DOE The New VC, Steps in with $157M in Early Stage Investments
The Department of Energy released the names of the first beneficiaries — 37 in all — of its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), funding program. The recipients, a mixture of startups and university research labs, are all developing cleantech technologies set to meet the DOE’s broad mandate in the Obama age: Cut carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency, and lower oil exports.
The 37 recipients will share $157 million in government funding. This is the first round of projects funded by ARPA-E, which is backed by $400 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
One recipient is a research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that seeks to develop a battery for large-scale grid applications based on an all-liquid metal technology that could improve grid stability, or possibly be used in conjunction with large wind or solar projects. Another beneficiary is the research arm of United Technologies with its effort to develop new synthetic enzymes that could make it easier to capture CO2 emissions from power plants and factories.
The venture capital and private equity community have been eagerly waiting for the names of the recipients. The winners, or at least their technologies, represent investment opportunities for these early stage investors. For a complete list of the ARPA-E recipients, see here.
The competition for the government funding was stiff. There were 3,600 concept papers submitted, followed by 300 full applications and ultimately 37 awardees. The DOE is expected to announce a second batch of awardees by year-end.
Martin LaMonica at CNET News reports that Energy Secretary Steven Chu is in Mountain View, Calif. today at Google headquarters.
Google, first through its philanthropic arm and now via its newly launched Google Ventures arm, has been actively investing in the cleantech arena. It’s even considering developing its own technology to improve the overall efficiency of solar power generation. For more on that, see here. With some $500 million dedicated to cleantech investments Google pros will likely take a close look at the list ARPA-E recipients released today.
