax equity commitment from an affiliate of U.S. Bancorp.
Residential PPAs from SunRun might be the disruptive piece that allows solar
to better penetrate the residential roof market.


*Smart Grid and EV Infrastructure*

What will the smart grid of the future look like? Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers
speaks of a utility-managed system that orchestrates smart meters, solar
panels, batteries, demand response systems and plug-in vehicle
chargers<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/integral-analytics-orchestrating-dukes-virtual-power-plant/>to
serve as "virtual power plants" scattered throughout a utility service
territory.

Arcadian Networks<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/arcadians-utility-offering-licensed-spectrum-to-own-or-rent/>:
Arcadian
Networks designs and delivers wireless communication networks to utilities
based on the private (licensed), secured 700 MHz spectrum. The 700MHz
appears to be a better choice (than 900Mhz) is rural areas, since the signal
can travel farther without relays and can penetrate physical obstacles (such
as crops and hilly terrain) that higher frequencies may struggle with. The
other major advantage of the 700MHz spectrum is that because it is licensed
there is not any interference from other sources. While 900MHz mesh
networking solutions have dominated the market due in part to their lower
costs, as interference continues to create problems for utilities, and as
“intelligent provisioning” becomes more common, expect Arcadian Networks to
compliment 900MHz networks in situations were interference is just not
acceptable.

Better Place<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/350-million-for-better-place/>:
A $350 million dollar funding round in January ranks as one of the largest
cleantech deals in history with a pre-money valuation of $900 million.
Commercial launch is targeted for 2011 for the bold electric-vehicle /
charging-station / battery-swap / electricity-selling start-up with an
inital focus on Israel and Denmark. Investors include HSBC, Morgan Stanley
Investment Management, Lazard Asset Management, VantagePoint Venture
Partners, et al. Better Place is looking to install between 15,000 and
20,000 charging stations in both Israel and Denmark in the near-term. There
is the suggestion that this firm could be a Google or Netscape-type market
disruptor. But even a dominant role as an urban vehicle, as a fleet
vehicle, as a delivery vehicle lets Better Place win big in a niche market.

CPower<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/demand-response-specialist-cpower-snags-cash-from-intel/>:
With 800 megawatts of demand response curtailment under management, CPower
is the third largest player in this emerging demand response/energy
management market. Why do we offer you #3, and not the #1 or #2? Good
question. Those competitors, EnerNOC and Comverge have already gone public,
that’s why. Like their more-public-piers, CPower is looking to quickly move
into other energy services, including reserves & frequency regulation,
renewable energy credits, and energy efficiency for consumers. Last year
the company doubled their curtailment load, became the largest aggregator on
the Texas (ERCOT) grid, and now claims to provide demand response services
to over 1,600 different retail sites. SCE, PG&E and Ontario Power Authority
are all utility clients. The company’s investors include Bessemer Ventures,
Schneider Electric Ventures and Intel Capital.

Coulomb Technologies <http://www.coulombtech.com/>: Coulomb builds a vital
piece of the EV infrastructure -- charging stations connected to the grid
with power and data. Coulomb was founded on two premises -- that every
charge station should be networked and that Coulomb needed to be a
self-sustaining business model -- they win revenue from the sale of the
charge station and from fee-based charge services. Investors include
Voyager Capital, Rho Ventures, Siemens Venutre Capital and Hartford
Ventures.

EcoLogic Analytics<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/smart-grid-2.0-the-soft-grid1/>:
EcoLogic Analytics provides meter data management (MDM) software solutions
and decision management technologies for utilities. They offer a suite of
software solutions that include gateway engines, meter data warehouse, meter
read manager, meter reading analytic, navigator graphical user interface,
automated validation engine, network performance monitor and reporting
engine, real time outage validation engine, data synchronization engine,
calculation engine and residential rate analysis API, and virtual metering
aggregation components. Their MDM solutions also integrate with other
systems, such as CIS/billing, to deliver data to business users in the
enterprise. EcoLogic Analytics was chosen as the vendor to provide MDM for
PG&E, the biggest AMI deployment in North America – a huge win for the
company. In February 2009, the company landed its second major contract with
Texas utility Oncor and will serve as the MDM provider for more than three
million electric meters in Oncor’s service territory.

eMeter<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/emeter-to-manage-meters-for-vattenfall/>:
eMeter makes software that manages the enormous volume of data coming from
smart meters, providing both MDM and AMI integration for utility information
systems. eMeter’s solutions also allow for demand response and real-time
monitoring of resource usage, yielding greater energy efficiency and more
reliable service, while minimizing the costs of AMI deployment, data
management, and operations. The company competes with AMI companies that can
provide their own software AMI and MDM software such as Itron and Sensus, as
well as other software companies such as Oracle. In early 2009, eMeter
announced a deal with CenterPoint Energy to support the Texas utility’s plan
to install two million smart meters in its territory. That follows deals
with Alliant Energy, Jacksonville Electric Authority, the Canadian province
of Ontario, and European energy comapny, Vattenfall. The company claims to
have more than 24 million meters under contract. That number gets it a spot
on the list. eMeter has transitioned from just providing MDM solutions for
utilities into consumer services, such as demand response and consumer
portals, following a strategy that seems to be working among smart grid
players: get your foot in the door with one solution, then seek to expand.

Proximetry <http://www.proximetry.com/>: Proximetry provides network and
performance management solutions for wireless networks to enable network
operators to visualize, provision, and actively manage their networks,
especially to support mission-critical communications. The company's
software solution, AirSync, enables real-time, network-wide visualization,
management, and active network control from a single system and location for
multivendor, multifrequency, multiprotocol wireless networks. This
so-called "intelligent provisioning" which provides "dynamic bandwidth"
matching network resource priorities to users and devices needs seems like a
logical extension of smart grid networking, and we expect this to be a major
new trend going forward. Proximetry is currently working San Diego Gas &
Electric, widely considered to be one of the most innovative utilities in
North America.

Silver Spring Networks<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/silver-spring-raises-100m-more-for-smart-grid-war/>:
Silver Spring Networks has been plugging away at standards-based networking
for smart meters for close to a decade -- building routers and hubs that
connect via a wireless mesh protocol. The firm has made annnouncements of
utility contracts with Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Sacramento Municipal Utility
District, AEP and Florida Power & Light and closed a $100 million
investment<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/silver-spring-raises-100m-more-for-smart-grid-war/>from
blue-chip VCs including Kleiner Perkins and Foundation Capital,
bringing its VC total to north of $250 million. This month Silver Spring
declared it's intention to go public with an IPO underwriter bake-off -- the
S-1 filing should follow soon. Revenues are estimated in the $100 million
range. Easily the leading VC-funded smart grid startup.

SmartSynch<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/a-pc-for-the-smart-grid/>:
SmartSynch's GridRouter is a modular, standards-based, upgradeable
networking device that can handle almost any communications protocol that a
utility uses. Four networking card slots allow a single box to handle
ZigBee, WiFi, WiMax or other proprietary communications standards
simultaneously. The cards can be removed so utilities can swap out and/or
upgrade their networks without replacing the basic piece of installed
equipment. It provides communication to any device on the grid over any
wireless network, according to the CEO, Stephen Johnston. Potentially, that
could eliminate some of the fear and uncertainty surrounding smart grid
deployments. The Tennessee Valley Authority selected
SmartSynch<http://www.smartsynch.com/>to serve as the communications
backbone in its renewable program.

Tendril Networks:<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ge-tendril-team-up-on-smart-home-technology/>Tendril
makes a varied suite of hardware and software solutions for
applications such as demand response, energy monitoring, energy management
and load control. It offers an energy management system for consumers (based
on the ZigBee HAN standard) and utilities, smart devices (such as smart
thermostats, smart plugs, and in-home displays,) as well as web based and
iPhone enabled displays and energy controls. The company also develops
applications for utilities such as network management, direct load control,
customer load control. The startup has deals in place with more than 30
utilities and had a large commercial rollout in 2009, along with a number of
field trials. In June 2009, the company raised a $30 million third round,
bringing its total to more than $50 million and making it one of the better
funded private companies competing in the Home Area Network space. General
Electric's Consumer and Industrial division has teamed up with Tendril to
develop algorithms and other technology that will allow utilities employing
Tendril's TREE platform to turn GE dryers, refrigerators, washing machines
and other energy-gobbling appliances off or on to curb power consumption.
The GE deal gets the company on the list. Runner-up: EcoFactor.

Trilliant<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/trilliants-emerald-isle-ambitions-4011/>:
Trilliant provides utilities with wireless equipment and management software
for smart grid communication networks. In 2009, Trilliant acquired SkyPilot
Networks, a manufacturer of long-range, high-capacity wireless mesh
networks. The acquisition allows them to offer complementary networks, both
the neighborhood network and the wide-area network. Trilliant's largest
deployment is 1.4 million device network spread over 640,000 square
kilometers at Hydro One's deployment in Ontario, Canada. The company has
been around for years so defining it as a start-up is tough, but it has been
on this tack for only the last few years.


*Green Buildings, Lighting*

Adura Technologies<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/let-there-be-lighting-controls-adura-goes-commercial/>:
Approximately 85 percent of commercial office buildings in the U.S. are
illuminated inside with fluorescent tube lights. In the vast majority of
cases, these bulbs can’t be dimmed or turned off remotely. Only around 1
percent of lights in California office buildings are networked. Adura has
created a wireless mesh system that effectively flips the lights off when
you’re not around and dims them when the sun is out. In a recent test
conducted by PG&E, Adura managed to cut the power delivered to lights by 72
percent. Next, the company plans to connect its software to other devices in
buildings. VantagePoint is a lead investor. Runner up for networking:
Lumenergi.

Bridgelux<http://blogs.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ex-seagate-ceo-bill-watkins-takes-over-at-led-maker-bridgelux/>:
Bridgelux is focused on lowering the cost of LED-based solid-state lighting
to a penny per lumen -- a disruptive price acheived through clever packaging
and innovating in the expitaxial processes of building the phosphor-coated
film. Early this year, new CEO and ex-Seagate CEO, Bill Watkins took over
the reins and announced a $50 million funding to finance a new fab, bringing
its substantial fund-raising totals to over $150 million from investors
including DCM, El Dorado Ventures, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Chrysalix
Energy and Harris & Harris Group. Our sources indicate that the firm is
generating significant revenue. The big question is whether they can outrun
the big guys like Philips and Osram.

Optimum Energy<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/optium-energy-software-for-controlling-air-conditioners-gets-4.5-million/>:
Buildings consume 40 percent of the energy in the U.S. and 76 percent of the
electricity. HVAC is the low hanging fruit of energy efficiency in
commercial buildings and where we can make an enormous impact in energy
usage. Optimum Energy develops networked building control application and
products to reduce energy consumption in commercial buildings -- reducing
energy consumption and GHGs while increasing operating efficiencies in HVAC
plants. Optimum makes software that dynamically controls the chillers – the
enormous machines that cool water for air conditioning systems in
skyscrapers. According to the company, there are more than 150,000 buildings
that can use their product and if the software was used in each one, 75
gigawatts could be taken off the grid. Adobe has installed it.

Recurve<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/why-will-wall-street-pay-you-to-renovate-your-house/>:
Formerly Sustainable Spaces. They do energy efficiency retrofits. Recurve is
assembling a dynamic software package that will allow contractors large and
small around the world cut down the time, cost and errors in conducting
retrofits. A lot of the employees come from Google—you can’t say that about
other construction companies. In fact, a number of large contractors are
testing it out now. Co-founder Matt Golden is also one of the driving forces
behind the $6 billion Cash for Caulkers program recently introduced by
Obama. Recurve’s next policy initiative: funding retrofits by getting them
classified as carbon credits.

Redwood Systems <http://www.redwoodsys.com/>: The company, which has
received money from Battery Ventures and others, will soon disclose their
technological angle, but the gist of it is this: Redwood replaces lighting
wires and regular light bulbs with Ethernet cables and LEDs. Suddently, you
have a network in your ceiling that every light, smoke detector and other
device can link into. Founders hail from Grand Junction Networks, the Fast
Ethernet pioneer turned gold mine for Cisco when acquired in 1995.

Serious Materials<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/serious-materials-latest-factory-and-chinas-strong-grid/>:
A bit heavy on hype, but Serious has the beginnnings of revenue and has just
won the Empire State Building retrofit project for their triple pane
windows. The company appears to have hit some speedbumps with its drywall
product, both financially and technologically. But high-end investors like
Foundation Capital and high-voltage staff like CEO, Kevin Surace have kept
green building materials in the news, in the public imagination and in the
tax credit checkbooks of the U.S. government. Sources indicate revenue
between $25 million and $50 million in 2009.


*Biofuels and Biochemicals*

Amyris<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/will-amyris-be-next-to-file-for-an-ipo/>:
Rumors abound that Amryis, a synthetic biology startup spun out of UC
Berkeley with more than $150 million in funding, could soon file its
S-1. Amyris develops microbes that feed on sugars and secrete custom
hydrocarbons for conversion into jet fuel, industrial chemicals or
biodiesel. Amyris claims to eventually produce biodiesel that can wholesale
for $2 a gallon. In late 2009 the firm paid $82 million to Brazil's São
Martinho Group<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/amyris-pledges-82m-to-go-commercial-in-brazil/>for
a 40-percent stake in an ethanol mill project and entered into
agreements with three other Brazilian companies to produce ethanol and
high-value chemicals.

LS9<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ls9-procter-and-gamble-ink-biochemicals-partnership-4902/>:
The company's scientists have engineered a strain of *e coli* with a genome
that can convert sugars into a fatty acid methyl ester which is chemically
equivalent to California Clean diesel. It's a completely unnatural act but
could lead to $45 a barrel
biodiesel<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/chevron-invests-in-ls9-microbe-diesel-possible-by-2011/>.
LS9 hopes to show that the process is feasible next year. Added bonus: LS9
does not have to kill its microbes to get the oil. They secrete it naturally
and then can live to feed, digest and excrete more dollops of oil. It's not
out of guilt: re-using a microbe instead of cultivating a new generation
cuts time and costs. Another added bonus: it is working with Procter and
Gamble on green chemicals and Chevron on fuel.

Sapphire Energy<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/inside-sapphires-algae-fuel-plans-646/>:
Sapphire eventually hopes to produce hydrocarbons from genetically modified
algae grown in open ponds. Conceivably, it could be the cheapest and fastest
technique for producing algae fuel. But it's also fraught with
complications. Growing algae in open ponds for fuel oil at the moment is
expensive and complex, and keeping GMO strains from being out-competed by
natural strains in the open is even more daunting. The company has raised
$100 million plus from top flight VCs, including the firm that invests on
behalf of Bill Gates. So stay tuned.

Solazyme<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/navy-orders-20000-gallons-of-algae-fuel-from-solazyme/>:
One of the oldest algae companies and the one that's also the furthest
along. Solazyme eschews growing algae in ponds or bioreactors through
photosynthesis. Instead, it puts algae in beer brewing kettles, feeds them
sugar and grows them that way. The sugar adds to the raw material costs, but
Solazyme makes up that cost because it doesn't have to extract the algae
from water, one of the most vexing problems facing algae companies. Solazyme
says it will be able to show that its processes can be exploited to produce
competitively priced fuel from algae in about two years. It has produced
thousands of gallons already and has a contract to produce 20,000 gallons of
fuel to the Navy. And it is already selling algae for revenue to the food
industry. Chevron is an investor.

Synthetic Genomics<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/exxon-ups-the-algae-ante-big-time/>:
In July of last year, Synthetic
Genomics<http://www.syntheticgenomics.com/media/press/71409.html>announced
a $300 million agreement with
Exxon <http://www.exxon.com/USA-English/gFM/home_Contact_Us/homepage.asp> to
research and develop next generation biofuels using photosynthetic algae.
Synthetic Genomics' dynamic founder, J. Craig Venter, was quoted as saying,
"I came up with a notion to trick algae into pumping more lipids out."
Venter is a man of action and vision and if anyone can make algae produce
hydrocarbons directly -- its him. In addition to the $300 million from
Exxon, Synthetic Genomics has received funding from Draper Fisher Juvetson,
Meteor Group, Biotechonomy, BP, et al.


*Batteries, Fuel Cells, Energy Storage*

Bloom Energy<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/bloom-energy-launch-at-ebay/>:
Ten years in the making -- $400 million from Kleiner Perkins for this solid
oxide fuel cell developer garnered them a stellar list of customers, a
high-powered board and a hypetastic coming-out party on 60 Minutes. Now
they have to make the economics of fuel cells work. The Bloom Energy Server
costs $700,000 now.

Deeya Energy<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/this-week-in-storage-silicon-standard-enters-market-deeya-ships-and-ge-talk/>:
A few years ago, flow batteries were barely understood exotic pieces of
equipment. Now at least five start-ups have received funding. Deeya was
first. It has created a battery in which electrolyte flows in and out of the
battery so it always stays charged. Utilities and cell phone carriers that
need remote power will be the primary customers. Last year, it started
shipping its first commercial products. The products cost around $4,000 a
kilowatt (or about half what Bloom currently sells its products for) and
hopes to bring down the price to $1,000.

EEStor<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/zenn-and-them-old-eestor-blues/>:
This ultracapacitor aspirant makes the list by virtue of the hype and
craziness that surrounds it. Kleiner Perkins was an original investor but
appears to have backed away from EEStor as corporate milestones and
technological claims became less credible. The firm is attempting to make
material advances in ceramic powders used in high energy ultracapacitors. No
revenue, no prototype, no customers but an obsessed cadre of fan-boy
supporters.

General Compression <http://www.generalcompression.com>. The cheapest form
of energy storage remains compressed air, according to EPRI. To date,
however, compressed air has relied upon finding geological formations where
you can stuff thousands of cubic meters of air. General Compression, along
with SustainX and Isentropic
Energy<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/breakthrough-in-utility-scale-energy-storage-isentropic/>,
want to change that with mechanical systems. Both General, which recently
raised $17 million, and Isentropic employ pressure and temperature
differentials to store and generate heat.
Duke<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/intel-heads-up-3.5-billion-effort-to-invest-in-america-will-it-work/>is
building a 2 megawatt trial facility for General.


*Transportation*

Coda Automotive<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/%20Link:/%20http/www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/coda-is-it-a-chinese-car-or-not/>:
Later this year, Coda will attempt to market an all-electric, mid-priced
sedan to American drivers. Car start-ups like Tesla and Fisker have
initially aimed at the top end of the market, where price and volume are
less important factors. Can Coda, and similarly situated BYD, do it? All the
auto market will watch it closely. Coda and BYD also will represent China’s
first major foray into the U.S. auto market. Coda’s car—which is based
around a Chinese gas-burning car that’s been retrofitted by U.S. engineers--
will be assembled in China and come with a battery made through a joint
venture between Coda and Lishen. A Chinese bank has agreed to lend $450
million to the battery venture. Investors include Hank “Give me $800
billion, no questions asked” Paulson. BYD counts Warren Buffet as an
investor.

Fisker Automotive<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/fisker-raises-115-million-more/>:
A luxury EV, but unlike the Tesla, the Fisker Karma is a plug-in hybrid,
combining a battery and an ICE. This firm is another Kleiner Perkins
portfolio company and uses batteries from A123. A123 was also an investor
in their most recent $115 million funding round. The car sells for $87,900
and already has more than 1,400 people on the waiting list. Hendrik Fisker
is a noted car designer who has worked with, among others, Aston Martin.

Tesla Motors<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/tesla-files-for-ipo-it-wants-100-million/>:
The little EV company that might. Teslas has shipped about 1,000 units of
their speedy Roadster model, opened up retail outlets in the U.S. and
Europe, and just filed their S-1 which showed them raising $442 million in
VC and reaching revenues of $93.3 million in the 9 months ending Sept 30,
2009. The next step is building the all-electric sedan, with far more
ambitious volume sales goals.


*Other Energy -- Wind, Nuclear, Cleaner Coal, Geothermal*

Laurus Energy<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/coal-mining-without-the-mine-5381/>:
Funded by MDV in an $8.5 million round and helmed by energy exec, Rebecca
McDonald, Laurus extracts energy from coal in the form of syngas while it is
still in the ground using UCG - underground coal gasification. Laurus then
fractionalizes the syngas: carbon dioxide is separated and sent via a pipe
to oil fields, where it is injected into other wells to help pull crude out
of the ground. The rest of the gases -- a combination of hydogen, methane
and hydrocarbons -- are then burnt in a gas-fueled power plant. Power from
coal is not going away -- any disruptive technology that lowers the carbon
footprint of coal and eliminates mountain top removal can be a new untapped
piece of the energy mix. It is currently working with a Native American
tribe in Alaska to build a UCG vein with a power plant.

Nuscale<http://www.greentechmedia.com/research-blog/post/is-there-a-role-for-venture-capital-in-nuclear-power/>:
NuScale’s modular nuclear reactor design could disruptively shift
development away from the “cathedral model” of large-scale, over-budget,
ten-year power nuclear power plant projects. Investor in NuScale and partner
at CMEA, Maurice Gunderson suggests that small modular reactors are the
"game-changer" in energy technology. NuScale can manufacture modular
reactors on a factory assembly line – and cut the time to develop a nuclear
plant in half. “Nuclear is necessary, doable, and the markets are
gargantuan,” adds Gunderson. Whether nuclear belongs on a greentech list
always results in vigorous debate.

Nordic Wind Power<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/nordic-windpower-khosla-shifts-in-the-wind/%20>:
With funding from Khosla Ventures, NEA and Novus Energy Partners, they are
the only wind turbine company in the U.S. to get a DOE loan guarantee -- $16
million under the innovative renewable energy program. Nordic also received
"significant" funding from Goldman Sachs in 2007. Their innovative
1-megawatt 2-blade turbine design challenges the traditional wind turbine
design paradigm.

Potter Drilling <http://www.potterdrilling.com/>: Geothermal provided 4.5
percent of California's power in
2007<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/google-drills-into-geothermal-bono-and-u2-too1/>and
advocates say that more power could be extracted, even in
non-geothermal
hot spots, from underneath the ground. The problem has been getting to it
economically and safely. Potter, founded by oil industry alums, has come up
with a way to drill that's five times as fast and less costly. Google.org is
one of its investors.

Ze-Gen<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/a-billion-tons-of-landfill-already-this-year/>:
Ze-Gen dips organic landfill waste into molten iron and turns it into
biogas. The architecture of the system eliminates many of the inefficiencies
associated with biomass. It has a pilot plant and raised $20 million in a
second round last year. The big challenge is in getting a production plant
off the ground.


*Water*

Oasys<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/zenn-and-them-old-eestor-blues/>:
This water startup is built around research from Yale with $10 million in
venture funds to see if its novel desalination technique, which exploits
fundamental chemistry and waste heat, can go commercial. The company claims
its "forward osmosis" process can desalinate water for about half the cost
of standard reverse osmosis desalination.

Miox<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/getting-off-the-water-grid/>:
The disruptive aspect of Miox' business plan is distributed water
purification instead of the current centralized model. The company makes
onsite water purification systems for gray water
remediation<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/can-sewage-save-the-world/>and
water recycling. Distributed water purification could, potentially,
open
up a flood of investment into water. Miox's trick is in making the process
cost-effective. The company's system can purify a given amount of liquid
with a volume of salt that is one-fourth the amount of liquid chlorine that
would be required. Investors include Sierra Venutres, DCM, and Flywheel
Ventures.

Purfresh<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/print/bioplastics-for-hospitals-and-electron-beams-for-cleaning-bottles/>:
If you drink bottled water or eat bagged organic lettuce, you've encountered
Purfresh. The company, backed by Foundation Capital, kills microbes with
ozinated water. Growers use it to keep food fresh on the way to store
shelves and bottlers use it to sterilize plastic. Orders go up every time an
*e coli* outbreak occurs. Like Serious Materials, Purfresh is expanding from
its base to become a full-service water and food company.


*Green IT*

Hara<http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/news-corp.-picks-hara-for-carbon-accounting/>:
Originally funded in 2008 by Silicon Valley heavyweight VC, Kleiner Perkins,
Hara has been making good headway attacking the nascent carbon accounting
and management software space. It's still early days for this market but a
very large base of enterprise companies are actively looking for software
solutions that provide actionable information, metrics, recommendations and
reporting regarding their carbon footprints. Hara has amassed an impressive
list of customers to date, including Coca Cola, News Corp., Akamai, Intuit,
Brocade and Safeway.

Sandforce<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/%20http:/www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/a-chip-to-slash-the-power-in-data-centers/>:
The company has created a chip that makes it possible for search companies,
banks and other companies with large datacenters to swap out storage systems
made out of hard drives with drives made of flash memory, which only use
about 5 percent of the power. In real terms, that means dropping the power
budget for storage systems from $50,000 for five years to $250. Storage
giant EMC has invested.


Eric D. Schwerin

Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC

1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW

Suite 705

Washington, DC 20007

(202) 333-1880

eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com <eschwerin@obblaw.com>

*P** **Consider the environment before printing this email.**