Cleantech funding appears to be alive and well in the earth-friendly Pacific Northwest. The cleantech investment organization Northwest Energy Angels, or NWEA, reports that it has just exceeded $1 million in venture capital funding for bio-friendly companies in the region.
A total of six cleantech companies received $1,132,000 from the NWEA during the first half of 2012. The group reports that it is the fastest that it has ever reached the $1 million level. (The group invested $1.3 million for all of 2011).
With an average investment of approximately $200,000 per company, the NWEA primarily funds three areas: energy efficiency, green building and biomass power. The six companies funded so far in 2012 include: Pacific Light Technologies (Portland), Indow Windows (Portland), Greenwood Clean Energy (Bellevue), Verlitics (Portland), FluxDrive (Sumner, Wash.), and Green Canopy Homes (Seattle).
Comprised of more than 60 angel investors, NWEA was founded in 2006, and its members have invested more than $6.5 million in 34 companies to date.
While the NWEA celebrates its million-dollar milestone, all is not well for cleantech VC funding on a global scale. San Francisco-based industry analyst Cleantech Group just reported that overall global investment in cleantech slowed in Q2 2012 to $1.61 billion, a 14 percent fall from Q1’s $1.88 billion in investments. The company also reported that it marked a 25 percent drop in funding from last year; Q2 2011 had $2.15 billion in funding. However, global Q2 totals may increase as more deals are reported, the company added.
