No Surprise: Global Clean Tech Investment Down in 1Q09
Clean technology continues to be the darling of the investment world, at least in terms of publicity and proclaimed investment focus. The CleanTech Group, along with Deloitte & Touche, recently released a survey of clean technology investments by venture capitalists in North America, Europe, China and India for the first quarter of 2009, and the results may surprise many. According to the survey, first quarter investment in clean technology companies by venture capitalists declined in back-to-back quarters following the third quarter of 2008, to $1 billion--the lowest level of investment in this sector in two years. That isn't surprising based on the status of the U.S. economy during that period. It's also no surprise that investments in solar companies once again led the way. The gap between solar and biofuels, the sector attracting the second highest investment dollars, remains huge, with the former attracting nearly 400 percent more investment dollars than the latter. It will be interesting to see how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and other economic stimulus allocations from the G20 nations, will affect the overall dollar amounts flowing from venture capitalists into clean technology companies over the next four quarters, as well as the breakdown of dollars across the various sectors.
