$462.24 Million in Cleantech Financing Garnered by Winners of 2011 GCCA Later Stage Awards

ATLANTA, Feb. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A little over a year after 10 cleantech companies were awarded their "Best in Class" distinctions at the 2011 Global Cleantech Cluster Association Later Stage Awards, the firms have collectively secured $462.24 million in funding and project contracts, with additional funding undisclosed. Most recently, Best in Energy Efficiency winner Albeo Technologies was acquired by GE Lighting for an undisclosed sum. In total, the winning companies secured $344.47 million in investment, growth equity, grants, and loans, with an additional $117.77 million in project and vendor contracts. Details on specific companies below. The GCCA is currently accepting nominations for its 2013 Later Stage Awards (deadline June 1, 2013).

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"The success of these winners of the GCCA's annual Later Stage Award is indicative of the continued growth of clean technology and renewable energy markets around the world," said GCCA co-founder Shawn Lesser, also co-founder of Watershed Capital Group.  "The fact that these companies are raising capital and securing projects bolsters the idea that cleantech cluster organizations are a serious factor in the health of the clean economy. They are our boots on the ground." 

The 2011 Later Stage Awards were the inaugural year for the contest. It featured 185 nominations from 36 GCCA member clusters.

"As GCCA continues this annual contest, we anticipate much more success in the investment into these leading edge cleantech companies," said Ben Taube, GCCA Executive Chair. "The winners in 2011, and now 2012, are leading in cleantech innovation and GCCA is at the forefront of assisting the global deployment of these solutions."

The 2012 success of the 2011 winners is also a testament to the Keystone Compact™, the judging criteria the GCCA uses to narrow 100s of nominations down to a top 3 in each category. In use since 2006, the method was developed by GCCA Head Judge Dr. Peter Adriaens, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the Ross School of Business, along with Dr. Tim Faley, Managing Director of the Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies both located at the University of Michigan.

The two stage Keystone method reviews company and market information, as well as financials to determine both the investabilty and potential market size of the nominations. The top 3 in each category, known as the year's Global Top 30, are submitted to the GCCA Judging Panel, a 28 of the world's leading cleantech venture capital and private equity investors and serial entrepreneurs. Votes from this group, who collectively manage over $3.5 billion in global clean technology investment, determine the final winners for each category.

"With our Later Stage Winners it's paramount we pick the companies who have the largest opportunity to grow large and influential," said GCCA Head Judge Dr. Adriaens. "The investment community is clear, they are looking to invest in growing companies. For the cleantech economy to expand into a major market force, we want to showcase the firms poised with the most significant growth and market impact."

Success Detail for GCCA 2011 Later Sage Award Winners

Albeo Technologies
Best of Energy Efficiency  
Boulder, CO (cluster: Colorado Cleantech IA)

• Acquisition by GE Lighting (amount undisclosed)
• $8 million in growth equity from Braemer Energy Ventures

Beneq
Best of Advanced Materials
Vantaa, Finland (cluster: Finnish Cleantech Cluster)

• €25 million of capital injection and share purchase by RUSNANO

Imperative Energy
Best of BioEnergy
Dublin, Ireland (cluster: The Green Way)

• £75m project for 16.5MW biomass project CHP at the NEC, Birmingham, England
• Undisclosed investment from Carbon Trust managed Northwest Fund as well as London based EIDC

Moventas
Best of Wind
Jyvaskyla, Finland (cluster: Finnish Cleantech Cluster)

• €100 million acquisition by UK-based private-equity firm Clyde Blowers

Newalta
Best of Waste Management
Brossard, Quebec (cluster: EcoTech Quebec)

• $77 million of equity financing

OpenHydro
Best of Tidal
Dublin, Ireland (cluster: The Green Way)

• Ireland's first tidal energy farm to be developed by Bord Gais
• €130m investment by DCNS to take controlling stake in OpenHydro

PowerGenix
Best of Storage
San Diego, California USA (cluster: CleanTECH San Diego)

• Global licensing and development partnership with global energy storage leader EnerSys
• Three-party agreement with China City Construction Corporation (CCCC) and Huainan City to create the world's first commercial scale Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) battery manufacturing center.

Rentricity
Best of Water
New York, New York USA (cluster: NYC Acre)

• $.3 million investment from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop energy recovery product designs for wastewater treatment plants. 

SAM Group
Best in Transportation
Zurich, Switzerland, (cluster: swisscleantech)

• €3 million investment round for the development of the next generation of light weight electric vehicles

Solaris Synergy
Best of Solar
Chicago, Illinois USA (cluster: Chicago Clean Energy)

• $ 0.4M. Grant
• Recently received a permit from Israeli water company Mekorot to build their first facility near the city of Netivot.

About the Global Cleantech Cluster Association
Global Cleantech is a non-profit association, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.  that creates conduits for companies to harness the tremendous benefits of international cleantech cluster collaboration in an efficient, affordable, and structured way.  Global Cleantech provides a gateway for established and emerging cleantech companies to gain exposure to potential investors, new markets, influential networks, innovative technologies and best practices.  GCCA was founded by the Finnish Cleantech Cluster, Skipso, swisscleantech, Technica Communications and Watershed Capital Group. For more information about Global Cleantech, please visit www.globalcleantech.org.

MEDIA CONTACT
Technica Communications
Lisa Ann Pinkerton
408-806-9626
[email protected]

SOURCE Global Cleantech Cluster Association (GCCA)