Register Here.

Interested in learning more about one of the top global CleanTech investment firms?  Attend this upcoming presentation and networking reception to connect with ABB Technology Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the ABB Group, one of the world’s largest engineering companies.

Speakers:

• Grant Allen, Vice President, ABB Technology Ventures
• Gary Rackliffe, VP and Head of Smart Grid, the ABB Group
• Allen Burchett, Region Function Manager, Strategic Initiatives, North America, the ABB Group

On November 1, SJF Ventures’ portfolio company CleanScapes, a Seattle-based recycling and waste collection firm, closed a merger transaction with another leading West Coast firm, Recology, the largest U.S. employee-owned company in the waste and recycling industry. The deal was a strong win-win-win for customers, employees, shareholders and the environment.  The two companies share a similar employee engagement culture and a pursuit of ‘waste zero’ communities.   The merger further proves that strong performing companies that do well by doing good, as CleanScapes demonstrated, can attract aligned acquirers that share a vision of building companies that create impacts beyond the bottom line.

SJF first read about the company in an article in Sustainable Industries about three years ago and was struck by the young company’s accomplishment of winning a $35 million annual contract with the City of Seattle.    Shortly thereafter, SJF’s Cody Nystrom and Dave Kirkpatrick met with the company and discovered a mutual alignment with management given SJF’s deep recycling and waste expertise and  positive impact mission.   SJF was the only venture capital fund invited to participate in an $11.8MM equity round and invested $1.92 million.

CleanScapes performed exceptionally well on the City of Seattle and Shoreline contract, which contributed to their success in winning two additional municipal contracts in the greater Seattle region.  The recent win with the City of Issaquah proves that a company offering strong customer service, a great place to work and a sustainability focus does not have to mean higher costs.  In fact, a recent article in the Issaquah Press indicates “Consumers could experience a rate decrease as the city transitions from the current hauler, Waste Management, to CleanScapes in early summer.”

Chris Martin started CleanScapes in 1997 in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood.  At that time the Company offered exterior cleaning services to businesses and properties seeking to present a cleaner, more orderly appearance to prospective customers, employees, and other stakeholders.  In 2002, frustrated by the messes, odors, and collection noise created by the dumpsters clogging Pioneer Square’s alleys, the CleanScapes team introduced an innovative pay-as-you-throw model for commercial garbage and recycling collection.   Called “Dumpster Free Alley Service”, this model replaced dumpsters with color coded bags which economically incentivized customers to reduce waste or divert trash to lower cost recycling streams.   Building on this initial model, the company has continued to implement new forms of environmental, social  and workforce innovation in waste management including: neighborhood waste reduction competitions, waste audits, CNG fleets, two-man driver crews and  sharing of key performance metrics  with employees and communities .  In short, CleanScapes has certainly created a unique platform in a space that has historically lacked innovation.

When SJF first approached CleanScapes in late 2008, they were doing around $12 million in revenue and about to embark on a significant growth plan.   The company only raised one round of capital and grew to over $47 million in sales by 2010 demonstrating a clear fit with SJF’s capital efficient, growth stage investment theme.   Another theme that aligned well with SJF’s expertise and interest was business model innovation in recycling and waste verticals.   SJF Ventures has developed a niche vertical within cleantech in recycling, asset recovery and reuse companies.    The SJF portfolio includes several successful companies in the segment outside of CleanScapes, including Salvage Direct (auto recovery), eRecyclingCorps (cell phone recovery and reuse), Optoro (returned retail goods recovery), and Living Earth (organics composting).    These firms, and many others like them, are using business model innovations to capture significant value from used goods that would otherwise be sent to landfills, generating incremental additional jobs, wealth, resource conservation and carbon reduction for the U.S. economy.

SJF Ventures is very pleased that Recology recognized CleanScapes’ unique value offering a strong return for investors and company shareholders.   CleanScapes employees will now have the opportunity to participate in the value of this new partnership through the Recology ESOP model, which we believe will motivate employees to help make the next chapter of CleanScapes as successful as the last.

If your company serves the fields of energy & efficiency, recycling & waste, sustainable agriculture, water management, green building, or environmental services and other related cleantech fields and you are based in Appalachia or serving Appalachian markets, we encourage you to apply. Entrepreneurs selected to participate will have the chance to work with a select network of cleantech leaders and accelerate the growth of their companies by utilizing new approaches and applying best practices.

Participating mentors can be found at www.sjfinstitute.org/node/422. Join the SJF Cleantech Mentorship program network’s nineteen accomplished mentors by submitting your application now.

Apply now and accelerate you company’s success!

Thank you to our 2011 Sponsors of the SJF Cleantech Mentorship Program NYC Metro Region!

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsor

Bronze Sponsors

Entrepreneurs will join a select network of cleantech leaders and accelerate the growth of their company by learning from experienced mentors and subject matter experts.  Accepted 2011 Mentors are comprised of cleantech corporate leaders, venture capitalists, business development consultants and seasoned CEO’s which include: Manoj Bhatia, Director of Smart Grid Partner Alliances for GE;  Matthew Nordan,  VP of Venrock;  Govi Rao, CEO of Noveda Technologies and Dan Hoversten, Managing Partner of Hoversten Capital Partners.  Also see the complete list of mentors from the 2010 NYC Cleantech Mentorship program.

The program is designed to engage entrepreneurs and mentors in an online community that provides resources and support through virtual interactions, conferences calls and webinars.  Entrepreneurs will receive specific business feedback, learn about capital raising and build connections from a community of mentors located throughout the East Coast.   The deadline for application to the 2011 Cleantech Mentorship Program – Appalachia is September 12^th.

For more information about the Cleantech Mentorship Program and the SJF Institute, please visit www.sjfinstitue.org or email mentorship@sjfinstitute.org.  

Feedback from 2010 Entrepreneur Fellows:

“The program was very valuable. The opportunity to share experiences and solutions with other early stage CEOs and to learn from the mentors was incredibly valuable to our company as we started to grow.” Benjamin S. Parvey II, Blue Sky Power

 ”The network the program offered, both with the mentors and the other entrepreneurs was the most helpful aspect of the program. I believe that now that relationships have been established, there are opportunities to work together and stay in touch to share advice.” Kelly Sickles, Noveda Technologies

Progress of 2010 Cleantech Mentorship Program Entrepreneur Fellows:

• Noveda won a PSE&G award for solar monitoring and was recognized as New Jersey’s enviro-energy company of the year
• BlackGold Biofuels began producing biodiesel at its San Francisco waste water treatment plant, and was named a finalist in ImagineH2O’s Water Energy Competition, and won second place in Global Water Intelligence’s investment competition
• Pace Controls announced a large scale rollout for a major retail chain serving over 3.5 mm square feet of store space
• ThinkEco announced an agreement with Con Edison to develop and deploy energy-management technology for window air conditioners
• Ener-G-Rotors won 1st place at New Energy Technologies’ Clean Tech Business Plan Competition during the TechConnectWorld’s 2010 Conference

Privately-held companies with at least $500,000 in revenue and 10 employees, and with a business model that preserves or enhances environmental quality are eligible. Winners will receive media exposure and a package of pro bono business services provided by B Corporations. Program sponsorships are still available. The deadline for nomination is May 31, and the deadline for applications is June 15.  Nominate your own or another company today!

Applicants for both the Mentors and Entrepreneurs will be accepted on a rolling admission basis this year. To read more about the Northern Mid-Atlantic/NYC Metro Region program click here.  To read more about the Southeast/Appalachia program click here. To read more about Mentoring an Entrepreneur through the SJF Cleantech Mentorship Program click here.

Feedback from 2010 Entrepreneur Fellows:

“The program was very valuable. The opportunity to share experiences and solutions with other early stage CEOs and to learn from the mentors was incredibly valuable to our company as we started to grow.” Benjamin S. Parvey II, Blue Sky Power

“The network the program offered, both with the mentors and the other entrepreneurs was the most helpful aspect of the program. I believe that now that relationships have been established, there are opportunities to work together and stay in touch to share advice.” Kelly Sickles, Noveda Technologies

Progress of 2010 Cleantech Mentorship Program Entrepreneur Fellows:

• Noveda won a PSE&G award for solar monitoring and was recognized as New Jersey’s enviro-energy company of the year
• BlackGold Biofuels began producing biodiesel at its San Francisco waste water treatment plant, and was named a finalist in ImagineH2O’s Water Energy Competition, and won second place in Global Water Intelligence’s investment competition
• Pace Controls announced a large scale rollout for a major retail chain serving over 3.5 mm square feet of store space
• ThinkEco announced an agreement with Con Edison to develop and deploy energy-management technology for window air conditioners
• Ener-G-Rotors won 1st place at New Energy Technologies’ Clean Tech Business Plan Competition during the TechConnectWorld’s 2010 Conference

Thank you to our 2011 Sponsors of the SJF Cleantech Mentorship Program NYC Metro Region!

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Program Details
May 24, 2011
5:30-6:00 Registration
6:00-7:00 Program
7:00-8:00 CleanLinks Reception (drinks and appetizers provided)

Location
Stockroom at 230,  Raleigh, NC

Fees and Registration
CED – $15 advance/ $20 on-site
Non-members – $20 advance/$25 on-site

Please note: pre-registration closes May 23 at 5pm

Register Here

Upcoming Forums: 
Hearing from the (past) North Carolina Green Business Fund Winners (August 31) Rigsbee Hall, Durham;  Public and Private Cleantech Funders (Nov 8), Stockroom at 230, Raleigh

The most common objection to any form of industrial policy is that governments, as opposed to markets, are considered unqualified to select those sectors most worthy of investment. But what happens when governments do pick the right targets and then back that up with the resources, influence and patience needed to guide and support these fledgling industries to long-term success?

Central government programs in Asia, most notably in China and Korea, are indeed on the mark as they mobilize public policies and resources in order to subsidize and nurture their domestic cleantech industries. Emerging sectors such as solar power, wind power and electric vehicles are all characterized by the need to achieve scale before they can be cost-competitive. This makes the availability of subsidies a matter of critical importance. Additionally, extensive coordination between public and private interests (something best provided by central governments, the more central the better) is vital to creating the complex infrastructure required for a large-scale shift to renewable energy and electric vehicles.  (Read the remainder of the article on Greentech Media)

Rick Defieux has served as Chair of the SJF Ventures investment committee since co-founding the firm in 1999.  He is an advisor and venture partner at Battelle Ventures and 360ip, a venture capital and intellectual property management firm with operations in China, Korea, Japan and Singapore.

FLS, a solar generation company, has grown from 3 employees in 2006 to 70 today. The firm targeted solar thermal as one of the most effective ways to generate energy and has devised an effective business model. At Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, for example, FLS is installing solar on all the new housing. The company owns and operates the solar installations to take away the up-front cost, then sells the base the hot water – at a lower cost than they would pay to heat the water with conventionally sourced electricity. “We are like a little utility on our clients’ roofs,” said Shore.

Entex, a wastewater treatment solutions firm serving industrial and municipal clients, was founded in 2004 and now has nine employees. Flournoy said that many, including Red Herring in 2005, have called water “the next oil.” Projects created immediately after the Clean Water Act of 1972 are ripe for updating, giving Entex a strong market for its custom solutions which are currently employed at 25 installations treating 60 million gallons a day. 

Elster, a worldwide smart metering firm serving utilities, is a 175-year-old firm with 38 locations, 7,000 employees, and a recent IPO. Munday said the firm is one of the world’s largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers. He described the concept of the Smart Grid as “a journey, not a destination,” explaining that his company’s products aid in the journey. For example, Elster provides energy management for all the Wal-Marts worldwide. 

The number one challenge for cleantech entrepreneurs is, unsurprisingly, money, according to Shore – how to raise money to fuel growth as well as managing cash flow. Although the national stimulus funds helped some cleantech companies, Shore stressed that it “is not the deciding factor.” Flournoy’s firm has been involved with half a dozen stimulus-funded projects, but he said the paperwork involved can be “unbelievable” and that some already funded projects stalled for long periods waiting to see if they could obtain additional funding from the stimulus, which slowed the sector’s growth. He believes that good projects will always be able to find funding if they can “deliver value on the macro level.” 

Due to currently high energy costs, Munday said it is cheaper for his firm to produce many parts destined for use in the U.S. here in this country rather than overseas. He touched on the topic of green job creation and said the stigma against technical colleges will need to be overcome so that many more Americans can utilize this resource to receive training to work in the green economy.  “These are good jobs that Americans can do very well if we’ll raise the status.” 

Shore agreed that hiring is not a problem at FLS Energy, and that “people are eager to work for a green company.” In fact, he said his firm is excited to be creating jobs in the current economy, but that FLS feels pressure beyond what a typical startup firm faces.  “We have a responsibility bigger than our company,” he said. “We have to make it work to demonstrate that a clean energy company can be successful.” – Anne Claire Broughton, SJF Institute Senior Director(Note: The next CleanLinks Forum is scheduled for May 24 on the topic of the Smart Grid)