I drafted this memo in early 2003 for a venture capitalist friend of mine, well before the bubble in cleantech. In light of the back and forth on the recent Solar City IPO, I thought it was worth revisiting. Some of the points were pretty prescient, calling out many of the challenges cleantech investors and [...]
With October now upon us, data providers are beginning to issue their preliminary analyses of cleantech investment in the third quarter of 2012 that just closed. This quarter, the Clean Energy pipeline service of London’s VBResearch is the first to weigh in, counting cleantech venture capital & private equity investment (excluding buyouts) as approximately $1.7 billion. Data from [...]
I’ve personally written hundreds of articles over the years. I selected a few I thought were pretty timeless or prescient, and worth rereading: What is Cleantech? Always a good starting point: or try, The Seminal List of Cleantech Definitions The “Rules” in Cleantech Investing – Rereading this one after the cleantech exits study we [...]
On March 1 in Chicago, I attended the Clean Energy Challenge, a business plan competition among energy tech ventures from the Midwest, convened by the Clean Energy Trust. With $250,000 of prizes sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Challenge was the culmination of several weeks of screening and coaching of over 100 ventures from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, [...]
I sense that many in the cleantech world generally hold a negative view of venture investors. Although rarely worded as such, I can almost hear the pleas: “Why don’t you invest more in cleantech? Why don’t you do more cleantech deals?” Well, as a venture capitalist, I can tell you plainly that our capital is very [...]
As a reporter and analyst, I wrote about hundreds of cleantech companies. As a managing director of the Cleantech Group, I spent years listening to hundreds of pitches, coached companies on presenting to institutional investors and helped facilitate cleantech deals around the world. Just last month, I served on a committee at the request of the Canadian [...]
by Richard T. Stuebi This past week in New York, at its annual East Coast investor forum, the Cleantech Group released its 2010 Global Cleantech 100, profiling the private cleantech companies that a set of panelists thinks has the most promise for large long-term impact. Some highlights from the list and the report: In the [...]
by Richard T. Stuebi Being a senior advisor to the firm, I attended last week’s annual meeting of Craton Equity Partners, a cleantech private equity fund manager based in Los Angeles. While cleantech in its focus, Craton doesn’t take on much technology risk. Rather, Craton generally invests in companies that have largely proven their technologies [...]
By John Addison (10/7/10) Energy efficiency, renewable energy, and information technology are all helping the U.S. overcome a severe recession and keep more people from losing their jobs. From our San Francisco roof deck, I am encouraged to see energy efficient homes, solar roofs, and electric buses gliding by. I am also discouraged to see [...]
Richard T. Stuebi Jeremy Grantham is one of the world’s most successful investors, over a very long period of time. He founded Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo in 1977, which now manages $100 billion of capital for sophisticated investors from around the globe. He tends to take positions for his clients that anticipate the formation of [...]
By John Addison – original post at Clean Fleet Report Investments Grow for Electric Cars, Energy Storage, Smart Grid More venture capital will be invested in innovative greentech firms and more IPOs will happen in 2010 predict some of the world’s smartest venture capitalists and investment bankers at the Venture Summit Silicon Valley. In most [...]
Cleantech limited partners have a big conundrum. It’s called unrealized gains. After years of struggling, cleantech investors are now quietly but optimistically beginning to talk about impressive gains in their funds. Unfortunately, the elephant behind them that LPs are beginning to talk about is the prevalence of massive unrealized gains from the behemoth solar, biofuels [...]
By John Addison (7/27/09). The transportation industry is beginning the biggest transformation since Henry Ford started making cars affordable for the mass market. Hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles point to a long-term transition from inefficient mechanical drive systems to efficient electrical systems. Engines powered by petroleum fuels are being replaced with electric motors powered [...]
