Venture capitalists invested a record $3 billion in 221 “clean technology” deals worldwide in 2007, a 43 percent increase over the $2.1 billion invested in 173 similar deals in 2006, according to new data from Dow Jones VentureSource.
The U.S. is the clear driving force behind the sector’s rapid rise, accounting for 83 percent of global clean technology investment in 2007, according to the report. In fact, the U.S. saw $2.52 billion invested in 159 cleantech deals, a 79 percent increase in investment over 2006. Cleantech accounted for more than eight percent of total U.S. venture capital investment in 2007.
The largest U.S. cleantech deal of 2007 belonged to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Project Better Place, which raised $200 million in its first round of funding to develop a market-based transportation infrastructure for electric vehicles.
In Europe, where Spain, Germany and others have long been on the forefront of cleantech implementation, cleantech investment also reached a new record in 2007 as venture capitalists invested approximately $360 million in 56 deals. This marks a 27 percent increase in capital investment over 2006. Overall, Europe accounted for 12 percent of global cleantech investment in 2007. The largest cleantech financing in Europe in 2007 was the $67 million second round for electric carmaker Think Global of Oslo, Norway.
It was a different story in China, the report found. The region, which saw record cleantech investment totaling $424 million in 2006, only saw six deals completed and $129 million invested in 2007.
In the U.S., the median deal size for a cleantech company stands at $8 million, up from $7.5 million in 2006.
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