It’s only natural that as an analyst, I am consistently asked to whip out my crystal ball and share the future of water technologies. The reality is that I’m more inclined to highlight the challenges that water innovators are confronted with in the context of our global need for better water resource management. Naturally, it would be worthless to consider technologies outside the scope of the solutions that they need to solve. So while there are some days that I hate to answer a specific water technology outlook request, most days I love sharing my answer to this question.

Since a typical aspect of market research has historically been market sizing, many water outlook requests are growth trend questions. In other words, the typical question is: where should I be investing my money in the water sector? Which markets present the greatest opportunity?

For those of you that know about the Black Swan (the theory, not the movie starring Natalie Portman), it suggests that the most innovative companies that have emerged throughout history while complete surprises, were ultimately rationalized in hindsight. I’m not saying that market sizing isn’t important (our CEO would kill me if I said that!), I’m saying …

Each week our research team tracks cleantech transactions across the globe. This week we recorded six VC/PE deals, two fund announcements, 13 M&As and two IPO-related announcements. Below are some of the highlights. Cleantech Group subscribers can see the full roundup of all the deals here.

VC, private company and corporate investments

Over $215 million of venture fund was raised by six cleantech companies, the two largest deals were:

• California-based luxury electric vehicle maker Fisker Automotive raised an additional $40 million through its latest round of private fundraising, adding to the $150 million it snatched up in February. In total, between public funds and private investments, Fisker has raised in excess of $1 billion. However, according to the company, it currently has “no specific usage” for the additional $40 million, only stating that the money provides a “comfortable cushion.”
• Smart building start-up Scientific Conservation announced that it has expanded its Series B funding round from $15.65 million to $19 million, with investment from GE Energy Financial Services and Triangle Peak Partners. The firm develops a web-based software platform that links into a building’s existing automation system and applies analytics to continuously predict, detect and diagnose system faults and anomalies.

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Each week our research team tracks cleantech transactions across the globe. This week we recorded eight VC/PE deals, one fund announcements, nine M&As and two IPO-related announcements. Below are some of the highlights. Cleantech Group subscribers can see the full roundup of all the deals here.

VC, private company and corporate investments

Over $368m of venture fund was raised by eight cleantech companies, the two largest deals were:

• US private equity firm TPG revealed its plan to invest HK$1.2b (~$150m) into Hong Kong-listed Chinese solar wafer maker Comtec Solar Systems. The investment, which is TPG’s first in the Chinese solar sector, takes the form of HK$780m (~$100.2m) in newly-issued convertible bonds and up to HK$390m (~$50.1m) in warrants, in exchange for 21% of Comtec’s issued share capital.
• Suniva, a Georgia-based developer and manufacturer of high-efficiency silicon photovoltaic cells, raised $94.4m of a venture round targeted at $115m from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Warburg Pincus, et al. The company previously raised more than $130 million from investors including NEA, Warburg Pincus, H.I.G. Ventures, and Advanced Equities.

Mergers and acquisitions

Nine cleantech M&A transactions were tracked this week. Highlights included:

• India-based Aditya Birla Group, the world’s largest viscose staple fiber (VSF)

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There has been a lot of discussion around the water-energy nexus concept. Innovators are developing new technologies to improve the energy requirements of treatment technologies while others are developing technologies that harvest the energy and mineral/nutrient content of waste streams. It is an immensely promising area due in no small part to the fact that customers of all camps are typically quite sensitive to their energy costs.

Water utilities in particular are acutely aware that approximately 90% to 95% of their energy related costs are utilized by pumps. While the prioritization of energy efficient pumps in the procurement process can save on such costs, engineering firms play a significant role in helping water utilities optimize pump scheduling of existing assets. Such services are typically based on hourly rates on a per project basis and can be viewed as either potential partnership opportunities or gating barriers for new water market entrants.

Derceto (see Company Insight Report, subscription required), is a New Zealand based company that has a perspective from both worlds. The company spun off from an engineering firm and now sells an ‘off the shelf’ software product that optimizes pump scheduling for water utilities. Their software has helped EBMUD…

You’ve probably heard the spiel.  T. Boone Pickens and his biyuns of this and that.  Well in the last three years Boone and his billions have proved effective in letting the country know that we hold beneath our feet a resource that has the potential to (temporarily) appease both energy security and climate change hawks.  So what’s happening now?

1)      Natural Gas is looked at as a “bridge” fuel to better times (when the land is covered with wind turbines and PV panels and every garage will house an electric vehicle) because, as the table below shows, it is more efficiently converted to thermal and electrical energy from its original chemical state with lower carbon emissions compared to its competitors in the transportation and electric power arenas.  And thanks to recent innovation in horizontal drilling techniques, we’re now able to extract Natural Gas from impermeable shale, meaning we are now able to recover a lot more of our domestic reserves.

2)      Congress is poised to take up debate of Mr. Pickens’ baby, H.R. 1380 (don’t worry, you need not read the whole thing – congress likely won’t), which would encourage proliferation of Natural Gas as a transportation fuel, …