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VC Funding in Smart Grid Totals $383 Million in 2014, Reports Mercom Capital Group

AUSTIN, TX — (Marketwired) — 01/22/15 — Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity for the sector for 2014.

Venture capital (VC) funding into smart grid technology companies was $383 million (M) in 73 deals in 2014, compared to $410M in 64 deals in 2013. Total corporate funding, including debt and public market financings, came to $844M in 2014, compared to $584M in 2013. There were 88 total VC investors in 2014, with eight active investors participating in multiple deals. Home automation companies received the most funding within Smart Grid.

Chart: Smart Grid Q4 funding –

The Top VC funded companies in 2014 were led by Savant Systems, which raised $90M. Zonoff brought in $31.8M; this was followed by the $22.6M raise by ChargePoint. SIGFOX raised $20.6M and EnVerv, raised $15.4M.

Chart: Top 5 Smart Grid companies –

The top investors in 2014 included BDC Capital, Constellation Technology Ventures, Emertec Gestion, Israel Cleantech Ventures, Qualcomm, Siemens Venture Capital, VantagePoint Capital and Voyager Capital with two deals each.

There were 32 Smart Grid transactions (12 disclosed) in 2014 totaling $3.9 billion (B). The top disclosed transaction in 2014 was Google–s acquisition of Nest Labs for $3.2B, followed by the $200M acquisition of SmartThings by Samsung Electronics and the $150M acquisition of Aclara Technologies by Sun Capital Partners. Bel Fuse acquired Power-One–s Power Solutions business for $117M and Sierra Wireless acquired Wireless Maingate for $90M.

In 2014, Mercom expanded its coverage to include Storage/Battery and Energy Efficiency sectors.

Companies in the Storage/Battery space received $418M in 32 deals. The top VC funding deal in 2014 was the $55M raise by Aquion Energy, followed by Bloom Energy, which raised $50M. Ambri (formerly Liquid Metal Battery Corporation) raised $35M, Amprius raised $30M and Powin Energy raised $25M.

Chart: Top deals –

Sodium-based Storage/Battery companies received the most funding with $112M.

There were also 19 debt and public market financing deals in Storage/Battery totaling $490M including one Initial Public Offering in 2014. There were two third-party storage funds announced to finance no-money, no-upfront, behind-the-meter storage projects.

M&A transactions in Battery/Storage totaled 18, of which six transactions were disclosed, totaling $232M.

Energy Efficiency companies raised $797M in 80 deals in 2014. The top VC deal was the $100M raise by View (formerly Soladigm), followed by Lextar Electronics, which raised $83M. LatticePower brought in $80M, Renovate America raised $50M and Phononic raised $44.5M.

Chart: Top Energy Efficiency deals –

technology companies received the most funding in the Energy Efficiency sector with $315M.

companies also raised $410M in debt and public market financings with two IPOs — Opower and Lumenpulse in 2014.

There were 26 M&A transactions this year in the Energy Efficiency category.

To get a copy of the report, visit:

Mercom Capital Group, llc, is a global communications and research firm focused on cleantech. Mercom advises companies on new market entry, custom market intelligence and strategic decision-making. Mercom–s communications division helps companies build powerful relationships with media, analysts, local communities, and strategic partners. About Mercom: .