2008 marks a record year for US cleantech venture capital investments

5 February 2009

US cleantech venture capital investments hit a record high of $4.7bn in 2008 raised in 186 rounds, marking a 68 per cent increase in annual capital invested and a five per cent increase in annual financing activity, according to a report published by Ernst & Young.

Venture capitalists invested $954m in cleantech companies in the closing quarter of 2008, a rise of $273m from the same period in the previous year.

Electricity generation, alternative fuels, energy efficiency and energy storage ranked as the top four sub-sectors during the year. Dominated by solar, the electricity generation segment received the largest amount of venture capital investment of $539m.

‘Investments made this past quarter suggest that investors are considering industry drivers that will propel cleantech companies long after the current financial crisis recedes,’ said Joseph Muscat, Americas director of cleantech, Ernst & Young LLP. ‘Investors and corporate executives alike continue to focus on growing operations to respond to opportunities created by growth in global energy consumption, corporate climate change initiatives, and governmental developments.’

The report also reveals the growing trend towards a larger proportion of later stage investments as a number of companies reach the pilot and commercialisation stage of development.

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Tags: cleantech

This story was published on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 1:06 pm and is filed under North America, deals, energy efficiency, energy storage, policy, solar. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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