Here’s a list of the latest developments/investment in clean-technology:
Solar powered aircraft flies through two nights — A solar-powered plane beats the record for the longest uncrewed flight, UK defence research company QinetiQ claims. In a secretive weekend mission, their craft Zephyr took off from a US military base in New Mexico and landed 54 hours later.
Endicott, a biodiesel company, raises $40M — The Houston, Texas, company is making a biodiesel plant, fueled from organic sources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. It’s considered a clean alternative to diesel petroleum. Details here.
Galten, a biodiesel startup, raises $10M –The UK’s Capital Partners led the investment in the Israel company.
Propel Biofuels raises $4.75M — The Seattle company wants to deliver biofuel pumps to existing gas stations throughout the Northwest. The funding comes from @Ventures and Nth Power.
Terrabon, a cellulosic ethanol company, raises $1.25mm in seed financing — This bring its total to $4.5mm. Cellulosic ethanol is generally considered more promising because it is cleaner and cheaper to produce than regular ethanol.
Inventor develops a small self-contained filter system that instantly cleans water — The filter, made by the UK’s Michael Pritchard, removes all particles larger than 15nm.
Canada’s General Fusion has received $1.2M for research on its fusion reactors — So far, fusion reactors have absorbed more energy than they’ve produced, so jury is out on whether this will work. There’s a good summary of Canada’s other clean-tech projects here.
ClearEdge Power, a fuel cell developer, raises $6.47M of planned $19.47M third round — Applied Ventures is listed as an investor, according to PE Week.
More money for mature clean-tech start-ups –Climate Change Capital, a UK private equity firm, has raised $200mm in new funds to invest in mature startups and buyouts.
Wind power online tool company 3Tier raises $2M — The Seattle, Wash. company lets you find breezy areas by surfing on Web from the comfort of your desk. Money comes from Good Energies.
Greenwood Technologies sells wood-burning furnace to heat your home — Sounds polluting, but the company says its furnace is efficient. The Bellevue, WA-based has raised $3M from Copia Associates, according to the Seattle PI.Virent Energy, a company making a catalytic biomass processing system for gasoline, jet fuel and diesel, raises $21M — The Madison, WI company has raised nearly $40M.Investors include Stark Investments, Venture Investors and existing backer Cargill Ventures.
Greenona.com, a green search engine — It indexes material from only green, environmental related sites. Like Google, it wants to make money through search based advertising. It is owned by SearchBlox Software, a private Richmond VA company.
Advent Solar to begin laying off workers this weekend — Advent is switching from 125 millimeter-wide solar cells to 156 millimeter cells, and so no longer needs to employ production employees. Layoffs will be fewer than 50 of its total 190, according to VentureWire (subscription required).
EEStor’s grand claims for a new electrochemical battery — This company is famously hyped. The AP is the latest to report on the company, which says it can replace electrochemical batteries for things like automobiles. We’ve tried reaching the company, but it has declined comment. Supposedly, an electric car would need a five minute charge and could then run for 500 miles without gasoline. However, there are more people getting skeptical this is going to work. CNET reports delays. The company is backed with $3 million from Silicon Valley venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. ZENN Motor has invested another $8 million, hoping to use the technology.
SynapSense to reduce energy use in data centers — This is borderline clean-tech. Any new company serving the data center is supposed to be more efficient, and so by default it uses less power. Claiming to be clean-tech is a stretch, but we’ll go along with it because on the margins, it is. The Folsom, Calif. company has announced a $10M second round of capital, led by Emerald Technology Ventures, and including American River Ventures, Nth Power and DFJ Frontier.
Lysanda raises GBP 1M to develop “Eco-Log” — The UK company monitors vehicle emissions. Investors include the Sustainable Technology Fund.
Solar thermal and photovoltaic supplier, Solarcentury, has raised a GBP 13.5M round of financing — It is co-led by Zouk Ventures and Good Energies. Vantania Holdings Ltd and Foursome Investments, along with existing investors VantagePoint Venture Partners and Scottish and Southern Energy, also participated.
