VentureBeat

Battelle Ventures and an affiliate fund, Innovation Valley Partners, have together invested $8 million in three cleantech energy companies: Aldis, Ampulse and Planar.

Aldis, a company that manages municipal traffic lights to significantly reduce energy costs, received $1.9 million in its first funding, alongside a commitment for the same amount based on future milestones.

Ampulse, a company spun out from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to commercialize a thin-film photovoltaic technology, received $1 million in initial funding.

Finally, Planar is a spin-off of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. It took $1.3 million in funding, with another $2.7 commitment, to develop thin-film batteries.