Green technology energy investments hit record
 |
This is one of the best stories of 2006. It is good news for everyone, except for the oil companies — a welcome change.
During the first quarter, venture capitalists invested $513 million into companies that have a clean-technology aspect to them, a six-year high, according to the Cleantech Venture Network quarterly report, to be released tomorrow.
That’s a 2.3% increase over the previous quarter, and a significant 52.9 percent jump over the same quarter a year ago. Moreover, a record $357 million was invested into clean-tech energy companies.
The average deal size rose to $8.28 million, up twenty percent from the fourth quarter average of $6.88 million and 16.7 percent from first quarter of 2005.
The record quarter for clean-tech investments was $797 million, made during the bubbly first quarter of 2000.
Next Story: Vonage gets hammered; loses $325 million on first day
Previous Story: Catching up with SwapTree, Limbo and Trulia
About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
