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Summary:

Clean technology — which accounted for the largest share of venture capital investment in the second half of 2009 — has fared better than many other sectors in the recession. And perhaps more than any other industry, cleantech has the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to thank. The act, better known as the stimulus, set aside billions for green technologies and projects and brought attention to the goal of creating green jobs. Despite the positive impact of the economy’s negative impacts are not to be understated. The recession has shuffled the deck for clean technologies — strengthening some companies’ hands while weakening others’ — and spurred new thinking about how to make progress, even when traditional financing is harder to come by. It’s not yet clear who the winners and losers will be, and whether the lessons learned during this time will leave the industry, as a whole, better or worse off. But it’s obvious that big changes are happening, and it’s become increasingly important to understand the new sources of capital — and the new challenges in raising money from traditional sources — for companies and technologies to succeed. Based on the most recent available data on venture capital investment, angel investment, private equity, project finance and federal stimulus funding, as well as in-depth interviews with dozens of sector experts, this report looks at what the year ahead holds for cleantech companies at all stages of their development.