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Although biofuel startup LS9 Inc. only in March raised $5 million in Series A venture funding, company president Robert Walsh said Tuesday at AlwaysOn's Going Green show in Davis, Calif., that LS9 already is looking to raise more funds as it prepares to build a pilot plant for its synthetic petroleum product. The company's biofuel is designed to closely resemble...

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Tech Confidential caught up with Susan Mac Cormac, head of Morrison & Foerster LLP’s cleantech practice, at the AlwayOn Going Green conference in Davis, Calif. She moderated the morning panel on emerging clean energy technologies. Mac Cormac said a lack of education on the part of venture capitalists runs the risk of creating bubbles in certain areas of cleantech in part because it...

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Venture capitalists led off the morning session at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen conference Tuesday. Raj Atluru of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Samir Kaul of Khosla Ventures, Ray Lane from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Bill Green of VantagePoint Venture Partners all discussed the challenges they face investing in green technologies. The challenges are substantial — from the amount of capital the...

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Malcolm Bricklin is already a legend in the auto industry for introducing both the Subaru and the Yugo to U.S. buyers. Now the 68-year-old entrepreneur dreams of capping off his career by going down in history as the man that finally parked an ultra-fuel efficient car in the driveway. Bricklin, according to Autoblog, has set his sights on his...

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With the booming investment in and hype surrounding alternative ways to generate electricity — $451 million in the second quarter alone, according to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree survey — many technology developers are placing their bets on less-tested energy sources. That is, the technology itself may work, but the business case is more tenuous. Take SRI International, which plans...

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Is the heat off in the solar IPO market, or is Photowatt Solar Inc.'s initial public offering a victim of the credit crunch? The Canadian solar panel maker had filed to raise up to $185 million last September, but on Tuesday pulled its offering, citing market conditions. Tech Confidential has spoken about the credit crunch and the tech IPO...

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Biofuels developers are getting the lion's share of Virgin Group Ltd.'s $400 million alternative energy fund, but a small serving is going to a company that makes energy-efficient lighting technology. Metrolight Inc. announced Thursday that it has secured an investment of $9 million, led by Virgin Fuels and Gemini Israel Funds, with participation from Israel Cleantech Ventures and Altshuler...

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Solar cell manufacturer HelioVolt Corp. has raised $77 million in a second round of private funding. Although CEO B.J. Stanbery has not returned our calls for comment, sources close to the company tell Tech Confidential that HelioVolt recently completed the round and expects a second close later this month. Paladin Capital Group and the Masdar Clean Tech Fund co-led...

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Solar panel maker SolFocus Inc. has purchased Inspira SL, a maker of solar trackers, for an undisclosed amount. SolFocus, which raised $32 million in 2006 from New Enterprise Associates, NGEN Partners LLC and Yellowstone Capital Inc., already uses Inspira's trackers in its solar panel installations. Solar trackers are used to electronically move solar panels so they follow the sun...

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Virgin Fuels continues to spend Richard Branson's fortune on cleantech companies. Biofuel developer Gevo Inc. is getting Series B funding from Khosla Ventures and Virgin Group Ltd.'s $400 million alternative energy fund established last year. Exact figures were not made public, but Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber characterizes the deal as under $10 million and says the funds are earmarked for technology development. Branson's cleantech VC arm has also invested...

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