Cleantech Corner

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson has joined Peak Ridge Capital Group.

Japan-based Nikko Asset Management is gearing up to launch an open-ended 'green' investment trust next month.

WIM Asset Management's new fund will screen out polluters and tobacco companies.

This will be "the year of the first exits" for Cleantech Invest AG, says Juergen Habichler, founder and managing partner of the Swiss venture capital fund that focuses on cleantech investments in the German-speaking world.  

Future Capital Partners, the £6 billion U.K.-based alternative investment boutique, has launched a new platform that will allow U.K. investors to invest in the rapidly growing Renewable Transport Fuels (RTF) sector.

Solyndra, Inc., a manufacturer of cylindrical photovoltaic (PV) systems for commercial rooftops, has filed for an IPO that could be worth $300 million.

Venture capitalists surveyed by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) believe cleantech is the sector most likely to show growth in 2010.

The NVCA questioned over 325 venture capitalists across the United States from 30 November to 8 December 2009. Of those surveyed, 54% believe VC investment in the cleantech sector would rise in 2010.

France’s Soitec Group, a leading supplier of engineered substrates for the microelectronics industry, will acquire the German concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar systems maker Concentrix Solar GmbH.

U.S.-based Danotek Motion Technologies has received a combined $13.2 million from four of the world’s leading renewable energy venture capital firms – GE Energy Financial Services, CMEA Capital, Khosla Ventures and Energy Capital Management.

The French financial management firm Demeter Partners has closed the cleantech-focused Demeter 2 fund at EUR 203 million ($292 million).