Clean Tech Investment Hits Q1 Record

(MoneyWatch)  Ethanol, wind, and thin film solar investments have begun to taper, but overall investment to clean-tech ventures hit $1.25 billion during the first quarter, a 42 percent gain over the same period from 2007. That's one takeaway from the latest report from The Cleantech Group. A few more revealing details from first-quarter tallies:

Top five clean tech investors:

1. Khosla Ventures: 9 deals, $205 million
2. New Enterprise Associates: 4 deals, $84.4 milliom
3. Kleiner Perkins: 4 deals, $80 million
4. Element Partners: 4 deals, $68.9 million
5. Israel Cleantech Group: 4 deals, $16.6 million

Top five North American investments:

1. Range Fuels (Colorado -- cellulosic ethanol): $100 million
2. Luminus (Mass. -- solid state lighting): $72 million
3. Infinia (Wash. -- stirling engines): $50 million
4. Suniva (Georgia -- cystalline silicon solar cells): $50 million
5. Boston Power (Mass. -- Lithium ion batteries): $45 million

Top five North American sectors:

1. Biofuels: $195 million
2. Solar: $119 million
3. LED Lighting: $100 million
4. Materials: $96 million
5. Li-ion batteries: $58 million

A few other interesting data points:

• Cleantech M&A tallied 47 deals for the quarter, up from 39 in 1Q07, but showed activity than the previous three quarters.
• European and Israeli clean tech companies received $377 million in 29 transactions -- up 63.8 percent year over year.
• The Cleantech Index (CTIUS), with 46 companies and combined market cap of $340 billion, outperformed the Nasdaq Composite Index, but just slightly: down 13.6 percent for the quarter, vs. - 14.1 percent for the Nasdaq.