VentureBeat

In the rapid rise of solar thermal power, a small handful of companies have grabbed the lion’s share of attention and funding: Ausra, Brightsource and Solel are the three most oft-heard names. Another company, eSolar, can now add its name to that shortlist, with one of the biggest cleantech venture fundings to date.

Notably, eSolar has plans to immediately funnel the money into construction projects that may see its plants going online ahead of its competitors’.

The solar thermal designs of all these companies involve using fields of mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight on contained water, which then boils and powers turbines. From that starting point everything can differ, from the size and shape of the mirrors to the type of receptacle containing the water and the location of the power plant.

ESolar’s trick is a minimalist design that uses small, flat mirrors in relatively modest deployments — the company is planning to build a series of plants producing 33 megawatts each, which is enough to power from 15,000 - 25,000 average Californian homes. Ausra, by contrast, is planning a 177MW plant in San Luis Obispo County, while Brightsource has a deal for five of about the same size.

Going smaller has several benefits for eSolar. The biggest is that the bureaucratic stumbling block of permitting is smoothed for plants under 50MW. Having smaller plants — they fit on about 160 acres of land — could also benefit eSolar by allowing it to nestle plants into areas that are closer to the regular transmission grid.

The size and speed with which they can be built means that eSolar could potentially have a plant up by the end of this year or early next. Most of its competitor’s earliest installations are scheduled for a year or so beyond that.

How far the $130 million investment will carry eSolar is another question. While the company boasts that it has a cheap manufacturing process and efficient designs, aided by software that intelligently aims the mirrors, building even small plants is still an expensive proposition. Despite the scale of Google.org (the search giant’s philanthropic arm) and Oak Investment Partners, eSolar will probably soon be shopping around for even larger amounts from banks and private equity.

Idealab, the third funder in the round, is also headed by eSolar’s chairman, Bill Gross. The company is based in Pasadena, Calif., and also took $10 million from Google.org in January.

Taylor Nelson Sofres, the world’s third largest market research company according to one measure, has acquired Compete, a company that tries to measure the traffic and types of people that visit certain web sites, for $75m (£37.8m).

TNS, based in London, apparently made the statement as it announced revenue growth today.

What’s eye-opening is the relatively low purchase price, considering how important traffic analysis technology has become these days and because venture capitalists had pumped $43 million into the company over the past eight years. For money to be tied up that long, investors typically expect to get a better return. Charles River Ventures, Idealab, Split Rock Partners and William Blair Capital Partners were backers of the company. However, if Compete meets certain revenue targets, it could bring up to an additional $75 million between 2008 and 2010, according to the deal.

Compete analyzes the internet clickstream data of almost two million people, weighted to match the US online population. That information is used to measure how visitors click on a company’s Web site, and for paying customers, Compete would also measure more details about how people engaged with the client’s web site.

However, Compete has never really been a reliable source of information, and has been overshadowed by stronger players such as Comscore, or newcomers like Quantcast, which have placed a tracker directly on Web sites to measure traffic — something that Compete always shied away from, inexplicably citing the fact that Netratings hold the patent for such technology (it hasn’t slowed down Quantcast).

Compete lost $4.5 million on about $15 million in revenue last year.

TNS said it will integrate Compete’s information into its own offering, beginning in the U.S., where TNS has its own research panel of of more than one million people.

Update: Tech Confidential says the sales price isn’t bad, based on a number of comparable deals.

Although it’s over two decades old, Infinia is a relative newcomer to the solar market, having only been working on its solar thermal generator for a few years.

That may not prevent it from quickly becoming one of the largest players, though, with a new $50 million investment to kick off production and a slate of manufacturing partners ready to help fulfill its first orders.

The most notable detail about Infinia’s technology is that it’s based on the Stirling engine, which uses thermodynamic cycling of air to produce energy. Basically, air within the engine is heated by the concentrated rays of the sun, and then converted directly to energy.

Stirling engines are noted for their high efficiency, but have so far confounded other startups that have attempted to use accident-prone “kinematic” versions with solar concentrators. “You don’t know when you fire those up whether they’ll run for 25 or 500 hours, but you do know they won’t work for 5000 hours, or 60,000, as ours will,” Infinia CEO J.D. Sitton told us in an interview.

Infinia uses a hermetically sealed, single-piston design that Sitton says drastically reduces maintenance costs, although it lowers efficiency somewhat. The outcome is a solar thermal generator with 24 percent efficiency, which is still much higher than most competing alternatives currently on the market.

However, rather than fight for utility-scale developments with other solar thermal startups like Ausra or Solel, Sitton says his company will compete with solar photovoltaics. The first Infinia product will be a dish which can be sited within towns or cities, singly or in small groups.

That strategy will give the company the ability to set its own margins because it 20-30 percent cheaper than solar PV, Sitton said, although he would not disclose exactly how much the 3 kilowatt dishes would cost.

The company plans to begin producing dishes in November, and build up to 200MW per year of manufacturing capacity by the end of 2009 by working with manufacturing partners from the automotive industry, who Infinia is helping retool their production lines with part of its funding.

GLG Partners led the $50 million round, with Wexford Capital and previous investors Vulcan Capital, Khosla Ventures, EQUUS Total Returns, Idealab and Power Play Energy also participating. It was Infinia’s second funding; it also took $9.5 million last year and $3.5 million in early 2005, for a total to date of $63 million.

While San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla Motors gets plenty of attention for its much-hyped Roadster, it’s only one of a group of California startups aiming to commercialize electric cars. Idealab-backed Aptera, which is based out of Carlsbad, officially unveiled its new Typ-1 design today, with a scheduled 2008 shipping date.

Where Tesla decided to go with a standard-looking car, however, Aptera has chosen a rather unconventional design. Like the Zap Xebra, the Typ-1 is a three-wheeled car — in this case, two front wheels and one back. (See full-sized picture below.)

The company says its futuristic design is “extremely safe,” but the car’s rather bizarre appearance does raise some serious questions. First, how many people will want to buy this two-seat three-wheeler for $30K? Second, how will it ever get regulatory approval for the mass market.

Starting with the easier question — the second one — Aptera is a registered motorcycle manufacturer. Like Volkswagen’s similar but never launched GX3, the two-seat vehicle would qualify as a motorcycle for registration purposes.

Aptera appears to have paid some attention to the history of VW’s cancellation of the GX3. In that case, the company’s internal lawyers had the product scrapped, citing liability concerns. The GX3 was open-topped, and the exposed driver, they said, would be too likely to be injured.

Aptera’s design is fully-enclosed with reinforced roof and doors, protecting passengers in the event of a roll-over. It has a crash-tested front end with airbags for frontal collisions.

Assuming Aptera makes it past the concerns of lawyers and government officials, it still needs to convince consumers. Three-wheeled vehicles sound like a concept from 1950s science fiction, and the car’s odd body design, in our view, harks back to the same lost era. To a consumer base that’s been buying four-wheeled vehicles for several decades now, the idea of a three-wheeled car will seem outlandish.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Aptera’s challenges. Commercializing any electric or hybrid car comes with its own set of issues. For a more in-depth commentary on the market, including pricing and branding, read VentureBeat posts on the thoughts of Darryl Siry and Vinod Khosla.

Of course, we could be wrong in being skeptical. At its price, the Aptera is a steal, compared to Tesla’s $100,000 Roadster. And Aptera says it already has 400 pre-orders, without having done any advertising to this point.

Aptera’s Typ-1 will come in two models: the $26,900 all-electric Typ-1e, with a range of 120 miles, and the $29,900 Typ-1h, a hybrid gas/electric vehicle the company says will travel 600 miles. The company hasn’t announced a firm delivery date yet for 2008 but is accepting deposits on vehicles.

Here’s the latest action:
1. Medio’s roar turning to a squeal?
2. Sprint changing WiMax plans?
3. AOL rumored to be considering buying ad targeting network Quigo for $300 million
4. Bug Labs, for open-sourced electronic devices
5. Semantic search engine Hakia releases social networking tool
6. The amazing $200 Ubuntu Linux “green” PC at Wal-Mart
7. Cisco does its 125th buyout
8. Facebook’s stock has appreciated 33-fold, and then some
9. Internet Brands going public with growing losses, declining sales?
10. Shopstyle signs deal with In Style Magazine

Medio’s roar turning to a squeal? — We’re wondering what will happen to Seattle’s Medio, the company that provides mobile search technology to telecom giant Verizon, now that Google is reportedly close to signing a deal with the giant carrier to offer customers a GPhone. This which would carry a Google operating system, based on Linux and offering a host of Google applications including search. The Mercury News carried a profile story on Medio Tuesday, in which chief executive Brian Lent (pictured top left) boasts Medio has a broader reach than Google, citing its partnership with Verizon. The article appeared the day before the deal negotiations between Google and Verizon leaked. Obviously, Medio won’t get kicked off of Verizon’s phones overnight. The GPhone hasn’t even arrived yet. Still, the Merc piece is a notable read, explaining how Lent knew the Google co-founders at Stanford, but initially shrugged of the promise of search; he even turned down the No. 1 employee position at Yahoo. Verizon, in turn, may be flirting with Google for the following obvious: Apple iPhone has become a raging success, after Verizon turned down the chance to be the iPhone carrier partner. As Techdirt points out, Verizon and Google have a tough history, including the standoff over the 700 MHz spectrum debate and network neutrality. But the GPhone, that might paper over the differences.

Sprint Nextel changing WiMax plans? — Sprint may be rethinking its plans to offer high-speed wireless Internet service using WiMax technology, possibly merging its wireless broadband unit with start-up Clearwire, according to the WSJ.

AOL rumored to be considering buying ad targeting network Quigo for $300 million – But its just a rumor. Details from Kara Swisher.

Bug Labs, for open-sourced electronic devices — You’ve heard about all the open-source software. Well, New York’s Bug Labs is offering open source for hardware, drawing on outside developers to help fashion the building blocks of these personalized devices that will be easy enough for non-techies to assemble. It is backed by Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures and Robert Young, founder of open source company Red Hat. More about BugLabs here. It has similarities with Ponoko.

Semantic search engine Hakia releases social networking tool — Called Meet Others, it lets you meet people who typed in the same search query. Now that is geeky.

The amazing $200 Ubuntu Linux “green” PC at Wal-Mart — The price of this computer is truly in the basement. It runs OpenOffice software and comes pre-configured with links to all of Google’s online applications. See Wired story for more details. It stands in stark contrast to Nicholas Negroponte’s $100 laptop for the poor, began at a price of $100, but which now has crept upward to….$200. So apparently, there’s no need for the poor laptop any more. The developing world may as well order a Linux version straight from Wal-Mart.

Cisco does its 125th buyout –Cisco, the giant networking company, proves you can grow and prosper through non-stop acquisitions. It has paid $100M for Securent, a company that monitors access to a company’s data and communications regardless of vendor, platform, or operating system. Securent was founded in 2004 by Rajiv Gupta after raising capital from Greylock and Onset (via Alarmclock ).

Facebook’s stock has appreciated 33-fold, and then some – Many of us reported how the Microsoft deal to invest in Facebook at such a high value ($15 billion) makes Facebook’s private shares expensive. This, in turn, makes it tough to recruit motivated employees, because it means there’s little room for the stock to appreciate — at least for several years until Facebook starts making some money. NYT’s Miguel Helft has done a good job at exploring just how far the stock has risen.

Internet Brands going public with growing losses, declining sales? — We don’t get this one. The El Segundo, Calif., company has filed to raise $45 million in an IPO. But the company, whose sites include CarsDirect, WikiTravel, FlyerTalk.com among others, swung to a loss of $2.4 million in the first nine months of the year, and saw is revenues decline too. This, after buying 35 start-ups last year, enough to jolt any company. Buyer beware. It is backed by IdeaLab.

Shopstyle signs deal with In Style Magazine — ShopStyle, the fashion-focused shopping search engine that Sugar recently acquired, has announced a partnership with the popular In Style Magazine. Sugar has said its efforts to create a woman-centric network, a la Glam, was not working out, and has been looking into other means to generate revenue. Combining ShopStyle’s search with the editorial sensibilities of In Style’s fashionistas could prove lucrative for both companies. Under the terms of the deal, Sugar will receive a cut of revenues, as well as its CPCs.

Earlier this week, we wrote about setbacks at some Silicon Valley companies with new solar technology.

They’re built on real science and work in the labs, but they’re grappling with the real-world manufacturing stage.

Infinia, of Kennewick, Wash., is another example of this. It has just raised more cash to help it develop products based on the “Stirling engine,” which creates electricity by processing various types of fuel, and by using heat differentials to drive a piston back and forth. Its work is based on invention of Robert Stirling in 1816, and on almost 20 more years of additional research since Infinia was spun out as a company from the University of Washington.

It has gotten $9.5 million in a new round of funding, and follows $3.5 million it raised two years ago. Backers are Khosla Ventures, Vulcan Capital, Equus Total Return and Idealab, along with existing investor Power Play Energy, it said in a statement yesterday.

The deal also includes the acquisition of Stirling Cycles, a company developing Stirling engine technology, from Idealab for an undisclosed sum, and which has also been working on the Stirling process for years.

Infinia is now applying the engine to solar energy. It says the process is more efficient that existing photovoltaic methods, however it is first expected to be available in 2008. It will concentrate solar energy for commercial and residential customers. Notably, the company says some of the funds will be used for product development; a working prototype will be ready by fall, it says. Stirling Cycles was also working on solar energy.

Besides the solar version, the company is also working on a bio-gas fueled Stirling generator for rural areas of developing countries.

Famed inventor Dean Kamen has also been working on Stirling engines for quite some time.

Updated

We’re entering electric car mania, now that global warming has become an increasing concern.

Things will get crazier still, now that California’s politicians are talking about slapping a $2,500 new tax on gas guzzlers, and giving consumers who buy fuel-efficient cars up to $2,500 in cash (see story here in Mercury News).

Indeed, we wake up to news that Carlsbad, Ca. start-up Aptera Motors has raised “under $20 million” in a new round of financing to build out its three-wheel hybrid vehicle. The car can get up to 230 miles per gallon when it goes on sale next year. The price will be about $20,000.

The funding comes from Pasadena, Ca.’s Idealab and an undisclosed angel investor.

The sci-fi like vehicle, built by founder and chief executive Steve Fambro, was profiled a year ago here, and most recently shown at the TED conference last month. It may look light, but Fambro claims it can reach 90 mph — enabled by its composite materials that are similar to the aerospace industry. Southern California is quickly becoming a hub for clean technologies in part because of the advances made there by the aerospace industry over the decades.

VentureWire reported the Aptera funding news (sub required) today. The backing comes as a host of other companies unveil new prototypes or race build competing cars. One is Venture Vehicles Inc., which is building a tilting three-wheeler (see image), in both hybrid and all-electric versions, and which will sell for less than $20,000. Another three-wheeler is being built by Volkswagen, was recently scrapped for legal reasons, a reader points out in comment below also for less than $20,000 (image below).

Meanwhile, PG&E is showcases a converted Toyota Prius today in Sunnyvale, Ca.. It can be fully powered overnight via a power outlet at home (called a plug-in hybrid; it runs on both gas and electric battery) and, in a bit of marketing hype, is said to be the first to be able to power the average home for several hours, because of the stored power in its battery (this is unlikely to be of any practical use, except for in emergency power outages). There’s a good overview of PG&E’s plans and the overall market outlook in the Mercury News today (graphic here). There’s no date for when this will be available. GM expects to have one ready for sale in 2009.

Finally, Popular Mechanics demonstrates the Hybrid Technologies L1X-75, which goes from zero to 60 in just 3.1 seconds, has a top speed of 175 mph and a maximum range of around 200 miles. (The all-electric Tesla will do zero-60 in 4 seconds). See demo below.

Citysearch, the division of IAC focuses on local reviews of restaurants and other services, has acquired the struggling local review start-up, Insider Pages.

The purchase (amount undisclosed) comes at a time of increasing competition in the race to deliver a compelling local search services. Citysearch’s parent, IAC, has already bolstered its local search offerings, namely with Ask City, a property that packages everything from local search to local maps, reviews, and ticket services.

However, more entrants have arrived to nip traffic away from Citysearch, an early player that has seen its traffic stagnate in recent months. There’s Yelp, Judysbook and Backfence, for starters. Earlier today, we mentioned new competitor Outside.in, another company going after the local community news and events area.

Anne Raimondi, vice president of marketing at Redwood City’s Insider Pages, just informed VentureBeat of the purchase, which will be announced tomorrow. We mentioned the rumor last week.

Insider Pages has about 600,000 user reviews, and they’ll be integrated into the Citysearch’s offering, she said. It has 2.5 million monthly unique readers, she said, based on Comscore and internal tracking numbers.

She would not say whether the purchase price was more than $10 million invested in the company by Sequoia Capital, Softbank and Idealab. She said there were multiple bidders, but that Insider Pages preferred Citysearch because it is complementary. Insider Pages is popular among suburban parents and homeowners, she said, giving it strength in the home, garden, health and plumber review areas. Citysearch is stronger in bars, arts and entertainment. Citysearch will absorb Insider Page employees in its San Francisco office.