Tag Archive for 'Business of Green'

Samsung: The next big bet

Published on October 9, 2011 in Emerging Markets and Global Strategy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

The world’s biggest information-technology firm is diving into green technology and the health business. It should take care; its rivals should take notice.

In 2000 Samsung started making batteries for digital gadgets. Ten years later it sold more of them than any other company in the world. In 2001 it threw resources into flat-panel televisions. Within four years it was the market leader. In 2002 the firm bet heavily on “flash” memory. The technology it delivered made the iPhone and iPad a reality, and made Samsung Apple’s biggest supplier—and now its biggest hardware competitor.

The handsome payoffs from these ballsy bets made the South Korean company a colossus; last year its sales passed $135 billion. Now it is embarking on a similarly audacious plan to move away from electronics into technologies where it barely has a presence today. It intends to spend $20 billion over ten years on solar panels, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) used for lighting, electric-vehicle batteries, medical devices and biotech drugs.

These businesses shift Samsung away from easily substitutable gadgets towards more essential industrial goods (see table)—or from “infotainment” to “lifecare”, as the company puts it. Just as electronics defined swathes of the 20th century, the company believes green technology and health care will be central to the 21st [Read more].

Google drops another $55M on Calif. wind farm

Published on May 25, 2011 in Greentech. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Google has invested $55 million in a wind energy farm in southern California that will generate up to 1,550 megawatts of power — bringing the search giant’s total investments in clean energy up to $400 million.

The farm is located in Tehachapi, Calif., “where the Mojave sands meet the Tehachapi Mountains,” according to a blog post by Google’s renewable energy guru Rick Needham. The deal does not involve a power purchase agreement — meaning Google is only investing money in the project because it believes it will generate some kind of financial return. The first several projects in the Alta Wind Energy Center are already complete and the wind farm is generating 720 megawatts of power [source].

Cleantech 2.0 Is on Its Way

Published on February 27, 2011 in Greentech. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

A learning curve — it’s starting to happen slowly but surely for investors in the cleantech industry. That second wave — or Cleantech 2.0 — will likely be more focused on private equity, will look to scale some of the already proven innovations, and will be far more global in scale.

“We got really excited about this growth area,” said Mondre. The bulk of funding for cleantech has gone into early stage high-risk companies, and there’s been very limited capital going into helping people scale businesses once they’ve reached technological feasibility [Source].

Greentech VC: Billion Dollar January

Published on February 14, 2011 in Greentech. 0 Comments Tags: .

A huge month in terms of dollars, deals and sector scope. Part 2 covers biofuels, energy efficiency, smart grid, wind and everything else.

Part 1 covered January VC investment in solar, energy storage and transportation. Today’s list, Part 2, covers the smart grid, biofuels, energy efficiency, water and more.

U.S. venture capital investments in greentech totaled $3.7 billion in 2010, according to the MoneyTree Report based on data from Thomson Reuters. The global number was $7.8 billion, according to the Cleantech Group although that group’s numbers tend to run high due to a liberal definition of what constitutes cleantech. Strong VC numbers function as a proxy for a healthy greentech industry.

In any case, if the first month of this year is any indication, and it most likely is not, the greentech VC train is picking up steam with almost $1 billion worth of green VC deals in the month of January [Source].

GE Makes $520M Move Into Green Data Centres

Published on January 14, 2011 in Greentech and International Business. 0 Comments Tags: , .

GE wants a slice of the burgeoning green-data-centers pie — and it’s willing to spend half a billion dollars to get it [Source].

The company, which manufactures everything from wind turbines to electric car charging stations, announced today it has acquired power conversion technology company Lineage Power for $520 million from Gores Group, an offering that GE says will help it leverage huge opportunities in telecom and making data centers more efficient.

Lineage Power makes energy efficient power conversion technology that converts the AC electricity delivered from the grid to DC electricity to power the servers and equipment in data centers. It also makes DC-DC power modules for telecom purposes and helps companies set up energy systems. Some companies have been demonstrating data centers running on all-DC power as of late, as a way to save energy [Source].

OnGreen raises $1.4 million

Published on November 14, 2010 in Greentech and International Business. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

OnGreen, a social media platform for green entrepreneurs looking for investors, this week announced a $1.4 million first round of financing by China Southern Hong Kong Investment, a cleantech investment fund in Shanghai.

The company calls itself the “LinkedIn” of cleantech investing. “We don’t just connect people with people, we connect ideas with money,” said CEO Nikhil Jain.

The company launched its OnGreen.com web site, in July, which has since been used by nearly 300 entrepreneurs in more than 35 countries. Startup hopefuls use the site to upload a business plan, and investors can contact entrepreneurs directly if they’re interested in investing in the idea [Source].

GE’s $500 Million Electric Vehicle Push

Published on November 11, 2010 in Greentech and International Business. 0 Comments Tags: , .

General Electric has said it will make a record order of 25,000 electric cars, to try to kick-start the EV market. GE is furthering its ambitions to promote cleaner energy and its Ecomagination initiative, although this is actually a company-wide issue [Source].

Its first order is for 12,000 Chevrolet Volts, which will start to roll off GM’s production lines this month. GE will use them as company cars and lease them to corporate customers [Source].

It’s an expensive investment, but GE thinks it will pay out in the end. That’s because, the company sells a number of smart grid and EV charging products. One of the most high-profile GE-branded EV products is the WattStation, an Yves Behar-designed EV charging station set to be released in 2011. So it makes sense that GE wants to jumpstart the EV industry–the company will profit handsomely if it takes off [Source].

You can find a video on the electric car revolution here, as part of the GE Show episode 2.

Solar Power Business Heats Up: Enter GE

Published on October 13, 2010 in Greentech, High Tech & Media and International Business. 0 Comments Tags: .

Years spent honing manufacturing techniques under Jack Welch will come in handy as Tom Tiller boosts output at Abound Solar.

Watch out, solar manufacturers: GE may be about to take over your turf. The corporate giant, which has already carved out a spot as one of the world’s leading wind turbine suppliers, announced this week that it is moving into the thin film solar business.

GE is manufacturing cadmium telluride thin film panels, which puts it in direct competition with First Solar, the only other major company to focus on the material. It will be a fierce battle. First Solar is the world’s largest thin-film solar manufacturer, and one of the biggest solar manufacturers overall.

Most solar panels convert sunlight into electricity using silicon-based photovoltaic cells. Abound Solar, formerly known as AVA Solar, uses a less costly cadmium-telluride thin-film process developed by W. S. Sampath, one of its founders, while teaching at Colorado State University [Source 1] [Source 2] [Source 3].

GE’s “Ecomagination Challenge”

Published on July 14, 2010 in Greentech and International Business. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Got a bright idea? How about an energy-saving one? GE announced today a $200 million “open innovation challenge” that invites inventors, entrepreneurs, and startups of all stripes to compete to develop the next-generation of power grid technologies.

Called the Ecomagination Challenge, this huge investment comes only weeks after GE announced a $10 billion injection into its own eco-R&D projects.Along with four VC firms that have pledged half of the $200 million to the challenge, GE is asking the public for innovative ideas in clean technology. From now until September 30, you can head to the Ecomagination homepage to submit a proposal or vote for other user-generated ideas.

GE explained earlier today that the $200 million investment could lead to acquisition or co-development opportunities, and even trademark and licensing deals. “This is wide-open,” said another investor in the challenge, who commented that the challenge should serve as a catalyst for novel ideas, regardless of who comes up with them, whether an individual or well-funded start-up [Source].

Investing in Green Technology

Published on July 13, 2010 in Global Strategy and Greentech. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The Bill Gates and Khosla Ventures dream team are swooping in once again to provide much-needed cash to a worthy sustainable startup. The pair recently injected millions into nuclear power startup TerraPower, and now they’re back again to invest $23.5 million in EcoMotors’s series B funding round.

EcoMotors builds a lightweight, high-efficiency, low-cost combustion engine that supposedly offer 50% greater fuel efficiency than similar conventional engines. The company’s Opposed Piston Opposed Cylinder (OPOC) engine can be used in everything from passenger vehicles to auxiliary power supplies–anywhere traditional gas and diesel-powered engines can be found.