X
Innovation

Green tech investment at highest level in 8 years

Investment is flowing into green tech companies at the highest rate in eight years, says a market research firm.
Written by David Worthington, Contributor

2011_zero-s_product-page_main-image-300x109.jpg
Zero Motorcycles is an example of many recent investment targets: late stage and established.

Private investment in green technology is now at the highest it’s been in nearly a decade, according to a market research firm.

Cleantech Group told CNET that venture capital money is flowing at the highest level since the company began to monitor global investment in 2002. US$2.5 billion was spent during the first quarter of 2011.

The recipients were primarily more established businesses; there has been a notable reduction in the number of start-ups receiving early stage financing, according to a report by Reuters published late last year.

Some standouts over the past two months have included:

  • Agilyx announced that it had received $22 million to bring its technology for turning plastic into oil to market, early this month.
  • In February, Harvest Power raised $51.7M to build a facility that will convert food waste into energy.
  • VIA Motors raised $5.3 million in Series A investment to build clean trucks and SUVs for the U.S. market.
  • Google Ventures invested an undisclosed amount into CoolPlanetBiofuels, a company that converts biomass into fuel. GE also contributed to its Series B funding.
  • Invus contributed another $17 millioninto Zero Motorcycles’ electric powered bikes.
  • Smart grid start-up Grid2Home raised $2.6M from Granite Ventures.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

Editorial standards