Cleantech Investor

VB Research has tracked a host of venture capital fund raising deals for companies with technology in the energy management, smart metering and other ‘green building’ spaces over the past year or more. These deals are summarised in the following tables.

In the VB Research deal list, we noticed a trend for deals in the overlapping spaces of energy efficiency and home security – typical of the growing trend for cleantech solutions to be incorporated into broader industrial solutions. Sunnyvale, California, based 4Home is a case in point. 4Home raised US$1.3 million in early stage funding in 2009, according to VB Research. The company provides ‘home control’ services, which incorporate various functions including energy management as well as home security and monitoring. 4Home’s software platform includes the ControlPoint,™ Portal Server, and SDK software products.

Somewhat larger deals for companies over in the overlapping spaces of security and energy efficiency have included funding for Palo Alto, USA, based iControl Networks Inc., Cambridge, UK based AlertME and for Salt Lake City, US, based Control4.

US based iControl Networks, which provides broadband home management services including: homes security, remote home monitoring, energy management and control and home automation, raised US$23 million, while Cambridge, UK, based AlertME raised £12.8million in 2009. Founded in April 2006, AlertMe is launching a next generation home security offering, using internet and mobile technology to connect to homes and alert to unauthorized entry or fire. The company’s online service – AlertMe – enables consumers to take control of their energy consumption and drive it down, extending the reach of the Smart Grid and AMI networks right into the home. Control4 raised $7.3 million in late stage funding in 2009. Control4's home automation solutions enable home entertainment control, smart lighting, temperature control and security integration, through a range of on-site and over-the-web remote control technology.

Other deals in the sector have included Cuculus GmbH, a Limenau, Germany, based company which supplies smart metering, energy management and home automation solutions. Cuculus raised EUR2.6 million (US$3.53million) in early growth funding. And Boson, US, based Ember Corporation raised US$8 million in 2009. Ember sells wireless solutions including chips, embedded mesh networking software and development tools that help buildings consume less energy and form the base of security networks.

A number of other companies in the mesh networking software space have also been in the market for funding. Cambridge, UK, based Cyan Holdings plc, which has developed a remote and wireless lighting control and smart metering technology using mesh networks, raised £1.2 million in 2009. And San Francisco, US, based Adura Technologies raised £12 million in February this year.  Adura applies low-power wireless mesh networking in the lighting controls and energy management markets.

Also in the lighting space, Energy Focus, Inc., which offers products for the commercial lighting and swimming pool market, raised $3.75 million in PIPE funding in November 2009. Lighting Retrofit International (LRI) of Gambrills, US, raised $5 million in late stage financing in November last year. LRI is an important provider of lighting and water building efficiency services to US government, institutional, and commercial customers. The company works in partnership with ESCO’s that manage large building efficiency projects. And in June last year, Metrolight, which has developed electronic ballast and lighting control solutions for HID lighting systems, raised U$3 million.

Wireless Environment received US$0.4 million in angel funding from JumpStart Inc in early 2009. Wireless Environment had previously received a $100,000 award from the Lorain County Community College Foundation's Innovation Fund and a product development loan from Cuyahoga County. It is developing technologies that work with LEDs, including a battery-powered, motion-sensing LED spotlight, and an LED stair light that brightens with motion. And Relume Technologies, a manufacturer of LED lighting products and control systems utilizing its thermal management technology, raised an undisclosed sum in late stage financing last year.

Lumenergi, formally Luminoptics, raised US$0.5 million in funding from Low Carbon Accelerator, alongside Noventi Ventures. Lumergi, which has received a total of $5.33 million from LCA, has developed dimming lighting ballast technology.

Smart building management and smart metering solutions will be integral to the future smart grid and there have been numerous deals in the sub sectors of the smart grid over the past 18 months. Daintree Networks Inc. of Mountain View, California, raised US$8m in March 2010 . Daintree is developing a wireless solution that overcomes the traditional barriers to retrofitting existing buildings with energy saving lighting control systems – the rewiring.

In the  smart metering area, Advanced Telemetry has raised funds. Advanced Telemetry’s meter, for residential and commercial users, can be viewed online. Eco Dog Inc. which is developing a residential energy efficiency and monitoring device, raised angel funding from Tom Page, the former  head of San Diego Gas & Electric and Enova Corp and an active investor in energy-related businesses. Meawhile, 3M’s New Ventures business invested an undisclosed sum in Energy Inc, which designs and manufactures real-time electricity management devices for residential and commercial use – including its flagship product , TED – The Energy Detective. And EnergyHub, which has developed a solution offering consumers real-time information and control over their energy usage, has raised several tranches of early stage funding including a $2.7 million investment round in February 2010.

Lucid Design Group Inc., which has developed software for real time web-based energy consumption monitoring, raised US$2.5 million led by Dry Creek Ventures. Powerhouse Dynamics, which makes home energy usage monitoring appliances, raised US$1.02 million in February this year from Common Angels. And in the UK, PassivSystems Ltd., which provides home energy management systems, raised funding  from WHEB Venture Partners LLP in January 2010.

Other energy efficiency companies raising funding have included People Power Company (residential monitoring and control systems, through an Open Source Home Area Network and Glacier Bay, which has developed thermal control, sound reduction, and DC power management technologies. Several companies have raised funding for the development of energy harvesting technology for use in communications systems for the built environment: GreenPeak is developing an ultra low power communication standard based on the IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee wireless networking standard, utilizing energy harvesting. Another company in this space is Enocean.

Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) play an important role in the built environment – and unsurprisingly, companies with solutions in these areas are attracting venture funding. April 210 saw EcoFactor raise $3.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Rockport Capital Partners. The 2010 fund raising followed on from a $2.4 million round led by Claremont Creek Ventures in December 2009. Redwood City, California,based EcoFactor provides personalized HVAC solutions for managing residential energy use. Its SaaS platform collects data relating to a home's HVAC needs.

Also in HVAC technology, Roto Energy AS of Sandvika, Norway, raised an undisclosed sum from H-O Enterprise AB and Specialkarosser AB in 2009.  Israeli company, Phoebus Ltd, which is developing an energy efficient heating system, raised $1 million in early stage funding from Galilaea Fund in 2009.  And E-Stack Ltd, based in Cambridge, UK, raised £1.1 million fom MMC Ventures last year. E-Stack provides low energy ventilation systems that minimise the loss of heat during the winter whilst maximising ventilation in the summer. Its systems are installed in various schools across the UK and are entering trials in retail outlets. Canada’s Ecobee Inc. raised US$6.73 million in January 2010. Ecobee provides residential and commercial energy management and building automation solutions.

Back in the US, Optimum Energy of Seattle raised funding from Columbia Pacific Management Inc. last year.  Optimum Energy has developed technologies to reduce energy consumption and operating costs of HVAC systems in large government, commercial and institutional buildings and has secured a contract to retrofit high rises in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Home Comfort Zones Inc., which offers residential temperature control and energy management systems, raised US$1.25 million. And Clean Power Resources Inc., a provider of energy efficient air conditioning, heating and air purification solutions, raised US$0.06 million in grant funding from Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

Building integrated solar photovoltaic technology companies are also attracting the attention of investors. Companies which have raised funds in this area incude PhotoSolar have developed and patented a new technology which combines effective solar shading and new technology for transparent photovoltaic devices. The related area of organic electronics, which has applications for both solar photovoltaic and OLED lighting is a focus of investor attention. Companies raising funds have included SWITCH Materials and Sim4tec GmbH, a spin-off from the Technical University of Dresden and CreaPhys GmbH. Organic photovoltaics offer the potential for glass to become the substrate for electricity generation. Meanwhile, other technology development within the glass area are also attracting attention. Investors have backed Soladigm, which is developing a glass with variable transparency for use in the green building sector, and SAGE Electrochromics, a smart glass technology company.

Elsewhere, companies raising funding for innovative products and technologies with built environment applications have included: Norwegian company, Kebony, which has a proprietary wood modification technology to transform sustainable wood species into wood with comparable attributes to tropical hardwood; CalStar Products Inc.which  offers sustainable building products such as fly ash bricks and pavers; and Novacem, which is developing a carbon negative cement system, based on research from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Imperial College London.

 Source: VB Research

 Built Environment Deals - Non US Companies