http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/deal-round-up-renewable-energy-start-ups-gain-early-footing-in-2011.html

The final week of February has been a good week for early stage clean technology companies, with energy efficiency start-up Transphorm bagging major new backing from Google Ventures.

The early stage developer of energy-efficient power conversion technology grabbed the limelight this week for garnering $20m in new investment in a round led by Google’s venture capital arm, alongside existing venture backers Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Foundation Capital and Lux Capital.
The company’s power conversion modules are particularly appealing to both the technology and business sectors in today’s climate, where inefficient electric power conversion is estimated to cost the US economy $40bn a year.
The energy efficiency area is particularly appealing for search engine giant Google, as information technology conglomerates are increasingly pulled up on the energy efficiency of their behemoth data centres. With such high profile support and technology that is claimed to reduce energy losses 90 per cent, the unveiling of Transphorm’s first product at the upcoming APEC conference in Texas next month is likely to attract some attention, to say the least.
The energy efficiency sector attracted the most venture capital interest this week hands down, with Venrock and Oak Investment Partners contributing to a $10m Series B investment in North Carolina-based start-up Phononic Devices. The early stage thermoelectric equipment developer intends to use the capital to improve the efficiency of thermoelectric coolers and thermoelectric generators, which harvest waste heat for power generation.
Stanford University spin-out C3Nano, whose proposition is to market a cheaper, printable and more durable alternative to increasingly scarce indium tin oxide for solar panel production, was another key early stage company to secure venture backing this week.
The seed company plans to use the $3.2m in Series A funding it obtained from GSR Ventures’ cleantech fund to support its efforts to scale its technology through strategic channel partnerships and joint development programmes. Asia will be a major focus for the start-up’s development and commercialisation efforts. Silicon Valley and China firm GSR said it will support the offside solar company form partnerships in China, Taiwan and other Asia markets.
CLEAResult, a Texan energy optimisation company that rated highly on the Inc 500 fastest-growing companies in 2010, also secured a substantial investment this week. US venture capital and private equity firm General Catalyst said it had been eyeing an investment in the energy efficiency sector for three years before it made the CLEAResult transaction. Although the power optimisation company was reticent as to the value of the investment, it said it plans to increase its budget for research and delivery capacity with the new capital.