The Cleantech Group along with Deloitte has released preliminary Q2 09 (April-June 2009) results for clean technology venture investments in North America, Europe, China and India, totaling $1.2 billion across 94 companies. The report also says that India accounted for 11% of the total $1.2 billion cleantech investements made this quarter. North America accounted for 66%, while Europe and Israel accounted for 21% and China for 1%.
The report says that Q2 09 total investments are up by 12% as compared to the previous quarter, however, they have declined by 44% from the same quarter last year. The average round size in Q2 09 was $12.9 million which has gone up from $12.3 million in Q1 09.
"Cleantech venture investment has rebounded moderately after free-falling for two consecutive quarters. We are seeing initial signs of recovery in other cleantech asset classes, including recent activity in solar tax equity, increased M&A levels, as well as billions in government stimulus that are being allocated globally to the cleantech sector over the next several quarters," said Brian Fan, senior director of research, Cleantech Group.
The report further says that, Indian cleantech companies raised a total of $131 million in seven investment rounds (of which one deal amount was not disclosed).
The total cleantech investments in India this quarter have gone up by 167% as compared to the previous quarter (January-March 2009). These investments have also increased by 161% as companred with the cleantech investments that were made in India in the same quarter last year.
The country’s largest cleantech deal in the quarter was the Ramky Enviro Engineers’ (REEL) deal in which the company raised $42 million (Rs 200 crore) form Standard Chartered IL&FS Asia Infrastructure Growth Fund, early last month. The private equity fund had bought a minority stake of less than 5% in REEL. REEL is a Hyderabad based waste management company and is a part of the Rs 2,500 crore Ramky Group.
Also, in the last quarter, the most active cleantech investor in the country was IL&FS (Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited), which invested in two deals. While Ramky Enviro Engineers was one of its investments in the quarter, it also invested around $7 million (Rs 36 crore) in renewable energy company Shalivahana Green Energy Limited (SGEL). Axis Private Equity had also invested $11 million (Rs 54 crore) in SGEL along with IL&FS.
In another cleantech deal in India, solar power firm Cobol Technologies (owned by Deepak and Ratul Puri of Moser Baer), raised $30 million (Rs 151 crore) from the Bermuda-based mid-sized fund house Pangea Capital. The funding was raised in April this year.
In May, electrical energy storage platform developer Deeya Energy Inc raised series C funding of $30 million from Technology Partners, BlueRun Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Element Partners and New Enterprise Associates. The funding was led by Technology Partners.
According to the report, the sector that led the cleantech investments in the quarter was the transportation sector, specifically, vehicles, biofuels and advanced batteries. The investments in the segments reflect the attention on the automotive sector and significant government stimulus.
The Solar sector, however, saw its lowest level of investment in the last three years, with only $114 million investments going into the sector. The investments in the solar sector have gone down from a high of $1.2 billion in 3Q 08. The decline in the investments in the sector is largely because most investors, whose portfolios contain significant solar holdings, did not increase their exposure.
“While venture investment in solar is down dramatically, utility investment in cleantech is up. Solar thermal was the leading energy source procured through power purchase agreements in the first half of 2009,” said Scott Smith, U.S. leader of Deloitte's Cleantech practice.
The Cleantech Group accelerates the development and market adoption of clean technologies globally. The company has a global network of investors, entrepreneurs, enterprises, service providers and others. The network receives access to capital, investment deal flow, networking, market leading research and data, sales leads and promotional opportunities.
The Group also provides advisory services for large corporations and governments, publishes cleantech sector industry news coverage and produces the Cleantech Forum events across the globe.
