ZPEnergy.com - Energy-Technology Venture Investment Now More Than 2% of All VC Funding in U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Venture capital investment in the United States for energy-technology-related start-up companies reached $428 million during 2003, about even with the $435 million raised during 2002, Nth Power LLC, the pioneering energy venture capital firm, reported today. The 2003 figure represents 2.3% of the total of $18.2 billion in venture capital investments made in the U.S. last year...

Some extracts from the article (www.prnewswire.com)

...Recalling that VC funding represented less than 1% of total venture capital activity as recently as 1999, Mr. Gunderson states: "The reason we see growing investment in energy technologies is obvious. As the industry and its customers find themselves going from crisis to crisis, there is a growing realization that patchwork solutions are not going to solve the challenges facing energy producers and users. The emergence of new technologies and their adoption are capable of fulfilling the promise for solving systemic problems involving how we generate, use, track and manage electric power."

Noting that recent sustained blackouts hit within weeks of each other, Mr. Gunderson states: "We have seen how precarious the situation is with energy supply and reliability in the United States and elsewhere. Last year's blackouts, including the major August 14th outage in the northeastern United States, were not the result of peak demand. These incidents showed that energy systems continue to be vulnerable to disruptions, and that sustained investments in new technologies are required to fix problems creatively and effectively. Such investments are absolutely vital because of today's digital economy."

...The entrance of new materials technologies in the energy sector will also lead to new breakthroughs in how energy touches our lives," Mr. Gunderson believes. "From consumer electronics to building materials to new sources of energy, materials science is a critical component of many of the new energy start-ups we are seeing."

Is 2.3% Enough? Concluding her remarks at the POWER-GEN conference, Ms. Floyd will refer back to the 2.3% of total VC investment made for energy technology, stating: Energy is one of the four biggest and most critical industries in the world, and the potential for new technologies and innovation is there. More entrepreneurs, more ideas and more capital are all critical to bring needed solutions to market. I believe energy will continue to grow its share of total venture capital, but lets not wait until the next time the lights go out."

The 2003 study was conducted with data compiled by Nth Power, in collaboration with Clean Edge Inc., the Cleantech Venture Network and the PWC/TVE/NVCA MoneyTree Survey.