Cleantech lands $1.5 billion in second quarter VC funding

Fueled by late stage investment, venture capital in cleantech companies surged in the second quarter, according to Ernst & Young.

Ernst & Young, which sliced data from Dow Jones Venture Source, found that second quarter VC investment in cleantech firms was $1.5 billion, up 63.8 percent from the same quarter a year ago. The number of cleantech VC deals was up 4.6 percent from a year ago. Overall, there were 68 financing rounds.

For cleantech, the second quarter marked the best VC tally since the third quarter of 2008. In the second quarter, the deals were driven by late stage financing.

Of the $1.5 billion tally in the second quarter, $891.2 million of that sum was invested in 33 late stage deals. Automotive, solar and biofuels led the top deals in the quarter. For instance, Tesla landed a $50 million investment from Toyota just before its IPO.

Among the larger VC deals in the second quarter:

• BrightSource Energy, which provides solar energy to utilities and companies, landed $438.8 million.
• Better Place, which provide electric vehicle infrastructure, landed a $350 million second round investment.
• Fisker Automotive, which makes plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, raised $35 million.
• Eco Motors, which make fuel efficient diesel engines, raised $23.5 million.
• Overall, solar companies and biofuel outfits raised the most VC funding.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com