Cleantech VC funding bounces back

Venture capital investing in clean technology companies rebounded in the first quarter with solar, biofuel and other "green" firms garnering $2.6 billion from investors.

"We're through the nuclear winter," said Dallas Kachan, managing partner of cleantech research and advisory firm Kachan & Co. "We’re back to business in cleantech venture capital. That means smart money is being put to work in interesting innovation all over the world."

North America pulled in $2.19 billion of the quarterly total with many Bay Area companies accounting for the largest rounds, according to data released by Cleantech Group. That compares to $680 million in the first quarter of 2009 and $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2010 for North America.

Oakland-based BrightSource Energy Inc.'s $200 million round — the largest of any cleantech company in the first quarter — will help it complete its first solar thermal power plants in the Mojave Desert and expand internationally. In Northern California, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Chevron Technology Ventures, CalSTRS and others, have pumped millions into the startup, which so far has raised $530 million in equity.

Read more in the San Francisco Business Times.