EnStorage raises $15M Series B financing led by Warburg Pincus

Israeli fuel cell start-up EnStorage Ltd. has raised $15 million in a Series B financing round.

U.S. private equity fund Warburg Pincus led the round, and was joined by all of EnStorage's current investors, including Greylock Partners, Canaan Partners, Siemens TTB, and Wellington Partners, according to a report in "Globes".

EnStorage was founded in 2007 by VP R&D Dr. Arnon Blum, Chief Scientific Officer Prof. Emanuel Peled of Tel Aviv University, Chairman Nachman Shelef, and former CEO Eran Yarkoni.

EnStorage is developing and commercializing energy storage systems, based on technology developed for over by Prof. Emanuel Peled and his team at Tel Aviv University. The technology is licensed from Ramot, the technology transfer company of Tel Aviv University.

According to the EnStorage web site, James Levy, a Principal at Warburg Pincus, has joined the EnStorage Board of Directors.

EnStorage raised a $2 million Series A financing in January 2008.

Eran Yarkoni was the featured speaker at the first CleanIsrael Meetup in March 2008. Congratulations to the EnStorage team for the Series B financing!

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EnStorage raises $2m from Greylock, Canaan and Siemens Venture Capital

Highlights from first CleanIsrael meetup event

BioPetroClean raises funds from 21Ventures

Israeli water purification company BioPetroClean has closed its latest financing round, raising $5 million from 21 Ventures LLC, according to an announcement by the company and a report in "Globes".

BioPetroClean is developing bioremediation systems for cleaning waste water contaminated by oil and other pollutants, through a process called Active Chemostate Treatment (ACT). The company was founded in 2006 by chairman Hezi Marueli, CEO David Amir, and CTO Eugene Rosenberg, a world-renowned authority in the biological treatment of oil pollution and a professor at Tel Aviv University.

According to Globes, the money will be used by BioPetroClean to set up a sales network and fund several potential BOT projects.

"During the refining process, refineries produce large quantities of water, that they have to treat rather than pumping it out as effluent. We bring the quality of the water to a level that enables them to either pump it back out into the environment or improve its quality through a further treatment process to a level that will enable it to be used for irrigation or in industry," explains BioPetroClean director of business development Yael Barash.

The company's technology is currently being tested in a pilot project at a number of key facilities in Israel and other countries, and Barash gives as examples, two projects now underway in South Africa. One is at a refinery in Durban and the other was a one-time project carried out in cooperation with global energy giants BP and Shell. "We carried out a single cleaning project for them two months ago, and we're now working on the terms of a contract with them for a larger project," adds Barash.

As to the potential financial value of the contracts, Barash notes that at small sites, meaning tanker farms for ports, a project can range from $300,000 to $800,000. A facility at oil refineries and drilling sites, which are considered large sites, will cost $1-3 million. A single service (cleaning an accrued quantity of water at a specified site) will cost around $50,000 to $250,000.

IC Green Energy and Yom-Tov Samia

Yom-Tov Samia, former head of the IDF's Southern Command and now the Director of IC Green Energy, a subsidiary of Israel Corp., gave an interesting, no-nonsense presentation on his company's areas of activity and strategies for cleantech investment at the Renewable Energy and Beyond conference at Tel Aviv University (see this post for more observations from the conference).

According to Samia, the transition to renewable energy is no longer a question of choice, but rather a necessity in order to effectively address: (1) national security through energy independence; and (2) environmental concerns and greenhouse gas emissions.

Samia outlined IC Green Energy's "12-12 Vision" to be one of the 12 leading companies worldwide in the field of renewable energy by 2012. In order to achieve this goal, the company aims to process 4-5% of the global biofuel market (~4 million tons) and construct 2-3 significant renewable energy (biomass or solar) power plants in the next few years.

IC Green Energy's areas of activity are:

• biofuels – biodiesel and ethanol – based on existing, 1st generation technologies (just for market entry)
• energy from biomass – based on developing, 2nd generation technologies
• solar energy (photovoltaics and concentrating solar power)
• advanced technologies for clean energy
• carbon trading

The company's key strategies are to:

1. be big or go home – size does count; strive for measurable presence
2. act with strong, strategic local partners
3. vertical integrate, when practical, its supply chain
4. plan, organize and produce globally while acting regionally/locally
5. gain advantages in:
• cutting edge technologies
• risk management though purchase of raw materials and product sales
• local logistics and cost-effective production

Samia says that approximately 60% of IC Green Energy's renewable energy investment will be in solar technologies, and the remaining investment will be in biofuels. While the company is clearly focused on making a profit, its business strategy is apparently also taking social concerns into account . Accordingly, its biofuel production will be based solely on non-edible feedstock such as Jatropha, Castor, cellulosic biomass and algae. As Samia explained, "We will not take bread from the poor to produce gasoline for the rich!"

IC Green Energy had made 3 undisclosed investments so far, and Samia hinted that a major investment related to cellulosic ethanol is in the works and might be announced soon.

Related posts:

IC Green Energy to enter Negev solar power plant tender

Observations from the Tel Aviv U. renewable energy conference

Earlier this week I attended the Renewable Energy and Beyond conference at Tel Aviv University (TAU). The conference, which organizers say was attended by over 700 people, featured presentations by influential business leaders, academics, and government officials from Israel, the United States, and around the world. I was pleased to see many participants from the Cleantech Israel meetup group in the crowd.

What follows are some observations from the conference. Ha'aretz published an article today that includes interviews with several of the speakers, and a video of the conference is also available online.

Tel Aviv University to establish "super center" for renewable energy

Robert Goldberg, Chairman of the Board of Governors of TAU, announced that the university will establish Israel's first "super center" for renewable energy. The goals of the center will be to:

1. advance multidisciplinary research on viable renewable energy solutions
2. promote implementation of these solutions in Israel and around the world
3. nurture new generations of environmentalists, scientists, and businesspeople

Let's hope that this initiative is a success. MIT's Energy Initiative demonstrates what is possible when a leading university takes on the challenge of "linking science, innovation, and policy to transform the world's energy systems."

U.S. and Israel sign M.O.U. on Renewable Energy Research Collaboration

Steven Chalk, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy, announced that his office signed an agreement Wednesday with the Infrastructure Ministry outlining areas of possible research collaboration, including biofuels and solar power storage, which enables solar providers to supply energy for a limited time even when the sun is not out. The deal provides for joint funding by U.S., Israel and private-sector partners and could be finalized by Friday, Chalk told Ha'aretz.

This follows the passage of the U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act in December 2007.

The Future of Transportation

Prof. Michael B. McElroy of Harvard gave a sobering presentation on climate change and the need to act now to cut down on the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation and to demonstrate to China and India that development and prosperity can be achieved in environmentally sustainable ways.

McElroy also emphasized the need to move away from using (imported) oil for transportation. According to McElroy, the solution is to do away with the internal combustion engine, develop battery technologies, and replace oil with electricity generated by renewable sources. While he did not mention Project Better Place, his lecture seemed like a good pitch for the company.

Al Gore addresses Tel Aviv U. renewable energy conference

During his keynote address at Tel Aviv University's Renewable Energy Conference, former U.S. vice president Al Gore called on Israel to take the lead in the development of renewable energy.

"The people of Israel stand in my moral imagination as guardians of the proposition that we as human beings are answerable to moral duties, that there are ethical laws that should guide our decisions and choices. At this moment in history, when, for the first time, all the people of this earth have to make a clear, seemingly difficult but simple moral judgment about our future, the people of Israel can lead the way to renewable energy."

A video of the event, including speeches by Al Gore and Israeli President Shimon Peres -- who called oil the "biggest problem of our time" -- is available on Tel Aviv U.'s web site.

Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Israel's Minister of National Infrastructures, announced his intention to commit Israel to construct an additional solar power station in the Negev every year for the next 20 years, and to construct a 300MW wind power station by 2011. Ben-Eliezer also revealed that in the coming weeks he will introduce a government resolution designating all of the Negev Desert and southern Israel as a national preference zone for renewable energy.

I will be attending the conference on Wednesday. The program focuses on (1) Renewable Energy: R&D Challenges; (2) Sustainable Energy: Opportunities in the Business Sector; (3) Global Warming and Geopolitics: Instability or Peace?; and (4) Israel's Road to Energy Independence.

Environmental technology symposium at Tel Aviv University

On April 8, 2008, The Porter School of Environmental Studies (PSES), together with Ramot, the technology transfer company of Tel Aviv University (TAU), will hold a symposium on environmental technology research being carried out at TAU.

I had an opportunity to speak with the chair of the symposium, Dr. Eli Galanti, who is the Research Coordinator at PSES. According to Dr. Galanti, "The symposium will be aimed at giving a platform to the sizable number of studies in this field that have taken place at the university in recent years, and introducing researchers to interested parties from industry, government and the financial sector."

Dr. Galanti "anticipates that the symposium will enable participants to establish contacts in order to facilitate funding opportunities and commercialization options."

The program will include three different sessions, each featuring multiple researchers from TAU and chaired by a leading Israeli cleantech investor.

The first session, "Finding Alternative Energy: From solar and wind power to biofuels and hydrogen", will be chaired by Chen Altshuler, Director of Research at Altshuler Shaham, one of the leading investment houses in Israel. It was the first investment house in the region to establish a "green mutual fund" and is a major shareholder of "Ecocycle", a holding company which owns a green incubator and invests in private and very early stage green companies.

The second session, "Identifying Environmental Stresses: Water, air and soil", will be chaired by Booky Oren, President and CEO of the Arison Water Initiative, a $100m water-focused holding company. Mr. Oren was formerly CEO of the Mekorot, the Israel National Water Company.

The third session, "Improving the Environment: Remediation, rehabilitation, and smart agriculture", will be led by Jack Levy, General Partner at Israel Cleantech Ventures.

A complete program and list of presenters, and information about how to RSVP, is available online at the PSES web site.